$70K–$200K+/yr: Remote Tech Salaries 2026
ML engineers earn $200K+, backend devs $125K, data scientists $130K — the real pay for every remote tech role
Remote work is no longer an experiment. It is a permanent feature of the tech labor market - and the compensation structures around it have matured significantly since the pandemic-era chaos of 2020-2022.
The big question is no longer "can I work remotely?" but "how much will I get paid?" And the answer depends less on your role and more on your employer's compensation philosophy.
Some companies pay the same regardless of location. Others adjust salaries based on where you live. A few pay Bay Area rates to everyone. Understanding these policies is now as important as understanding the role itself when evaluating remote offers.
Here is what every major tech role pays for fully remote positions in 2026.
Data Scientist - $80K-$170K
Remote data scientist salaries vary widely based on company tier and specialization. The range reflects everything from early-stage startups to Big Tech remote positions. Salary range: $80K-$170K Median: ~$120KRemote data science has become the norm rather than the exception. Most data science work - analysis, modeling, experimentation - is inherently individual and asynchronous, making it well-suited to remote environments. Companies have largely stopped requiring data scientists to be in-office for work that happens in Jupyter notebooks and SQL editors.
The highest-paying remote data science roles are at companies that treat remote as a first-class employment model rather than a pandemic accommodation. Coinbase, Stripe, and well-funded fintech startups pay $140K-$180K+ for senior remote data scientists. Platform companies (Airbnb, Spotify) with distributed teams pay $120K-$160K.
Data scientists with strong engineering skills (production ML, pipeline building, API development) earn significantly more in remote roles because they can operate independently without needing co-located engineering support.
ML Engineer - $95K-$190K
Remote ML engineer salaries are among the highest in remote tech, driven by extreme talent scarcity and the specialized nature of the work. Salary range: $95K-$190K Median: ~$140KML engineering is one of the most remote-friendly senior technical roles. The work is computationally intensive, research-adjacent, and often requires deep focus - all of which benefit from the uninterrupted time that remote work provides. Training runs, experiment tracking, and model evaluation can all be done from anywhere with a good internet connection and access to cloud compute.
The AI talent shortage has pushed remote ML salaries up dramatically. Companies that cannot attract ML engineers to San Francisco or New York offices are increasingly offering remote roles at near-parity compensation. Some AI startups pay $160K-$200K+ for senior remote ML engineers to access talent pools in cities like Austin, Denver, Toronto, and Berlin.
Remote ML roles at hedge funds and trading firms (often hybrid-remote) push above $200K base, though these typically require some in-person presence.
DevOps Engineer - $90K-$175K
Remote DevOps engineer salaries are consistently high because infrastructure work is inherently remote-compatible - the servers are in the cloud, not in the office. Salary range: $90K-$175K Median: ~$130KDevOps and SRE roles were among the first to go fully remote because the infrastructure they manage was already in AWS, GCP, or Azure. There is no physical presence advantage when your job is managing Kubernetes clusters, Terraform configurations, and CI/CD pipelines that exist entirely in the cloud.
This has created a robust remote DevOps market where geographic arbitrage works particularly well. A DevOps engineer in a medium cost-of-living city earning $130K-$150K from a remote-first company has significantly more purchasing power than an equivalent engineer earning $160K in San Francisco.
On-call requirements are the main consideration for remote DevOps roles. Companies with global teams distribute on-call across time zones, which actually makes remote DevOps more sustainable than centralized teams where a small group handles all after-hours incidents.
Security Engineer - $85K-$170K
Remote security engineer salaries benefit from severe talent scarcity - there are not enough security engineers to fill available positions, giving candidates strong negotiating leverage. Salary range: $85K-$170K Median: ~$125KSecurity work is increasingly remote because threats are global and 24/7. Having security engineers distributed across time zones actually improves coverage. Many companies have realized that a remote security team spanning US, Europe, and Asia provides better incident response than a centralized team in one city.
