Software Engineer Jobs in San Jose, CA

Observed wage data is very high but lagged: software developers averaged $221,710 in May 2025, information security analysts averaged $196,700, QA testers averaged $160,040, and the broader computer and mathematical group had a $186,320 median with a $156,500 25th percentile and $221,680 75th percentile. Proxy pay signals are directionally similar but not identical: local posted ranges center on about $160k to $255k, while mean offered salary on new California openings in this category was ~$140,208 (n=5,902).

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 1,477 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $175,500 at the 25th percentile, $213,000 at the median and $253,500 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

San Jose still offers exceptional upside: software developers averaged $221,710 in the latest local BLS wage release, and the broader computer and mathematical group had a $186,320 median wage. But the market is selective rather than wide open: local Information employment slipped -0.5081% year over year, Professional and Business Services slipped -0.3209%, and sampled openings skew heavily senior and on-site. The metro still showed more than 3,700 postings across more than 750 companies over the last 90 days, and August unemployment was 4.3%, below California's 5.1%, so the market is active if you fit the profile.

Best positioned: Senior backend, platform, cloud, SRE, and security candidates who can show Python, Kubernetes, distributed systems, CI/CD, or C++ depth and are open to on-site or hybrid work have the best odds right now.

Main caution: The biggest trap is assuming San Jose's salary headlines mean broad access: only about 10% of sampled openings were entry level, remote roles were about 5%, and September brought fresh layoff announcements from PayPal and other Bay Area tech employers.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 1,754 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Google Inc: 170 open roles
2. NVIDIA Corporation: 108 open roles
3. Apple, Inc.: 75 open roles
4. Amazon: 52 open roles
5. Meta Inc.: 50 open roles
6. Walmart Inc.: 45 open roles
7. x: 39 open roles
8. ServiceNow: 32 open roles
9. Intuit, Inc.: 28 open roles
10. Cisco Systems, Inc: 26 open roles

Where the openings are

• Sunnyvale: 350
• San Jose: 299
• Santa Clara: 270
• Mountain View: 255
• Palo Alto: 171
• Cupertino: 101
• Menlo Park: 69
• Redwood City: 46

Work arrangement

on-site 1,274 (75%), hybrid 378 (22%), remote 52 (3%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is concentrated in product and infrastructure-heavy employers. In the recent local sample, software development accounted for about 35% of postings, technology about 20%, and computer hardware development, internet & web services, and semiconductor manufacturing about 10% each. Named heavy hitters include Google Inc, Apple, Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, and SheTO, but the employer base is still fragmented rather than dominated by a single company. That mix favors candidates who can build or run systems close to revenue-generating products, not just maintain internal tooling. Access narrows quickly if you are junior or remote-only. About 10% of sampled postings were entry level, about 25% mid, about 50% senior, and about 15% lead+. Work arrangement also tilts local: about 70% of postings were on-site, about 30% hybrid, and about 5% remote. Cybersecurity is attractive but smaller: the metro had an estimated 2,280 information security analyst jobs in May 2025 with a mean wage of $196,700, so it pays well but is not the volume engine that software development is.

• Senior product and platform engineering (high): Best fit for candidates with Python, C++, distributed systems, Kubernetes, or CI/CD depth who can work in software, internet, hardware, and semiconductor environments.
• Cloud, SRE, and infrastructure operations (high): The market's on-site bias and platform-heavy skill mix favor engineers who can own deployment, reliability, observability, containers, and production change management.
• Cybersecurity engineering and security operations (moderate): Security roles pay well locally, and AI-era resilience is becoming more important, but the local seat count is much smaller than core software development.
• Generalist junior IT and help desk (limited): This is the toughest lane because the current mix is light on entry-level roles and heavily local/on-site.

Where to focus: Aim first at senior backend, platform, cloud, or security roles in product, hardware, and semiconductor employers, and broaden only after you have exhausted that higher-fit lane.

