Compensation Intelligence · Q2 2026
Job Market Kumite
April 28, 2026
The bell rings, the bracket opens, and every discipline, seniority band, and market has to fight for position. The winner is not the prettiest average. The winner is the cell with real compensation leverage.
Geo tournament winner
$362,500
San Francisco, US
Research & Science - Senior
Research & Science - Senior
n=28
sample
1.83x
spread
$260k - $474k
middle 50% of indexed comp
Champions first: San Francisco senior Research & Science takes the belt at $362,500 median indexed total comp. San Mateo claims the next two podium spots with senior Software Engineering and senior Data & Analytics. That is the main card.
174,462
Salary rows in window
30-day active market
166,759
Jobs scored
compensation rows modeled
103
Global cells
discipline and seniority
1,578
Geo cells
country, city, region, remote
The Champions
These are the cells that walk out with the belts. The Bay Area does not just show up here as a vague tech-market stereotype. It shows up as specific, high-paying matchups where seniority, discipline, and place all stack in the same direction.
#1 champion celln=28
San Francisco, US
Research & Science - Senior
$362,500
median indexed total comp
mean $381kp25-p75 $260k-$474k57% top company
Anthropic16
Faire3
Scaleai2
#2 champion celln=124
San Mateo, US
Software Engineering - Senior
$241,600
median indexed total comp
mean $244kp25-p75 $226k-$295k57% top company
Roblox71
Verkada27
Sony Interactive Entertainment9
#3 champion celln=25
San Mateo, US
Data & Analytics - Senior
$240,834
median indexed total comp
mean $250kp25-p75 $224k-$296k88% top company
Roblox22
Sony Interactive Entertainment2
Verkada1
The tournament winner is San Francisco senior Research & Science at $362,500 median indexed total comp, with a mean of $380,698 and a middle-50% band of $259,500 to $474,375.
The Raw Bracket Has Heavyweights
The raw bracket values its employees' happiness. Pennington healthcare posts a monster number at $392,719, San Francisco Research & Science stays dangerous, and Palo Alto mid-level Software Engineering throws a clean shot. These are heavy salaries. They are just weirder fighters, with sharper concentration and more volatility than the main-card champions.
| Raw rank | Cell | Index | n | Spread | Top employer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Pennington, US Healthcare & Clinical - Senior | $392,719 | 22 | 5.62x | Capitalhealth |
| #2 | San Francisco, US Research & Science - Senior | $362,500 | 28 | 1.83x | Anthropic |
| #3 | Palo Alto, US Software Engineering - Mid | $310,000 | 16 | 2.06x | Xai |
Top Geo Cells Overall
The pattern is clear: the very top of the table is dominated by specific Bay Area pockets, AI-heavy research roles, legal/compliance outliers, and a few employer-concentrated markets. Geography is doing real work.
| Rank | Geo | Cell | Index | n | Top employer | Conc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Pennington, US | Healthcare & Clinical - Senior | $392,719 | 22 | Capitalhealth | 100% |
| #2 | San Francisco, US | Research & Science - Senior | $362,500 | 28 | Anthropic | 57% |
| #3 | Palo Alto, US | Software Engineering - Mid | $310,000 | 16 | Xai | 69% |
| #4 | San Jose, US | Product Management - Senior | $260,515 | 11 | Roku | 55% |
| #5 | San Mateo, US | Product Management - Senior | $246,670 | 20 | Roblox | 60% |
| #6 | San Mateo, US | Software Engineering - Senior | $241,600 | 124 | Roblox | 57% |
| #7 | San Mateo, US | Data & Analytics - Senior | $240,834 | 25 | Roblox | 88% |
| #8 | San Jose, US | Legal & Compliance - Senior | $240,000 | 11 | Archer56 | 36% |
| #9 | Alameda, US | Legal & Compliance - Senior | $232,000 | 14 | Exelixis | 100% |
| #10 | Mountain View, US | Software Engineering - Senior | $231,500 | 97 | Nuro | 37% |
| #11 | San Francisco, US | Legal & Compliance - Senior | $225,329 | 32 | Instawork/Flex/Unity | 6% |
| #12 | Costa Mesa, US | Software Engineering - Senior | $223,500 | 84 | Anduril Industries | 95% |
Discipline Averages Are The JV Bench
The original discipline-only cut averaged every location together and called that the market. Useful warmup tape, but not the main event. Here is the whole bench: all 103 discipline and seniority cells from the first pass. Legal & Compliance - Senior wins that version at $144,775, which is exactly why the bracket had to let geography fight.