Bug bounty platforms (HackerOne, Bugcrowd), security consulting firms, and managed security service providers have built entirely remote models. These organizations prove that high-stakes security work can be done effectively from anywhere.
Remote security engineers with compliance expertise (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA) are particularly well-compensated because they can serve as virtual CISOs or compliance leads for multiple companies or as fractional security leaders for startups.
Full Stack Developer - $75K-$155K
Remote full stack developer salaries are driven primarily by the startup ecosystem, where remote-first companies value engineers who can ship across the entire stack. Salary range: $75K-$155K Median: ~$110KFull stack developers thrive in remote environments because they can own entire features end-to-end without depending on separate frontend and backend teams. This independence makes them particularly valuable to remote-first startups and distributed teams where minimizing coordination overhead is critical.
The remote full stack market is one of the largest by volume. Thousands of remote-first startups, agencies, and product companies hire full stack developers as their primary engineering role. TypeScript across the stack (React + Node.js) is the most common remote full stack configuration, followed by Python (Django/FastAPI) + React.
Remote full stack salaries have a wider range than specialized roles because the market includes everything from bootstrapped startups paying $75K to well-funded scale-ups paying $140K+.
Backend Engineer - $85K-$165K
Remote backend engineer salaries are strong because backend work - APIs, databases, services, infrastructure - requires no physical presence and benefits from focused, uninterrupted development time. Salary range: $85K-$165K Median: ~$125KBackend engineering is one of the most natural fits for remote work. The output is measurable (working APIs, reliable services, scalable systems), the work is largely asynchronous, and code review happens through pull requests regardless of where the engineer sits.
Remote-first companies like GitLab, Automattic, Zapier, and Buffer have demonstrated that complex backend systems can be built and maintained by distributed teams. Their compensation data shows that remote backend engineers earn competitively with in-office peers, particularly at senior levels.
The highest-paying remote backend roles are at companies building developer tools, infrastructure products, and API platforms - because these companies understand and value the engineering craft inherently.
Software Engineer - $75K-$160K
Remote software engineer salaries represent the broadest category, spanning everything from junior generalists to senior specialists across all domains. Salary range: $75K-$160K Median: ~$115KThe remote software engineering market is the largest and most mature segment of remote tech hiring. Platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and specialized remote job boards list thousands of remote software engineering positions at any given time.
Compensation varies significantly by company maturity and funding stage. Early-stage startups offer $75K-$100K plus equity. Growth-stage companies pay $100K-$140K with meaningful equity. Public companies and late-stage unicorns pay $130K-$160K+ with stock grants.
The key to maximizing remote software engineering compensation is targeting companies with location-independent pay policies. The difference between location-adjusted and location-independent pay can be $20K-$40K for the same role.
Frontend Engineer - $70K-$150K
Remote frontend engineer salaries are competitive, with growing demand for engineers who can build performant, accessible web applications independently. Salary range: $70K-$150K Median: ~$108KFrontend engineering has adapted well to remote work, particularly as modern frontend has become more complex and engineering-heavy. Building performant React applications with TypeScript, managing state, optimizing Core Web Vitals, and implementing accessible interfaces requires deep focus that benefits from remote work's reduced interruptions.
Design systems work is particularly well-suited to remote environments. Engineers building and maintaining component libraries, design tokens, and documentation can work asynchronously with design teams across time zones.
The highest-paying remote frontend roles are at product companies where the frontend IS the product - SaaS dashboards, developer tools, and consumer applications where user experience directly drives revenue.
Product Manager - $85K-$160K
Remote product manager salaries have grown as companies learn that product management - strategy, prioritization, stakeholder alignment - can be done effectively through documentation and asynchronous communication. Salary range: $85K-$160K Median: ~$120KRemote product management requires strong written communication skills. The most effective remote PMs are those who can articulate strategy, write clear PRDs, and make decisions through written artifacts rather than relying on hallway conversations and whiteboard sessions.
