# Where engineers in Europe get paid most, Q4 2026

The 50 employers hiring software engineers in Europe that pay a senior engineer the most, ranked by Euro Top Tech's pay model, with what that engineer keeps a year after tax and living costs, where each employer hires and how many roles are open. Q4 2026 edition, as of Nov 6, 2026.

Data as of Nov 6, 2026; open-now counts and role links read Nov 10, 2026. Canonical page: https://www.eurotoptech.com/research/top-paying-tech-employers-europe

## Key findings

- OpenAI, Anthropic, Isomorphic Labs, Sierra, Jane Street and Citadel Securities share the top figure, hiring mostly in London: about €306k a year in total pay for a senior software engineer, and about €160k of it kept after tax and living costs.
- London is where 37 of the 50 hire most, then Dublin (5) and Amsterdam (3).
- By pay tier: 7 in the Elite tier, 13 in the Top tier and 30 in the Big tech tier. No employer below the big tech pay baseline makes the list.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) has the most open software roles on the list (464); every employer here had at least 10 on Nov 6, 2026.
- 12 of the 50 state a pay range on at least one open software role. Anthropic's ranges sit highest: a median midpoint of €332k across 34 postings. Ranges are often base pay only and cover every level, so they do not compare one to one with the senior total pay figures here.

## The list (top 50)

| Rank | Employer | Pay tier | Senior engineer pay | Kept a year | Hires most in | Open software roles | Posted pay midpoint (n) | Open now | Best-paid open engineering role |
| ---: | --- | --- | ---: | ---: | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| 1 | OpenAI | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 33 of 57 software postings | 43 | €277k (n=4) | 68 | [Forward Deployed Engineer - Zurich](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/forward-deployed-engineer-zurich-openai-zurich-2484122) |
| 2 | Anthropic | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 33 of 54 software postings | 42 | €332k (n=34) | 67 | [Senior/Staff Security Engineer, Detection & Response](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-staff-security-engineer-detection-response-anthropic-zurich-2499336) |
| 3 | Isomorphic Labs | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 17 of 17 software postings | 17 | none posted | 29 | [Senior Security Engineer (AI Safety), London, Lausanne](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-security-engineer-ai-safety-london-lausanne-isomorphic-labs-lausanne-2503749) |
| 4 | Sierra | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 16 of 21 software postings | 17 | €272k (n=19) | 38 | [Software Engineer, Agent (Dutch speaking)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/software-engineer-agent-dutch-speaking-sierra-london-2502583) |
| 5 | Jane Street | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 14 of 14 software postings | 14 | none posted | 20 | [Machine Learning Compiler Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/machine-learning-compiler-engineer-jane-street-london-2517772) |
| 6 | Citadel Securities | Elite | €306k | €160k | London, 16 of 18 software postings | 11 | none posted | 11 | [C++ Software Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/c-software-engineer-citadel-securities-zurich-2441865) |
| 7 | G-Research | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 103 of 103 software postings | 70 | none posted | 76 | [Lead Network Reliability Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/lead-network-reliability-engineer-g-research-london-2464417) |
| 8 | DRW | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 46 of 48 software postings | 44 | none posted | 47 | [FICC Options Execution - Senior Software Engineer (Crypto)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/ficc-options-execution-senior-software-engineer-crypto-drw-london-2523135) |
| 9 | Google DeepMind | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 32 of 37 software postings | 37 | €132k (n=1) | 44 | [Senior Security Engineer, Agentic Red Team, DeepMind](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-security-engineer-agentic-red-team-deepmind-google-deepmind-zurich-2510876) |
| 10 | Meta | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 17 of 30 software postings | 27 | none posted | 45 | [Software Engineer - Technical Leadership](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/software-engineer-technical-leadership-meta-london-2473337) |
| 11 | Jump Trading Group | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 22 of 25 software postings | 23 | none posted | 23 | [C++ Software Engineer / Trading Team](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/c-software-engineer-trading-team-jump-trading-group-london-2503768) |
| 12 | Palantir Technologies | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 20 of 26 software postings | 21 | none posted | 30 | [Software Engineer – Query Engines](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/software-engineer-query-engines-palantir-technologies-london-2478741) |
| 13 | Normal Computing | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 16 of 16 software postings | 16 | none posted | 17 | [Hardware Engineer, FPGA](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/hardware-engineer-fpga-normal-computing-london-2519239) |
| 14 | Wintermute | Top | €270k | €133k | London, 11 of 11 software postings | 11 | none posted | 14 | [Infrastructure Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/infrastructure-engineer-wintermute-london-2502836) |
| 15 | Stripe | Top | €253k | €83k | Dublin, 30 of 68 software postings | 58 | none posted | 163 | [Staff Security Engineer, Abuse Control](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-security-engineer-abuse-control-stripe-london-2475173) |
