Principal Software Engineer H-1B Salary

3,276 certified H-1B filings list the job title Principal Software Engineer (FY2023–FY2026). The median offered base salary is $165,000; the middle half of filings fall between $145,000 and $198,000. The largest sponsor for this title is WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC. (264 filings).

3,276
certified filings
$165,000
Median base salary
$145,000
25th pct
$198,000
75th pct
$230,638
90th pct
$128,512
10th pct
Estimates from public U.S. Department of Labor records — wages are employer-attested offered wages, not verified salaries paid; counts are filings, not people. Not legal, financial, or career advice. See our disclaimer & terms.
Data: DOL filings FY2023–FY2026 (through June 2026) · Page updated November 2026
$128,512$165,000 median$230,638

Salary by fiscal year

YearFilingsMedian
FY2026693$174,361
FY2025910$166,624
FY2024848$158,664
FY2023825$161,000

Top cities

CityFilingsMedian
San Jose, CA156$192,982
Santa Clara, CA147$208,632
Sunnyvale, CA116$165,146
Bentonville, AR67$172,542
San Francisco, CA67$206,315
Austin, TX66$152,656
Fremont, CA56$199,071
Mountain View, CA52$230,000
Charlotte, NC48$149,469
Plano, TX44$156,998
San Mateo, CA39$315,850
Phoenix, AZ37$151,757
Irvine, CA34$125,964
New York, NY32$179,991
Bellevue, WA31$225,800
San Diego, CA31$180,000
Frisco, TX30$141,000
O'Fallon, MO30$162,000
Natick, MA29$172,744
Pleasanton, CA29$208,560

Principal Software Engineer salary by employer

Top 50 sponsors by number of filings. Click a column to sort.

EmployerFilingsMedian salary
WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC.264$168,000
Palo Alto Networks, Inc.116$208,536
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.72$154,458
Citizens Financial Group, Inc.67$148,000
Medtronic, Inc.45$141,898
Mastercard Technologies, LLC44$165,000
Intuit Inc.42$253,362
CBRE, INC.40$149,890
Roblox Corporation40$325,390
The MathWorks, Inc.40$172,744
First Citizens Bank and Trust Co.33$139,027
Informatica LLC33$165,870
Mastercard International Incorporated33$162,000
Gen Digital Inc.30$170,005
REI Systems Inc.30$147,885
ABOTTS Consulting Inc29$105,000
AT&T SERVICES, INC.28$174,099
Autodesk, Inc.27$163,600
Red Hat, Inc.27$180,030
Splunk, Inc.27$237,442
Microsoft Corporation26$220,000
Ally Bank25$145,000
National Railroad Passenger Corporation23$139,464
Fidelity Technology Group, LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments22$129,278
Liberty Mutual Technology Group Inc.22$157,238
Atlassian US, Inc.20$230,000
OT Technology, Inc.20$167,750
INNOVA SOLUTIONS, INC.18$122,281
MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES, INC.18$119,829
Asurion, LLC17$188,547
Okta, Inc.17$183,310
Cisco Systems, Inc.16$227,100
Motorola Solutions, Inc.16$137,030
Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO)15$143,600
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation15$152,000
Twilio, Inc.15$254,675
NIKE, Inc.14$217,428
Publix Super Markets, Inc.14$140,790
FactSet Research Systems Inc.13$190,000
Itron, Inc.13$188,730
PeerIslands U.S. Inc.13$142,477
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.13$192,600
Sabre GLBL Inc.13$134,971
Salesforce, Inc.13$267,540
Symbotic LLC13$165,311
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation13$160,000
Matson Navigation Company12$153,681
NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION12$151,916
NVIDIA Corporation12$272,000
PRICELINE.COM LLC12$152,121

Related job titles

Principal Engineer Software $180,197Software Principal Engineer $175,100Software Engineer Principal $162,988Principal Software Engineer/Developer $132,080Principal Software Development Engineer $212,202Senior Principal Software Engineer $171,163Principal Software Engineer - IT $140,000Principal Engineer, Software Engineering $126,942Software Senior Principal Engineer $208,989Consulting/Principal Software Engineer $145,000

Estimates from public U.S. Department of Labor records — wages are employer-attested offered wages, not verified salaries paid. Not legal, financial, or career advice. Full disclaimer