6 European Tech Companies Paying €100k+ to Engineers (2026)
ByteDance, Coinbase, Airbnb, Rippling and 2 more: their European offices, real salary data, and what they look for in engineers in 2026. Final part of our 26-company series.
This is the final part of our 3-part series on European tech companies paying €100k+ to engineers. Part 1 covered Stripe, Databricks, Datadog, and 7 others, and Part 2 covered Wolt, Bolt, Atlassian, Bloomberg, and 6 more.
Here we finish with 6 companies: ByteDance (TikTok's parent, distinct from the TikTok entity), Coinbase, Pinterest, Airbnb, Etsy, and Rippling. Some of these have quieter European profiles than the household names in Parts 1 and 2 — but that's often where the opportunity lies.
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Key Takeaways
- Rippling is the fastest-growing company on this list — Series F, $13.5B valuation, and Dublin is their EU beachhead. Engineers here get to build at scale with startup energy.
- Airbnb went fully remote after COVID and continues to hire senior engineers across Europe. One of the clearest examples of location-agnostic Big Tech comp available in Europe.
- Coinbase pioneered remote-first at scale in crypto — their EU hiring is mature and compensation is competitive with traditional fintech.
- ByteDance (the parent entity, focused on AI research) pays significantly above TikTok on the technical side — ML researchers in London can hit €200k+.
- For context on how EU compensation compares across all levels and cities, see senior engineer compensation maximization guide.
Quick Overview: Salary Ranges (EU)
| Company | EU Hub(s) | Senior SWE Total Comp | Equity? |
|---|---|---|---|
| ByteDance | London, Dublin | €120k–€220k | Yes (RSUs) |
| Coinbase | Dublin, London, remote EU | €120k–€210k | Yes (RSUs) |
| Dublin | €110k–€185k | Yes (RSUs) | |
| Airbnb | Remote EU, Dublin | €130k–€220k | Yes (RSUs) |
| Etsy | Dublin | €100k–€175k | Yes (RSUs) |
| Rippling | Dublin (expanding) | €130k–€220k | Yes (options/RSUs) |
Senior SWE = IC4 equivalent. Total comp includes base + bonus + equity (annualized).
1. ByteDance
What they do: The parent company of TikTok, CapCut, Lark, and multiple other products — but what's relevant for European engineering is ByteDance's AI research operations. ByteDance runs one of the world's largest AI research teams, and they've been quietly building that out in London.
Note: TikTok's EU engineering was covered in Part 2. ByteDance as a separate entity focuses on AI research, ads infrastructure, and ByteDance-branded products (not TikTok).
European presence: London (primary AI research hub), Dublin, and remote AI roles across Europe. ByteDance's London AI team focuses on large language models, multimodal AI, and foundational AI infrastructure.
Salary snapshot (EU — AI/Research roles, London):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Engineer | £90k | £12k | £40k | £142k |
| Senior Research Engineer | £120k–£145k | £18k | £65k | £203k–£228k |
| Principal / Staff Research Engineer | £160k | £28k | £100k | £288k |
Standard engineering (non-research) roles are in the lower range; AI research and ML infrastructure roles attract the higher comp.
What they look for: PhD-preferred for research roles (but not required), deep Python and C++ for ML systems, PyTorch internals knowledge, distributed training infrastructure, and RLHF/fine-tuning experience. ByteDance moves faster than most large companies on AI — the research-to-production cycle is measured in weeks.
Why it's a strong bet: The regulatory uncertainty around TikTok doesn't apply to ByteDance's core AI research operations, which are treated as a separate entity. Access to ByteDance's training compute budget and data at scale is rare outside of Google/OpenAI. If you're an ML engineer, this is one of the most technically rich environments in Europe.
2. Coinbase
What they do: The largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency exchange, with 100M+ verified users and growing institutional products (custody, derivatives, and Base — their Ethereum L2 blockchain). Coinbase is the Blue Chip of crypto — large, regulated, and building for long-term infrastructure, not just speculation.