Companies like GitLab (handbook-first culture), Automattic (no meetings), and Basecamp (Shape Up methodology) have pioneered remote PM practices that produce excellent results. Their success has encouraged hundreds of other companies to hire remote PMs.
Technical PMs who can engage directly with engineering work (reading code, understanding architecture) are particularly valued in remote settings because they reduce the need for synchronous translation between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Cloud Architect - $90K-$175K
Remote cloud architect salaries are strong because cloud infrastructure is inherently location-independent - you manage it from a terminal, not a data center. Salary range: $90K-$175K Median: ~$130KCloud architects were remote-ready before remote work became mainstream. The infrastructure they design and manage exists entirely in AWS, Azure, or GCP consoles. Site visits to physical data centers are almost never required. This makes cloud architecture one of the most natural fits for permanent remote work.
Remote cloud architects with multi-cloud expertise (AWS + Azure + GCP) and infrastructure-as-code skills (Terraform, Pulumi) command premium salaries because they can design and implement architectures that work across providers - a skill that is increasingly valuable as enterprises adopt multi-cloud strategies.
Data Engineer - $80K-$160K
Remote data engineer salaries benefit from the same dynamics as other infrastructure-adjacent roles - the data is in the cloud, the pipelines run in the cloud, and the work can be done from anywhere. Salary range: $80K-$160K Median: ~$118KRemote data engineering has grown significantly as companies invest in data infrastructure. Tools like dbt, Snowflake, Databricks, and Airflow are designed for cloud-native, distributed workflows - making remote data engineering teams effective by default.
The highest-paying remote data engineering roles are at data-intensive companies: adtech platforms, financial services, healthcare analytics, and SaaS companies with complex analytics requirements. Engineers with real-time streaming experience (Kafka, Flink) earn at the top of the range.
UX Designer - $65K-$130K
Remote UX designer salaries have grown as design tools (Figma, FigJam, Maze) have made remote collaboration seamless. Salary range: $65K-$130K Median: ~$92KFigma changed everything for remote UX design. Real-time collaborative design tools eliminated the last argument for in-person design work. Remote user research (via Zoom, UserTesting, Maze) has proven equally effective as in-person sessions for most research questions.
The highest-paying remote UX roles combine research and design skills. Designers who can plan and execute user research, synthesize findings, and translate them into interaction designs without needing a separate researcher are particularly valuable to remote-first teams where headcount efficiency matters.
The Location Factor: How Companies Pay Remote Workers
Remote compensation falls into three models:
Location-independent (same pay everywhere). Companies like Basecamp, Coinbase (US), and some startups pay the same base salary regardless of where you live. If the role pays $150K, you earn $150K whether you are in San Francisco or Boise. This model is simple but expensive for companies. Location-adjusted (pay varies by location). Companies like Google, Stripe, and GitLab adjust salaries based on your location using cost-of-labor or cost-of-living data. A role paying $180K in San Francisco might pay $150K in Austin or $130K in a small city. This is the most common model at large companies. Tier-based (broad geographic bands). Many companies use 3-5 geographic tiers: Tier 1 (SF, NYC), Tier 2 (Seattle, Boston, LA), Tier 3 (Austin, Denver, Chicago), Tier 4 (everywhere else US), Tier 5 (international). Each tier has a fixed salary band. This balances simplicity with geographic fairness.Understanding which model a company uses is essential before evaluating an offer. A $140K offer from a location-independent company may be worth more than a $160K offer from a location-adjusted company - depending on where you live.
The Bottom Line
Remote tech compensation has stabilized into a mature market with clear patterns. The role matters, but the company's pay philosophy matters just as much. The best financial outcome for remote workers is: high-paying role + location-independent company + low cost-of-living city.
Benchmark your specific remote role against our data:
Or compare remote salaries against specific cities: San Francisco (highest ceiling), Seattle (best take-home), New York, Austin (Texas tax advantage), London, and Toronto (Canada's tech hub) to understand the trade-offs between remote and in-office compensation.
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