FDE JOBS DATA · Q3 2026

The Forward Deployed Engineer Salary Report — Q3 2026

Most salary guides are estimates. This report is computed directly from the 368 live FDE postings on our index — aggregated from company career pages hourly — of which 95 (26%) publicly disclose a salary range. Figures below use the midpoint of each advertised USD range.

Dataset date: 2026-09-04. Free to cite with a link to this page.

Headline numbers

Min
$120K
25th
$140K
Median
$168K
75th
$249K
Max
$713K

Advertised base-range midpoints across 95 USD postings. Total compensation at equity-heavy companies runs substantially higher — see the salary guide.

Advertised pay by company

CompanyPostings w/ payMedianRange
PalantirPalantir51$140K$120K$168K
OpenAIOpenAI36$249K$239K$713K
BasetenBaseten3$300K$248K$320K
RampRamp3$352K$260K$352K
IntercomIntercom2$246K$225K$266K

Advertised pay by level

LevelPostings w/ payMedianRange
Entry10$140K$140K – $140K
Mid78$168K$120K – $713K
Senior1$225K$225K – $225K
Lead6$319K$266K – $320K

The shape of the market

By region

  • US181
  • UK & Europe79
  • Rest of world75
Browse Europe & UK roles →

By work type

  • On-site 227
  • Hybrid 115
  • Remote 26
Browse remote roles →

Methodology

Data covers every active posting on FDE Jobs as of the dataset date. Postings are ingested directly from company careers feeds (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby) hourly, matched against 6+ FDE title patterns, and deduplicated. Salary figures use only postings with an advertised USD range; each posting contributes its range midpoint. Advertised bases understate total compensation at equity-heavy companies.

Cite freely with a link (CC BY 4.0). The full dataset is available machine-readable at /salaries/report/data.json. For the evergreen level-by-level guide, see the FDE Salary Guide.

Get next quarter's report

The weekly roundup includes salary insights from this dataset; the quarterly report lands in your inbox first.