Amazon Software Engineer Compensation
Levels SDE I through Senior Principal. Compensation is famously back-loaded due to a 5/15/40/40 vesting schedule and capped base salary.
Ranges aggregated from publicly-available sources. Treat the median (p50) as roughly representative; quartile bands reflect negotiation range. Have specific data points or corrections? Send them in.
Company-specific notes
Amazon caps base salary at ~$185K (US) regardless of level. Above-cap compensation comes via RSUs and a sign-on bonus structured to backfill the back-loaded 5/15/40/40 vesting schedule. Year 1 sign-on is typical $50K-$120K; Year 2 sign-on is typical $40K-$100K. After Year 2, comp drops sharply unless refresh grants are issued. The 'cliff effect' between Year 2 and Year 3 is a known phenomenon at Amazon.
Levels
SDE I
Software Development Engineer I| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $110K | $125K | $140K | $155K |
| Equity (annualized) | $15K | $25K | $35K | $50K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $20K | $25K | $30K | $35K |
| Total comp | $145K | $170K | $195K | $220K |
Entry-level. Bonus column reflects sign-on amortized over Year 1+2. Year 3 'cliff' applies.
SDE II
Software Development Engineer II| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $145K | $165K | $180K | $185K |
| Equity (annualized) | $35K | $60K | $90K | $130K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $25K | $35K | $45K | $55K |
| Total comp | $200K | $245K | $295K | $360K |
Mid-level. Most-common Amazon SDE level for external hires. Sign-on amortized over Year 1+2.
SDE III
Senior Software Development Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $175K | $185K | $185K | $185K |
| Equity (annualized) | $80K | $130K | $200K | $290K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $30K | $45K | $60K | $80K |
| Total comp | $290K | $360K | $450K | $560K |
Senior IC. Base hits the cap; equity is the differentiator. Refresh grants critical at this level.
Principal
Principal Software Development Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $185K | $185K | $185K | $185K |
| Equity (annualized) | $200K | $320K | $470K | $660K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $65K | $80K | $95K | $110K |
| Total comp | $450K | $580K | $750K | $950K |
Principal IC. The level where Amazon comp closes the gap with Google L6+. Very few candidates hire at this level externally.
Senior Principal
Senior Principal Software Development Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $185K | $185K | $185K | $185K |
| Equity (annualized) | $380K | $540K | $760K | $1.12M |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $90K | $110K | $130K | $160K |
| Total comp | $650K | $850K | $1.1M | $1.5M |
Senior Principal. Company-wide visibility. External hires extremely rare; mostly internal promotion.
Primary sources
- ·Levels.fyi (public reports, 800+ Amazon data points)
- ·US DOL H1B Disclosure Data (Q4 2025)
- ·WA State Pay Transparency postings (Amazon HQ Seattle)
- ·Public Amazon career-page postings
- ·Comprehensive.io aggregated data
Cross-referenced against public reporting, state pay-transparency postings, and triangulated where source ranges disagreed. Last refresh: 2026-04-29.
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