| Rank | Discipline | Seniority | Index median | Mean | Median base | n | Middle 50% | Equity | Bonus | Comm. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Legal & Compliance | Senior | $144,775 | $162,261 | $140,513 | 1,176 | $115k - $208k | 14.1% | 20.8% | 4.7% |
| #2 | Systems & Aerospace Engineering | Senior | $144,500 | $153,811 | $142,791 | 577 | $125k - $182k | 9.9% | 35.5% | 2.1% |
| #3 | Aerospace Engineering | Senior | $139,091 | $150,672 | $135,000 | 276 | $125k - $182k | 6.2% | 27.5% | 7.6% |
| #4 | Product Management | Senior | $137,500 | $158,098 | $133,700 | 2,176 | $125k - $188k | 17.8% | 17.3% | 5.7% |
| #5 | Software Engineering | Senior | $137,500 | $157,135 | $133,500 | 8,451 | $125k - $178k | 14.1% | 11.6% | 3.3% |
| #6 | AI Engineering | Senior | $137,500 | $164,963 | $125,000 | 936 | $125k - $198k | 19.3% | 12.5% | 6.7% |
| #7 | Executive Management | Senior | $135,000 | $167,973 | $133,000 | 110 | $115k - $200k | 8.2% | 17.3% | 1.8% |
| #8 | Aerospace Engineering | Junior | $133,000 | $135,367 | $132,500 | 63 | $97k - $161k | 23.8% | 30.2% | 1.6% |
| #9 | Software Engineering | Junior | $131,300 | $138,405 | $127,000 | 2,709 | $100k - $170k | 11.4% | 11.8% | 2.9% |
| #10 | Cybersecurity | Senior | $126,000 | $146,867 | $125,000 | 1,812 | $119k - $170k | 14.1% | 19.6% | 4.9% |
| #11 | Systems & Aerospace Engineering | Mid | $125,500 | $131,522 | $122,275 | 219 | $110k - $151k | 17.8% | 33.3% | 0.5% |
| #12 | Solutions Engineering & Architecture | Senior | $125,000 | $145,982 | $125,000 | 3,880 | $124k - $165k | 12.5% | 13% | 12.4% |
| #13 | Engineering Consulting | Senior | $125,000 | $126,384 | $125,000 | 1,470 | $106k - $133k | 4.9% | 16.1% | 1.7% |
| #14 | Hardware Engineering | Senior | $125,000 | $136,016 | $125,000 | 3,082 | $115k - $154k | 13.4% | 13.2% | 2.1% |
| #15 | Mechanical & Industrial Engineering | Senior | $125,000 | $131,616 | $125,000 | 1,758 | $112k - $148k | 9.2% | 14.7% | 2.2% |
| #16 | Project & Program Management | Senior | $125,000 | $136,044 | $125,000 | 3,046 | $111k - $150k | 9.6% | 16% | 2.4% |
| #17 | Healthcare & Clinical | Senior | $125,000 | $148,688 | $125,000 | 5,988 | $95k - $155k | 2.9% | 14.4% | 1.9% |
| #18 | Software Engineering | Mid | $125,000 | $130,594 | $125,000 | 2,754 | $101k - $142k | 10.5% | 11.3% | 3.2% |
| #19 | Account Management | Senior | $125,000 | $148,144 | $125,000 | 2,272 | $100k - $159k | 14.4% | 14.5% | 17.1% |
| #20 | Sales & Business Development | Senior | $125,000 | $143,278 | $125,000 | 4,346 | $90k - $165k | 13.6% | 11.4% | 31.1% |
| #21 | Data & Analytics | Senior | $125,000 | $139,822 | $125,000 | 2,739 | $115k - $166k | 10.1% | 16.3% | 3.9% |
| #22 | Design & Creative | Senior | $125,000 | $133,201 | $125,000 | 1,080 | $100k - $155k | 14.9% | 12.7% | 2.4% |
| #23 | Research & Science | Senior | $125,000 | $144,858 | $125,000 | 1,616 | $100k - $165k | 10.6% | 15.2% | 3.3% |
| #24 | IT & Systems | Senior | $125,000 | $130,065 | $125,000 | 1,719 | $103k - $139k | 10.6% | 16.1% | 3.3% |
| #25 | Product Management | Mid | $125,000 | $136,343 | $125,000 | 1,012 | $108k - $146k | 11.9% | 15.2% | 5.1% |
| #26 | AI Engineering | Mid | $125,000 | $141,730 | $125,000 | 303 | $115k - $152k | 11.9% | 10.9% | 2.3% |
| #27 | AI Engineering | Junior | $125,000 | $140,328 | $125,000 | 141 | $115k - $146k | 12.1% | 11.3% | 5% |
