Software Engineering Manager salary in California
Typical advertised pay for Software Engineering Manager roles in California, from real job postings on FindRole.
Median advertised base salary
$281,300
Most postings fall between $256,000 and $297,000.
Based on 35 postings across 13 companies. Updated September 10, 2026.
As of September 2026, the median advertised base salary for Software Engineering Manager roles in California is $281,300, based on 35 live job postings from 13 employers tracked by FindRole.
Published by FindRole · free to quote and reuse with attribution and a link to this page · how this is computed
Salary by seniority
| Level | 25th %ile | Median | 75th %ile | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | $267,050 | $281,300 | $290,250 | 21 |
| Senior Manager | $256,000 | $303,641 | $351,625 | 13 |
Top companies hiring Software Engineering Managers
- Apple Inc 12 postings · median $289,500
- Nvidia 7 postings · median $290,250
- Anduril Industries 3 postings · median $256,000
- Intuit 2 postings · median $283,250
- Sony Group Corporation 2 postings · median $202,500
- Snap Inc. 2 postings · median $286,000
- GEICO 1 postings · median $210,000
- Palo Alto Networks 1 postings · median $229,600
Open Software Engineering Manager roles right now
The postings these numbers come from — see all Software Engineering Manager jobs.
- Staff Software Engineering Manager GEICO · Remote (Palo Alto, CA) View →
- Software Engineering Manager, Analytics Platform Apple Inc · Cupertino, CA View →
- Manager, Software Engineering, Identity and Access Management Palo Alto Networks · Remote (New York, NY) View →
- Senior Manager, Software Engineering Salesforce · Remote (San Francisco, CA) View →
- Software Engineering Manager, Robotics Neural Reconstruction and Real2Sim Applications Nvidia · Santa Clara, CA View →
- Software Engineering Manager, GPU Communications Libraries Nvidia · Santa Clara, CA View →
See which Software Engineering Manager roles you actually match
FindRole AI Match reads your resume against every open Software Engineering Manager posting and ranks the ones worth your time — so you're applying where the pay and the fit both line up.
See AI Match plansSoftware Engineering Manager salary elsewhere
Prepping for Software Engineering Manager roles?
Create a free FindRole account to save jobs, track applications, and get a weekly email of new Software Engineering Manager postings.
Create a free accountThese figures are the midpoint of the advertised salary range on real Software Engineering Manager job postings indexed by FindRole — employer-stated base pay, not total compensation (they exclude equity and bonuses), and they reflect the roles we index rather than the whole market. A guide, not a guarantee.