European presence: Dublin (EU entity for regulatory compliance, significant engineering), London, and a remote-first policy that covers most EU countries. Coinbase has one of the most mature remote-first cultures of any company in crypto or fintech.
Salary snapshot (EU):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer (E4) | €85k–€100k | €10k | €35k | €130k–€145k |
| Senior Software Engineer (E5) | €115k–€135k | €15k | €60k | €190k–€210k |
| Staff Software Engineer (E6) | €145k–€165k | €20k | €85k | €250k–€270k |
What they look for: Go, TypeScript, Python for product engineering; Rust and Solidity for blockchain/protocol work. Distributed systems, financial transaction processing, and security engineering are core. Coinbase's regulatory environment means compliance engineering is a real specialty here.
Why it's a strong bet: Coinbase is one of the few crypto companies that survived the 2022 bear market without going bankrupt or cutting to the bone. They're NASDAQ-listed, SEC-regulated, and building for the institutional adoption phase of crypto. The stock price is correlated to Bitcoin, which adds equity volatility — factor that into your total comp analysis. Dublin base with Coinbase is a solid combination for EU tax optimization.
3. Pinterest
What they do: Visual discovery and shopping platform with 500M+ monthly active users. Pinterest's engineering challenges are in recommendation systems, computer vision (visual search), and e-commerce infrastructure — more technically sophisticated than the product's casual image implies.
European presence: Dublin is the EU engineering hub, with a meaningful team size relative to Pinterest's total engineer headcount. Dublin handles some of Pinterest's international and compliance engineering.
Salary snapshot (EU — Dublin):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer (IC3) | €85k | €9k | €25k | €119k |
| Senior Software Engineer (IC4) | €110k–€125k | €13k | €50k | €173k–€188k |
| Staff Software Engineer (IC5) | €145k | €17k | €75k | €237k |
What they look for: Python, Java, Go, C++ for visual search and recommendation. Pinterest uses a significant amount of ML in production — Pinterest Lens (visual search) is powered by deep learning at scale. Data engineers and ML infrastructure engineers are in high demand.
Why it's a strong bet: Pinterest is publicly listed, profitable, and growing its revenue per user through shopping features. The engineering culture is thoughtful and less pressure-driven than some other US Big Tech companies. Dublin is a strong base — see best countries for software engineers in 2026 for how Ireland stacks up on savings.
4. Airbnb
What they do: The global marketplace for home-sharing and travel experiences. Airbnb's engineering complexity is underappreciated: real-time pricing and availability systems for 7M+ listings, trust and safety at scale, search and ranking across languages, and a mobile-first product used by hundreds of millions.
European presence: Airbnb made the boldest remote work commitment of any major tech company — in 2022 they announced employees could "live and work anywhere." Their EU headcount is genuinely distributed, with a Dublin entity and engineers spread across Germany, Netherlands, UK, France, Spain, and Eastern Europe.
Salary snapshot (EU — remote/distributed):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer (L4) | €100k | €11k | €38k | €149k |
| Senior Software Engineer (L5) | €130k–€150k | €16k | €65k | €211k–€231k |
| Staff Software Engineer (L6) | €165k | €22k | €95k | €282k |
Airbnb's remote policy means these ranges apply roughly across EU geographies at equivalent levels.
What they look for: Strong generalist engineers — Java, Python, Kotlin, Swift. Search and discovery systems experience is a differentiator. Airbnb values product engineering mindset — engineers who think about user impact, not just technical correctness.
Why it's a strong bet: Airbnb's remote policy is the real prize. A Staff-level €282k TC package while living in Lisbon (low cost of living, NHR tax regime) or Warsaw (IP Box at 5% tax) is the geo-arbitrage dream scenario in practice. Airbnb's travel vertical is back to all-time highs post-COVID, and the core business is cash-generative. See working remotely for US companies from Europe for the full picture on how this plays out.
5. Etsy
What they do: Global marketplace for handmade and vintage goods — 90M+ active buyers, 9M+ sellers. Etsy's engineering handles personalization, seller tools, payments infrastructure, and search/discovery across a very diverse catalogue.