| #28 | Aerospace Engineering | Mid | $124,621 | $121,893 | $118,270 | 112 | $102k - $132k | 13.4% | 33% | 0.9% |
| #29 | Systems & Aerospace Engineering | Junior | $124,250 | $120,785 | $115,725 | 86 | $103k - $151k | 39.5% | 26.7% | 0% |
| #30 | Supply Chain & Logistics | Senior | $122,844 | $125,629 | $118,675 | 692 | $100k - $138k | 8.8% | 20.7% | 2.2% |
| #31 | Human Resources | Senior | $122,763 | $124,139 | $120,250 | 1,368 | $94k - $139k | 12% | 13.8% | 4.8% |
| #32 | Marketing & Comms | Senior | $122,500 | $125,750 | $122,500 | 2,588 | $100k - $136k | 9.2% | 12.4% | 5.4% |
| #33 | Civil & Structural Engineering | Senior | $118,650 | $125,595 | $115,000 | 274 | $100k - $131k | 5.1% | 10.2% | 0.4% |
| #34 | Application Support Engineering | Senior | $118,250 | $119,490 | $117,000 | 167 | $100k - $125k | 8.4% | 5.4% | 1.8% |
| #35 | Operations & Strategy | Senior | $115,000 | $116,362 | $115,000 | 2,239 | $81k - $132k | 9.6% | 14.7% | 3% |
| #36 | Finance & Accounting | Senior | $115,000 | $124,018 | $115,000 | 4,766 | $91k - $135k | 10.8% | 22.2% | 4.8% |
| #37 | Solutions Engineering & Architecture | Mid | $115,000 | $120,540 | $115,000 | 1,445 | $98k - $125k | 9.4% | 9.7% | 5.9% |
| #38 | Cybersecurity | Mid | $115,000 | $117,532 | $115,000 | 860 | $90k - $130k | 12% | 13.5% | 4.7% |
| #39 | IT Administration | Senior | $113,320 | $109,068 | $111,150 | 276 | $87k - $125k | 8.3% | 9.8% | 0.4% |
| #40 | Construction & Facilities | Senior | $108,000 | $114,588 | $106,666 | 550 | $81k - $125k | 5.8% | 9.8% | 0.7% |
| #41 | Data & Analytics | Mid | $106,994 | $111,932 | $105,000 | 1,360 | $81k - $125k | 6.7% | 9.5% | 2.4% |
| #42 | Solutions Engineering & Architecture | Junior | $106,000 | $110,091 | $102,533 | 229 | $75k - $131k | 12.7% | 9.6% | 9.6% |
| #43 | Project & Program Management | Mid | $105,500 | $115,572 | $105,000 | 1,765 | $85k - $125k | 6% | 8.9% | 1.9% |
| #44 | Product Management | Junior | $105,500 | $112,302 | $105,000 | 149 | $79k - $125k | 8.1% | 10.1% | 4% |
| #45 | Engineering Consulting | Junior | $104,925 | $105,205 | $102,806 | 342 | $79k - $125k | 5.3% | 7.6% | 0% |
| #46 | Cybersecurity | Junior | $104,112 | $112,196 | $103,168 | 296 | $81k - $127k | 11.2% | 14.9% | 2.4% |
| #47 | Mechanical & Industrial Engineering | Mid | $103,975 | $109,781 | $102,500 | 1,185 | $88k - $125k | 9.4% | 13.8% | 0.7% |
| #48 | Engineering Consulting | Mid | $103,250 | $109,272 | $101,365 | 638 | $82k - $125k | 6.7% | 8.3% | 2.4% |
| #49 | Application Support Engineering | Mid | $102,500 | $103,604 | $100,000 | 207 | $80k - $125k | 7.3% | 7.3% | 1.4% |
| #50 | Customer Service | Senior | $102,500 | $108,509 | $100,000 | 689 | $67k - $125k | 14.5% | 17.4% | 10.4% |
| #51 | Hardware Engineering | Mid | $100,000 | $107,510 | $100,000 | 2,691 | $76k - $125k | 9.1% | 10.1% | 2.8% |
| #52 | Mechanical & Industrial Engineering | Junior | $100,000 | $107,553 | $97,361 | 660 | $75k - $125k | 10.6% | 10.3% | 1.1% |
| #53 | Account Management | Mid | $100,000 | $132,053 | $100,000 | 1,958 | $75k - $125k | 9.2% | 9.9% | 17.4% |
| #54 | Sales & Business Development | Mid | $100,000 | $126,285 | $99,750 | 2,866 | $75k - $125k | 10.6% | 10.3% | 23.4% |
| #55 | Marketing & Comms | Mid | $100,000 | $104,856 | $100,000 | 1,488 | $75k - $125k | 7.2% | 9.3% | 4% |
