What startups advertise for founding engineers

Where the number comes from

We collected the open postings with a salary range in US dollars on October 20, 2026, from about 1,700 company job boards on Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever, found from Zelcast’s lists of companies, and from YC’s company jobs pages, and kept the ones with founding in the title and an engineering role, leaving out management titles and postings located only outside the US. That came to 228 postings from 180 companies, 193 of them from YC jobs pages. One role posted in several places counts once, and postings open more than a year are left out. Each company’s postings are reduced to their median midpoint first, so a company with several openings counts once.

Salary

• All companies. Median midpoint $180,000, middle half $155,000 to $200,000, across 180 companies.
• San Francisco Bay Area. Median midpoint $180,000, across 138 companies.
• New York. Median midpoint $200,000, across 32 companies.

Posted ranges are wide. On the median posting the top of the range was 54% above the bottom, so a final offer can land well away from the midpoint.

Equity

YC jobs pages ask companies for an equity range as well as a salary range. Of the founding engineer postings there, 173 from 144 companies gave one. For the median company, the middle of the range was 1.1% of the company, and the middle half of companies fell between 0.75% and 1.5%.

• Companies listing five or fewer people. Median midpoint 1.25%, middle half 0.93% to 1.5%, across 94 companies.
• Companies listing six to fifteen people. Median midpoint 0.75%, middle half 0.55% to 1.18%, across 39 companies.

Team size is the company’s current listing in YC’s directory, which may differ from its size when the role was posted. Companies listing more than fifteen people posted too few founding roles with equity to report. Founding engineer equity covers what else moves the number.

What the data can and can’t tell you

A posting is what a company advertised before any negotiation, and the final offer can land anywhere in the range or outside it. Equity ranges on YC pages are self-reported, and they rarely say whether the percent is of fully diluted shares. Postings say nothing about vesting, the exercise window or how much the company has raised, which decide what the equity is worth. Founding engineer salary covers what companies committed to on federal wage filings, a different source from a different period.

How to use it

If you’re hiring, a posted range centered near $180,000 with equity near 1.1% is where the median company sits. If you’re weighing a founding role, ask for the equity as a percent of fully diluted shares, in writing, and use how to evaluate a startup offer for the rest.