Roles worth searching next

• Technical Product Manager: This is a credible pivot for experienced engineers because demand is expected to grow for people with customer-experience, cross-functional engineering, and cross-product-management capability.
• Technical Program Manager: The same local market rewards systems thinking and cross-functional execution, which maps well into technical program leadership.
• Analytics Engineer or Data Platform Engineer: Bay Area employers have been hiring for machine-learning, large-scale computational processing, and big-data skills, making data-platform work a realistic neighboring lane when your background is infrastructure-heavy.
• Sales Engineer or Solutions Consultant: A market led by major software, internet, hardware, and semiconductor employers creates room for technical candidates who can explain complex systems to customers and field teams.

What postings ask for

• Python (table_stakes | immediate): Python appears in about 50% of sampled local postings, making it the clearest common denominator across backend, infrastructure, and automation work. Who: Almost everyone except the most specialized pure-network or support candidates.
• Kubernetes (premium | immediate): Kubernetes shows up in about 20% of sampled postings and matches the metro's strong platform, cloud, and infrastructure bias. Who: Mid-career and senior engineers targeting devops, SRE, cloud, or platform teams.
• Distributed systems (premium | immediate): Distributed systems appears in about 20% of sampled postings, which is a strong signal for a market dominated by large-scale product companies. Who: Backend engineers, platform engineers, and candidates targeting large product firms.
• C++ (differentiator | immediate): C++ appears in about 35% of sampled postings, a higher share than many software markets, which fits San Jose's hardware and semiconductor mix. Who: Engineers targeting systems, performance, embedded-adjacent, or hardware-linked software roles.
• CI/CD (differentiator | near-term): CI/CD appears in about 15% of sampled postings and is a reliable marker for teams that care about shipping velocity and production ownership. Who: Candidates trying to move from feature work into platform, release, or reliability-heavy roles.
• AWS (differentiator | near-term): AWS appears in about 10% of sampled postings, so it is not universal here, but it still helps prove cloud fluency when paired with containers and deployment experience. Who: Cloud, devops, infrastructure, and backend candidates who need clearer production signals.

Questions about this market

What do Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles pay in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Observed wage data is very high but lagged: software developers averaged $221,710 in May 2025, information security analysts averaged $196,700, QA testers averaged $160,040, and the broader computer and mathematical group had a $186,320 median with a $156,500 25th percentile and $221,680 75th percentile. Proxy pay signals are directionally similar but not identical: local posted ranges center on about $160k to $255k, while mean offered salary on new California openings in this category was ~$140,208 (n=5,902). This is a market where strong compensation usually reflects scarce, senior, product-adjacent skills rather than generic coding ability. San Jose's local software developer mean sits far above the national software developer median of $135,980, which is why employers can stay choosy and still fill roles.

Where is demand for Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA concentrated?

Real opportunity is concentrated in product and infrastructure-heavy employers. In the recent local sample, software development accounted for about 35% of postings, technology about 20%, and computer hardware development, internet & web services, and semiconductor manufacturing about 10% each. Named heavy hitters include Google Inc, Apple, Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, and SheTO, but the employer base is still fragmented rather than dominated by a single company. That mix favors candidates who can build or run systems close to revenue-generating products, not just maintain internal tooling. Access narrows quickly if you are junior or remote-only. About 10% of sampled postings were entry level, about 25% mid, about 50% senior, and about 15% lead+. Work arrangement also tilts local: about 70% of postings were on-site, about 30% hybrid, and about 5% remote. Cybersecurity is attractive but smaller: the metro had an estimated 2,280 information security analyst jobs in May 2025 with a mean wage of $196,700, so it pays well but is not the volume engine that software development is.

Which employers are hiring the most Software, IT & Cybersecurity talent in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA?

Recent postings show the most activity from Google Inc (200 postings), Apple, Inc. (150 postings), NVIDIA Corporation (150 postings), SheTO (125 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Software, IT & Cybersecurity roles in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 30% hybrid, with 70% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

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 San Jose, CA openings by job title

• Software Engineer: 366 open roles statewide
• Software Engineer: 960 open roles statewide

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