| #56 | IT & Systems | Mid | $100,000 | $109,991 | $100,000 | 1,671 | $78k - $125k | 7.8% | 10.7% | 2.5% |
| #57 | Design & Creative | Mid | $100,000 | $113,966 | $100,000 | 401 | $76k - $125k | 9% | 15.7% | 3% |
| #58 | Civil & Structural Engineering | Mid | $100,000 | $104,015 | $100,000 | 150 | $81k - $120k | 9.3% | 8.7% | 0% |
| #59 | Legal & Compliance | Mid | $97,200 | $107,184 | $94,950 | 625 | $68k - $125k | 8.8% | 10.7% | 1.8% |
| #60 | Hardware Engineering | Junior | $90,000 | $103,901 | $89,000 | 1,024 | $70k - $125k | 13.4% | 11.9% | 2% |
| #61 | Research & Science | Mid | $89,000 | $99,529 | $87,500 | 845 | $66k - $115k | 8.4% | 9.9% | 1.2% |
| #62 | Manufacturing & Production | Senior | $88,500 | $99,618 | $87,500 | 585 | $70k - $125k | 6.2% | 15.6% | 0.8% |
| #63 | Application Support Engineering | Junior | $86,578 | $105,923 | $82,450 | 222 | $72k - $118k | 12.2% | 10.4% | 1.8% |
| #64 | Supply Chain & Logistics | Mid | $84,800 | $93,469 | $83,000 | 763 | $65k - $115k | 20.8% | 14% | 1.1% |
| #65 | Admin & Clerical | Senior | $84,488 | $90,793 | $84,488 | 204 | $66k - $115k | 7.3% | 16.2% | 6.9% |
| #66 | Finance & Accounting | Mid | $84,025 | $99,939 | $82,864 | 2,701 | $70k - $115k | 6.6% | 16% | 3.6% |
| #67 | Construction & Facilities | Mid | $83,037 | $90,727 | $82,574 | 261 | $66k - $108k | 4.2% | 8.4% | 1.9% |
| #68 | Healthcare & Clinical | Mid | $80,000 | $84,327 | $80,000 | 4,414 | $58k - $105k | 1% | 6.5% | 0.8% |
| #69 | Data & Analytics | Junior | $80,000 | $96,155 | $79,020 | 806 | $66k - $116k | 6.5% | 11.3% | 1.2% |
| #70 | Education & Instruction | Senior | $78,475 | $94,426 | $77,420 | 525 | $75k - $111k | 5.5% | 4.2% | 0.9% |
| #71 | Protective Services | Senior | $77,068 | $91,738 | $76,738 | 116 | $57k - $115k | 4.3% | 9.5% | 0.9% |
| #72 | Project & Program Management | Junior | $75,500 | $90,202 | $75,000 | 241 | $64k - $101k | 5.8% | 7.5% | 0.8% |
| #73 | Operations & Strategy | Mid | $75,000 | $81,598 | $75,000 | 2,731 | $60k - $94k | 4.4% | 5.9% | 1.1% |
| #74 | Marketing & Comms | Junior | $75,000 | $86,681 | $75,000 | 932 | $58k - $97k | 6.2% | 14.8% | 3.3% |
| #75 | IT & Systems | Junior | $75,000 | $86,687 | $75,000 | 786 | $63k - $103k | 7.4% | 15.1% | 2% |
| #76 | IT Administration | Mid | $75,000 | $95,092 | $75,000 | 887 | $60k - $101k | 7.5% | 5.9% | 1.2% |
| #77 | Manufacturing & Production | Mid | $75,000 | $83,212 | $75,000 | 897 | $61k - $100k | 8.1% | 11.3% | 0.9% |
| #78 | Finance & Accounting | Junior | $75,000 | $82,834 | $74,000 | 3,304 | $54k - $99k | 6.8% | 32.6% | 12.4% |
| #79 | Human Resources | Mid | $75,000 | $83,539 | $75,000 | 1,689 | $58k - $99k | 4.3% | 5.5% | 1.4% |
| #80 | Account Management | Junior | $75,000 | $82,058 | $75,000 | 332 | $55k - $85k | 5.4% | 12.9% | 11.1% |
| #81 | Legal & Compliance | Junior | $75,000 | $90,115 | $75,000 | 496 | $68k - $101k | 3.8% | 11.5% | 0.6% |
| #82 | Skilled Trades & Technicians | Senior | $75,000 | $80,668 | $74,600 | 688 | $60k - $95k | 9% | 12.5% | 0.3% |
| #83 | Design & Creative | Junior | $74,000 | $85,284 | $73,840 | 712 | $50k - $105k | 12.4% | 8.7% | 2.7% |
| #84 | Civil & Structural Engineering | Junior | $70,000 | $72,224 | $70,000 | 135 | $43k - $90k | 2.2% | 0.7% | 0% |