European presence: Dublin is the EU engineering hub. Etsy's Dublin team handles international platform engineering and some product work. They also have remote flexibility across the EU.
Salary snapshot (EU — Dublin):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | €80k–€95k | €9k | €22k | €111k–€126k |
| Senior Software Engineer | €105k–€125k | €13k | €45k | €163k–€183k |
| Staff Software Engineer | €140k | €17k | €65k | €222k |
What they look for: PHP (legacy Etsy), Python, Java, and TypeScript for newer systems. Etsy is in the middle of a multi-year platform modernization — engineers who can work in or migrate from older codebases are valued. E-commerce, payments, and search personalization experience is relevant.
Why it's a strong bet: Etsy is one of the most socially conscious public tech companies — their B Corp certification and climate commitments are genuine (they've been carbon neutral since 2019). If company values matter to you beyond the comp, Etsy is notable. Dublin compensation at Etsy is solid for the EU, and Dublin's total comp can be combined with Ireland's tech ecosystem for good career progression.
6. Rippling
What they do: HR, IT, and finance platform on a single unified system — manage payroll, benefits, devices, apps, and expenses in one place. Rippling is one of the fastest-growing enterprise SaaS companies globally, having reached $350M+ ARR and a $13.5B valuation.
European presence: Dublin is the EU beachhead — Rippling opened their Dublin office as part of their international expansion, and it's growing fast. This is still relatively early-stage EU presence (compared to, say, Salesforce Dublin), which creates opportunity for engineers who want to shape the EU engineering culture from the ground up.
Salary snapshot (EU — Dublin):
| Level | Base | Bonus | Equity/yr | Total Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | €95k–€110k | €11k | €35k | €141k–€156k |
| Senior Software Engineer | €125k–€145k | €16k | €60k | €201k–€221k |
| Staff Software Engineer | €155k–€175k | €22k | €85k | €262k–€282k |
Rippling tends to pay at the upper end of Dublin market rates to attract strong engineers to a less established brand.
What they look for: Full-stack engineers who can work across the stack (Python/Django backend, React frontend). Strong product sense and ownership. Rippling moves extremely fast — they ship features in weeks that larger companies take quarters to build.
Why it's a strong bet: Rippling is Series F and growing revenues at 70%+ annually. Pre-IPO equity at a company with strong unit economics could be very valuable — but unlike earlier-stage startups, Rippling has product-market fit and real revenue to back up the valuation. Dublin location means working in one of Europe's most established US-tech-company ecosystems. See breaking into Big Tech Europe from lower competition — Rippling is exactly the type of company you'd target as a growth-stage stepping stone.
The Full Picture: All 26 Companies at a Glance
Across all three parts of this series, here are the compensation tiers for senior engineers:
Tier 1: €200k–€310k+ Total Comp (Senior SWE)
- Stripe (Amsterdam/Dublin): €277k–€307k
- Databricks (Amsterdam): €228k–€297k
- Snowflake (Dublin/London): €195k–€250k
- Waymo (EU remote): €260k+
- Airbnb (remote EU): €211k–€231k
- Rippling (Dublin): €201k–€221k
Tier 2: €150k–€200k Total Comp (Senior SWE)
- Datadog: €182k
- Salesforce: €175k–€195k
- HubSpot: €157k–€172k
- Atlassian: €183k–€198k
- ByteDance (London): €203k–€228k
- Bloomberg (London): £178k–£193k (≈ €200k–€225k)
- Coinbase: €190k–€210k
- Pinterest: €173k–€188k
Tier 3: €100k–€160k Total Comp (Senior SWE)
- Revolut: €159k–€179k
- Wise: €142k–€162k
- Splunk: €169k–€184k
- Adobe: €163k–€183k
- Wolt: €131k–€151k
- Bolt: €118k–€138k
- Snap (London): £178k–£193k (≈ €200k+ at current rate)
- Unity: €150k–€170k
- Docker: €163k–€183k
- TikTok: £172k–£192k (≈ €200k+)
- JetBrains: €130k–€155k
- Etsy: €163k–€183k
Note: Sterling-denominated salaries converted at ~1.17 EUR/GBP. All figures are approximations based on community-reported data.
