Side by side

Site Reliability Engineer vs Software Engineer

Site Reliability Engineer pays more: a median of $158,500 against $125,500. There is 2.4× more demand for Software Engineer. Software Engineer is the more remote-friendly of the two, by 10.0%. Listings for Software Engineer move faster — median age 68 days against 90.

Comparison

Side by side

MeasureSite Reliability EngineerSoftware EngineerGap
Open postings38,67392,298-53,625
Posted this week1,6803,101
Median salary$158,500$125,500+$33k
25th percentile$125k$99k
75th percentile$197k$156k
Salary disclosed7.6%6.2%
Remote share3.0%13.0%-10.0pp
Median age of posting90d68d
Open over 60 days36.0%43.1%
Visa sponsorship14.0%23.5%
Pay

Pay distribution

Site Reliability Engineer

$71k$274k

Software Engineer

$56k$217k
Freshness

How old the listings are

Site Reliability Engineer

just posted90d median90d+

Software Engineer

just posted68d median90d+
Demand

What each side asks for

Site Reliability Engineer — technologies

Node.js
72.0%
Python
65.8%
Azure
59.6%
GCP
53.4%
Go
47.2%
Tableau
41.0%
dbt
34.8%

Software Engineer — technologies

HubSpot
72.0%
AWS
65.8%
Java
59.6%
Swift
53.4%
GCP
47.2%
JavaScript
41.0%
Azure
34.8%

Site Reliability Engineer — employers

Northwind Systems
9.4%
Beacon Robotics
8.7%
Lakeshore Hospitality
8.0%
Meridian Software
7.2%
Solstice Biotech
6.5%
Aperture Labs
5.8%
Kestrel Health
5.1%

Software Engineer — employers

Kestrel Health
9.4%
Northwind Systems
8.7%
Fairmount Legal
8.0%
Cobalt Financial
7.2%
Meridian Software
6.5%
Umbra Security
5.8%
Tidewater Insurance
5.1%

Track this slice

A weekly note when openings, pay or freshness move for Site Reliability Engineer vs Software Engineer.

More comparisons

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Both sides are counted the same way on the same day, so the gap is comparable even where the absolute numbers move. Salary figures use only postings that publish a range — the disclosure rate is in the table because a median over 20% of a cohort is a weaker number than one over 70%.