Engineering Jobs in San Jose, CA

Observed local wage data is strong. In San Jose, the 2025 median annual wage was $163,920 for architecture and engineering occupations and $121,530 for life, physical, and social science occupations; the 25th-percentile figures were $112,850 and $84,240 respectively. Proxy posting data runs hotter, with local advertised salary ranges centering on about $165k to $252k, but that sample is notably senior-skewed.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 480 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $121,902 at the 25th percentile, $165,464 at the median and $210,250 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

This is still a good market for experienced Engineering & Scientific candidates, but it is not an easy one. San Jose metro unemployment was 4.3% in August 2026, metro nonfarm employment was up 1.6% over the year in August, and California engineering & scientific employment was up 3.1% year-over-year in September, with active postings up 29.9% year-over-year at the state occupation level. The catch is that local demand skews senior and in-person: about 45% of postings are senior, about 25% are lead+, and about 75% are on-site. Pay is strong enough to justify the effort for qualified applicants, with median annual wages of $163,920 for architecture and engineering occupations and $121,530 for life, physical, and social science occupations in the metro.

Best positioned: Your odds are best if you are a mid-career or senior engineer who can show Python, C++, machine learning, PyTorch, or SolidWorks depth and can work on-site in hardware, semiconductor, device, or systems-heavy environments.

Main caution: The biggest misconception is assuming San Jose volume means broad access: only about 10% of postings are entry-level, remote roles are about 5%, and only about 5% of postings that state a policy mention visa sponsorship being available.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 604 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Meta Inc.: 58 open roles
2. Google Inc: 26 open roles
3. Stanford University School Of Medicine: 26 open roles
4. Applied Materials, Inc.: 23 open roles
5. TikTok Inc.: 14 open roles
6. Bytedance: 12 open roles
7. Intuitive: 12 open roles
8. Stanford Medicine: 11 open roles
9. Apple, Inc.: 9 open roles
10. Sandia Corporation: 9 open roles

Where the openings are

• San Jose: 98
• Sunnyvale: 85
• Santa Clara: 70
• Menlo Park: 65
• Mountain View: 55
• Palo Alto: 41
• Stanford: 39
• Fremont: 30

Work arrangement

on-site 504 (85%), hybrid 82 (14%), remote 5 (1%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is concentrated less in generalist engineering and more in product-centered technical work. Over the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 2,100 Engineering & Scientific postings across more than 650 companies, and the mix leaned toward software development at about 20%, semiconductor manufacturing at about 15%, technology at about 15%, computer hardware development at about 15%, and internet and web services at about 10%. The skill mix points the same way: Python appears in about 30% of postings, while C++, machine learning, PyTorch, and SolidWorks each show up in about 10%. The local macro pattern also favors hardware-linked work over broad services hiring. San Jose manufacturing employment was 131.4 thousand and up 1.3889% year-over-year in August 2026, while local professional and business services employment was 279.6 thousand and down -0.3209%. Scientific roles are present, but the metro footprint is much larger in architecture and engineering than in life, physical, and social science occupations, with 48,280 workers versus 10,850 in the 2025 occupational counts.

• Semiconductor and hardware systems (high): This is the clearest concentration of opportunity, supported by local industry mix in semiconductor manufacturing and computer hardware development and by demand for C++, SolidWorks, and systems-adjacent technical skills.
• Applied ML and physical-product engineering (high): Python, machine learning, and PyTorch show up often in postings, and local capital is still flowing into physical-AI and autonomous-machine companies such as SiMa.ai.
• Pure scientific and lab research roles (moderate): These roles exist, but the local employment base is smaller than engineering and a larger share of openings sit behind master's or PhD preferences, so competition can feel tighter and evidence is thinner across sub-specialties.

Where to focus: Prioritize on-site roles where hardware or manufacturing context meets software fluency—especially systems, validation, robotics, semiconductor, device, and productization teams.