How to Maximize What You Keep
Getting the offer is one thing. Maximizing your take-home is another.
| City | Best Companies Hiring There | Estimated Net Savings (Senior, €180k TC) |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin | Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, Snowflake, Coinbase, Pinterest, Rippling, Etsy | €65k–€85k/yr |
| Amsterdam | Databricks, Atlassian, Wise (partial) | €70k–€90k/yr |
| London | Bloomberg, Snap, TikTok, ByteDance | £48k–£70k/yr after UK tax |
| Tallinn | Bolt, Wise | €85k–€110k/yr (low cost + low tax) |
| Helsinki | Wolt | €80k–€100k/yr (best Nordic savings) |
| Remote (from Poland/Romania) | Airbnb, Docker, Atlassian | €90k–€120k/yr with IP Box tax regime |
For a deeper breakdown of the remote + low-cost-low-tax strategy, see geo-arbitrage for European software engineers.
FAQ
Is Rippling worth joining pre-IPO versus already-public companies like Coinbase or Pinterest?
Different risk profiles. Rippling's private equity comes with liquidity risk — you can't sell until IPO or secondary market. However, at $13.5B valuation with 70%+ ARR growth, the risk/reward is interesting if you believe in an eventual IPO at 5–10x current valuation. Coinbase and Pinterest offer publicly-traded RSUs you can sell at vesting. Rippling's upside ceiling is higher, but Coinbase/Pinterest give you certainty. General rule: if you're early career or need liquidity, take public-company RSUs. If you have financial cushion, pre-IPO equity at a company like Rippling is worth considering.
How does Airbnb's fully remote policy work in practice for European engineers?
It's genuine. Airbnb allows employees to work from any country where they have a legal entity or EOR (employer of record) arrangement. In Europe, they cover the UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, and several more. The constraint: you need to be in a covered country (not every EU country), and you need to overlap ~4–6 hours with California time (so working 2pm–10pm CET if your team is US-based). In exchange, you get US-equivalent comp from a low-cost EU city. See working from Europe for US remote salary for the full playbook.
Are any of these companies actively hiring in Eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria)?
Yes — Atlassian (remote EU), Docker (remote EU), and Airbnb (remote EU) all hire in Eastern Europe through EOR arrangements. Coinbase has also hired in Poland. ByteDance has some Poland hiring. The advantage of landing one of these roles from an Eastern European base is significant: €180k total comp in Warsaw (with IP Box) can leave you saving €100k–€120k/year. See Poland: Europe's top place for software engineers and central Europe deep dive.
How does ByteDance's AI research differ from TikTok's engineering?
ByteDance AI research (covered here) and TikTok engineering (covered in Part 2) are different entities. TikTok engineering focuses on product engineering for the TikTok app — recommendation serving, video infrastructure, ads. ByteDance research focuses on foundational AI — LLMs, multimodal models, research tooling, and training infrastructure. Comp is higher at ByteDance research (£200k+ for senior researchers), but the work is more research-oriented and roles are fewer. For most product engineers, TikTok is the more accessible path.
Which of these 6 companies should a junior/mid engineer (2–4 years exp.) target?
Etsy and Pinterest are generally considered the most accessible for mid-level engineers — less competitive than Stripe/Databricks, with solid Dublin-based cultures. Coinbase has historically been good at onboarding mid-level engineers who are crypto-curious. Rippling is worth a shot if you want startup-paced growth — they're hiring fast and may be less selective at mid-level than established Big Tech. Airbnb and Bytedance tend to be senior-heavy. See breaking into Big Tech Europe from lower competition for a systematic approach.
This concludes our 3-part series on 26 European tech companies paying €100k+ to engineers. Read the full series: Part 1 (Stripe, Databricks, Datadog, and 7 more) · Part 2 (Wolt, Bolt, Atlassian, Bloomberg, and 6 more).