| #85 | Research & Science | Junior | $67,782 | $80,732 | $67,782 | 968 | $47k - $96k | 5.1% | 6.9% | 1.4% |
| #86 | Skilled Trades & Technicians | Mid | $67,600 | $73,060 | $65,520 | 1,323 | $56k - $80k | 8.6% | 12.9% | 1.2% |
| #87 | Education & Instruction | Mid | $67,333 | $70,464 | $66,833 | 394 | $49k - $80k | 1.8% | 6.8% | 0.8% |
| #88 | Human Resources | Junior | $65,000 | $75,042 | $64,240 | 1,100 | $47k - $85k | 6.6% | 7.6% | 2.5% |
| #89 | Customer Service | Mid | $63,000 | $71,514 | $62,500 | 1,865 | $50k - $75k | 9.1% | 6% | 3.8% |
| #90 | Sales & Business Development | Junior | $61,000 | $71,520 | $60,000 | 7,294 | $38k - $83k | 6% | 6.4% | 31% |
| #91 | Healthcare & Clinical | Junior | $60,500 | $68,289 | $60,000 | 13,815 | $48k - $82k | 0.7% | 7.8% | 0.3% |
| #92 | IT Administration | Junior | $60,000 | $70,711 | $60,000 | 490 | $43k - $80k | 8.4% | 6.5% | 1% |
| #93 | Admin & Clerical | Mid | $60,000 | $60,557 | $60,000 | 1,156 | $50k - $71k | 0.9% | 4.3% | 0.4% |
| #94 | Protective Services | Mid | $58,921 | $69,115 | $58,866 | 76 | $51k - $80k | 2.6% | 4% | 2.6% |
| #95 | Supply Chain & Logistics | Junior | $56,100 | $66,537 | $55,120 | 879 | $43k - $75k | 8.5% | 10.3% | 0.5% |
| #96 | Construction & Facilities | Junior | $55,620 | $61,901 | $55,028 | 352 | $47k - $71k | 7.4% | 5.7% | 0.6% |
| #97 | Education & Instruction | Junior | $53,040 | $59,561 | $53,040 | 1,969 | $40k - $70k | 0.6% | 1.7% | 0% |
| #98 | Manufacturing & Production | Junior | $50,836 | $57,936 | $50,000 | 1,931 | $40k - $65k | 8.5% | 11.3% | 0.5% |
| #99 | Operations & Strategy | Junior | $50,000 | $58,948 | $49,920 | 1,923 | $35k - $73k | 6.4% | 7.4% | 0.4% |
| #100 | Protective Services | Junior | $48,340 | $53,691 | $47,840 | 403 | $39k - $64k | 2.2% | 11.2% | 0.7% |
| #101 | Admin & Clerical | Junior | $47,705 | $54,242 | $47,450 | 1,869 | $37k - $60k | 3.7% | 5.6% | 1.3% |
| #102 | Skilled Trades & Technicians | Junior | $47,012 | $54,619 | $46,305 | 6,430 | $31k - $65k | 5.9% | 5.8% | 0.3% |
| #103 | Customer Service | Junior | $41,600 | $53,403 | $40,560 | 5,713 | $35k - $53k | 6.4% | 8.6% | 4.9% |
Country And Remote Side Bracket
Country-level and remote-country cuts still matter as scouting tape, but they are not the discipline average bracket. They sit here as context for how quickly the table changes once place gets a vote.
Country-level leaders
| Market | Cell | Index | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | AI Engineering - Senior | $186,400 | 456 |
| US | Legal & Compliance - Senior | $180,000 | 681 |
| US | Software Engineering - Senior | $170,000 | 4,691 |
Remote-country leaders
| Market | Cell | Index | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote, US | Legal & Compliance - Junior | $214,750 | 11 |
| Remote, US | Legal & Compliance - Senior | $189,930 | 70 |
| Remote, US | Solutions Engineering & Architecture - Senior | $183,650 | 185 |
The practical takeaway: if you want the real compensation ceiling, do not ask "which discipline pays most?" Ask "which discipline, at which seniority, in which market, has enough live postings to be real?"
Find the market where your resume has leverage
JobsJudo evaluates roles against your resume and salary goals so you can focus on the markets where your profile actually has an edge.
Get Started Free