Snowflake Software Engineer Compensation
IC IC2-IC6, manager M4-Director. RSUs in publicly-traded SNOW. Distributed-systems / database roles see top-of-band offers.
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
Snowflake uses IC-prefixed levels (IC2 entry through IC6 distinguished) and M-prefixed for managers. Equity is RSUs in publicly-traded SNOW, vesting 25/25/25/25 with quarterly cliffs. Bonus targets are 12-15% IC, 15-20% manager. Snowflake's hiring is concentrated in distributed-systems, database internals, and ML/data-platform roles - generic full-stack roles see comp 10-15% below the IC4-IC5 medians shown.
Levels
IC2
Software Engineer (New Grad)| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $145K | $160K | $175K | $190K |
| Equity (annualized) | $40K | $60K | $85K | $115K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $12K | $15K | $18K | $22K |
| Total comp | $200K | $235K | $275K | $320K |
Entry-level. Equity is RSUs in publicly-traded SNOW; new-grad grants have stabilized post-2022 stock reset.
IC3
Software Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $185K | $205K | $225K | $245K |
| Equity (annualized) | $75K | $115K | $165K | $230K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $22K | $28K | $35K | $42K |
| Total comp | $290K | $350K | $420K | $510K |
Mid-level IC. Distributed-systems / database engineering roles see top-of-band offers.
IC4
Senior Software Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $220K | $245K | $270K | $295K |
| Equity (annualized) | $130K | $195K | $280K | $390K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $40K | $50K | $60K | $75K |
| Total comp | $400K | $490K | $600K | $740K |
Senior IC. Common ladder for engineers from FAANG L5 / Databricks IC4.
IC5
Staff Software Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $265K | $290K | $315K | $340K |
| Equity (annualized) | $215K | $320K | $460K | $640K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $60K | $70K | $85K | $100K |
| Total comp | $540K | $680K | $860K | $1.08M |
Staff IC. Equity dominates.
IC6
Principal / Distinguished Engineer| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $305K | $335K | $365K | $395K |
| Equity (annualized) | $340K | $510K | $745K | $1.07M |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $85K | $95K | $110K | $130K |
| Total comp | $730K | $940K | $1.22M | $1.6M |
Principal IC. External hires rare. Most often internal promotion from IC5.
Primary sources
- ·Levels.fyi (public reports, 200+ Snowflake data points)
- ·US DOL H1B Disclosure Data (Q4 2025)
- ·CA Pay Transparency postings (Snowflake San Mateo / Bay Area)
- ·WA State Pay Transparency postings (Snowflake Bellevue)
- ·Public Snowflake 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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