Engineering manager salary in Seattle, WA
Employers in the Seattle metro offered engineering managers a median of $216,600 a year on approved H-1B applications. That is 32.9% above the US median for engineering managers, and 25.5% above offers to software engineers in Seattle.
Median offer
$216,600
US median offer: $162,951
The middle half
$195,975 – $243,573
25th to 75th percentile
After cost of living
$194,900
Seattle prices: 11.1% above US average
Open engineering manager jobs
104
In Seattle, from 51 companies
Pay range
The top 10% of engineering manager offers in Seattle were above $275,700 a year. The bottom 10% were below $170,000.
10th percentile $170,000, 25th $195,975, 75th $243,573, 90th $275,700.
10th percentile $110,094, 25th $126,818, 75th $208,535, 90th $250,000.
10th percentile $99,190, 25th $132,800, 75th $211,860, 90th $257,960.
Line: 10th to 90th percentile. Box: the middle half (25th to 75th). Dark mark: the median. Engineering managers: salaries offered on H-1B applications. All software engineers: salaries paid, from the BLS.
How far the pay goes in Seattle
Prices in Seattle are 11.1% above the US average, which makes the median offer worth $194,900 in US-average dollars. Housing costs 51.3% more than the US average.
Black line: US average = 100. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024.
Engineering managers and other engineering jobs in Seattle
Median salary offered on approved H-1B applications in the Seattle metro, for every engineering job type with at least 30 applications.
| Job | Applications | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering managers | 762 | $216,600 |
| AI engineers | 76 | $206,679 |
| Machine learning engineers | 271 | $195,000 |
| Infrastructure engineers | 54 | $180,710 |
| Frontend engineers | 132 | $180,655 |
| Cloud engineers | 53 | $174,000 |
| Site reliability engineers | 92 | $173,300 |
| All software engineers | 13,312 | $172,600 |
| Data engineers | 630 | $156,451 |
| DevOps engineers | 58 | $145,000 |
| Support engineers | 135 | $120,000 |
All software engineers: every application filed under the BLS software developer job code, whatever its title. Backend and full-stack engineers: left out, since a plain "Software Engineer" title counts as both.
Experience level of these offers
From October 2025 to June 2026, the Department of Labor approved 762 H-1B applications for engineering managers in the Seattle metro, from 161 employers. Level II offers were the most common.
Applications
762
Employers
161
Most experienced (Level IV)
19.0%
Applications by wage level
- Level I (entry): 19
- Level II: 166
- Level III: 91
- Level IV (most experienced): 145
- Not stated: 341
These are salaries offered on approved applications, not salaries paid. Each application lists only its main work site.
104 open engineering manager jobs in Seattle right now
From 51 companies. 11 were posted in the past week.
What counts as an engineering manager
The BLS has no category for managers of software engineers alone, so these figures come from job titles. An H-1B application or a job on hiredaemon counts as an engineering manager job when its title names managing engineers, such as "Engineering Manager", "Software Development Manager" or "Director of Engineering".
Sources and notes
- Engineering manager offers: US Department of Labor, H-1B application data, October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Approved H-1B applications whose job title names managing engineers and whose work site is in King, Pierce or Snohomish county.
- Software engineer pay: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (published May 15, 2026), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro.
- Cost of living: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Open jobs: counted on hiredaemon as this page loads.