Roles worth searching next

• Technical program manager: Project management appears in the local skill mix, so engineers who already coordinate cross-functional delivery can translate well into this path.
• Product manager for hardware or AI platforms: Local demand clusters in hardware, semiconductor, and physical-AI work, making domain-savvy engineers credible candidates for product-side roles in those niches.
• Quality systems or validation specialist: Integrated safety and quality systems are becoming more important in engineering delivery, which creates a realistic bridge for candidates with testing, documentation, or regulated-process experience.
• Manufacturing operations manager: San Jose manufacturing employment was up 1.3889% year-over-year in August 2026, so factory-linked leadership roles can be a practical adjacent path.

What postings ask for

• Python (table_stakes | immediate): Python appears in about 30% of local postings, making it the broadest technical signal across systems, research-adjacent, and applied engineering work. Who: Almost everyone except narrowly specialized legacy-domain candidates.
• C++ (differentiator | immediate): C++ shows up in about 10% of local postings and is especially useful when jobs sit near firmware, performance, devices, robotics, or hardware-software integration. Who: Embedded, systems, robotics, semiconductor, and performance-oriented applicants.
• Machine learning (premium | immediate): Machine learning appears in about 10% of local postings, which is unusually meaningful for an engineering market and reflects demand for applied rather than purely analytical AI work. Who: Engineers moving into perception, controls, optimization, automation, or product intelligence roles.
• PyTorch (premium | near-term): PyTorch appears in about 10% of local postings and pairs well with local investment areas in physical-AI software, autonomous machines, drones, and robotics. Who: Candidates targeting applied ML roles inside hardware, robotics, and device companies.
• SolidWorks (differentiator | immediate): SolidWorks shows up in about 10% of local postings, which is a strong clue that physical-product and mechanical-design workflows still matter in this market. Who: Mechanical, manufacturing, NPI, fixture, and prototype-heavy candidates.
• Project management (differentiator | near-term): Project management appears in the local requested-skill mix, which matters because the market is heavily weighted toward senior and lead roles rather than purely hands-on entry positions. Who: Mid-career engineers, team leads, and career switchers with cross-functional delivery experience.

Questions about this market

What do Engineering & Scientific roles pay in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Observed local wage data is strong. In San Jose, the 2025 median annual wage was $163,920 for architecture and engineering occupations and $121,530 for life, physical, and social science occupations; the 25th-percentile figures were $112,850 and $84,240 respectively. Proxy posting data runs hotter, with local advertised salary ranges centering on about $165k to $252k, but that sample is notably senior-skewed. This is a market where high pay is real, not mythical, but access is uneven. The local annual mean wage for architecture and engineering occupations was $162,460 versus $106,830 nationally, and the local annual mean wage for life, physical, and social science occupations was $129,000 versus $94,600 nationally.

Where is demand for Engineering & Scientific roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA concentrated?

Real opportunity is concentrated less in generalist engineering and more in product-centered technical work. Over the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 2,100 Engineering & Scientific postings across more than 650 companies, and the mix leaned toward software development at about 20%, semiconductor manufacturing at about 15%, technology at about 15%, computer hardware development at about 15%, and internet and web services at about 10%. The skill mix points the same way: Python appears in about 30% of postings, while C++, machine learning, PyTorch, and SolidWorks each show up in about 10%. The local macro pattern also favors hardware-linked work over broad services hiring. San Jose manufacturing employment was 131.4 thousand and up 1.3889% year-over-year in August 2026, while local professional and business services employment was 279.6 thousand and down -0.3209%. Scientific roles are present, but the metro footprint is much larger in architecture and engineering than in life, physical, and social science occupations, with 48,280 workers versus 10,850 in the 2025 occupational counts.

Which employers are hiring the most Engineering & Scientific talent in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Recent postings show the most activity from Apple, Inc. (more than 75 postings), NVIDIA Corporation (more than 75 postings), SheTO (more than 50 postings), Google Inc (more than 50 postings), Meta Inc. (more than 40 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse California openings by job title

• Software Engineer: 960 open roles statewide
• General Manager: 528 open roles statewide
• Project Manager: 392 open roles statewide
• Product Manager: 379 open roles statewide
• Program Manager: 326 open roles statewide
• Technical Program Manager: 265 open roles statewide
• Senior Software Engineer: 206 open roles statewide
• Staff Software Engineer: 156 open roles statewide
• Engineering Manager: 146 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 129 open roles statewide
• Associate Director: 92 open roles statewide
• Senior Product Manager: 84 open roles statewide

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