| 16 | Susquehanna International Group | Top | €253k | €83k | Dublin, 46 of 61 software postings | 33 | none posted | 58 | [Senior Linux Platform Development Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-linux-platform-development-engineer-susquehanna-international-group-dublin-2468427) |
| 17 | Point72 | Top | €247k | €133k | London, 10 of 21 software postings | 18 | none posted | 27 | [Senior Data Engineer, Mi-Platform](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-data-engineer-mi-platform-point72-2503996) |
| 18 | Qube Research & Technologies | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 72 of 99 software postings | 85 | none posted | 95 | [Senior Security Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-security-engineer-qube-research-technologies-london-2504203) |
| 19 | Bloomberg | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 51 of 69 software postings | 54 | none posted | 86 | [Senior Software Engineer - Data Technologies Pipelines](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-software-engineer-data-technologies-pipelines-bloomberg-london-2523357) |
| 20 | TikTok | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 31 of 52 software postings | 47 | none posted | 481 | [Senior Engineer of Audio and Visual Operation - IT](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-engineer-of-audio-and-visual-operation-it-tiktok-london-2515743) |
| 21 | Reflection AI | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 21 of 21 software postings | 21 | none posted | 23 | [Member of Technical Staff - Engineering Lead, Data Acquisition](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/member-of-technical-staff-engineering-lead-data-acquisition-reflection-ai-london-2519345) |
| 22 | Scale AI | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 15 of 19 software postings | 19 | none posted | 27 | [Principal Software Engineer, GPS](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/principal-software-engineer-gps-scale-ai-london-2519758) |
| 23 | OLIX | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 11 of 15 software postings | 15 | €199k (n=9) | 18 | [Senior/Staff Analog Design Engineer - SerDes](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-staff-analog-design-engineer-serdes-olix-bristol-2507947) |
| 24 | Millennium | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 13 of 13 software postings | 13 | none posted | 17 | [Senior Quantitative Developer (C++) - Execution Technology](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-quantitative-developer-c-execution-technology-millennium-london-2524126) |
| 25 | ByteDance | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 12 of 13 software postings | 11 | none posted | 36 | [Backend Software Engineer (Storage SRE) - Cloud Infrastructure](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/backend-software-engineer-storage-sre-cloud-infrastructure-bytedance-dublin-2513824) |
| 26 | Clear Street | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 7 of 11 software postings | 11 | none posted | 15 | [Senior Software Engineer - Front End - Studio (Core)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-software-engineer-front-end-studio-core-clear-street-london-2503316) |
| 27 | JD.COM | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 7 of 11 software postings | 11 | none posted | 210 | [Senior Installation Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-installation-engineer-jd-com-west-midlands-2515619) |
| 28 | Maven Securities | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 8 of 11 software postings | 11 | none posted | 18 | [Python Developer - Data & Analytics Team - Options Market Making](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/python-developer-data-analytics-team-options-market-making-maven-securities-london-2503853) |
| 29 | Callosum | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 10 of 10 software postings | 10 | none posted | 10 | [Research Engineer, Evals - Member of Technical Staff](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/research-engineer-evals-member-of-technical-staff-callosum-london-2520822) |
| 30 | Granola | Big tech | €235k | €107k | London, 10 of 10 software postings | 10 | €135k (n=5) | 13 | [Product Engineer (Backend)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/product-engineer-backend-granola-old-street-2502853) |
| 31 | Optiver | Elite | €228k | €129k | Amsterdam, 24 of 29 software postings | 28 | none posted | 42 | [Principal Data Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/principal-data-engineer-optiver-amsterdam-2499590) |
| 32 | Anduril | Big tech | €220k | €107k | London, 13 of 27 software postings | 27 | none posted | 39 | [Staff Product Security Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-product-security-engineer-anduril-london-2503145) |
| 33 | Google | Big tech | €220k | €87k | London, 41 of 182 software postings | 161 | €95k (n=97) | 354 | [Staff Security Engineer, Dynamic Reasoning and NextGen Detection and Response](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-security-engineer-dynamic-reasoning-and-nextgen-detection-and-response-google-zurich-2518395) |
| 34 | MongoDB | Big tech | €220k | €68k | Dublin, 25 of 51 software postings | 39 | €69k (n=3) | 74 | [Staff Site Reliability Engineer, InfraSec](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-site-reliability-engineer-infrasec-mongodb-dublin-2523649) |
| 35 | Virtu Financial | Big tech | €220k | €68k | Dublin, 10 of 11 software postings | 11 | none posted | 12 | [Core Operations Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/core-operations-engineer-virtu-financial-dublin-2518793) |
| 36 | CrowdStrike | Big tech | €215k | €107k | United Kingdom (country-wide roles), 45 of 127 software postings | 65 | €70k (n=1) | 91 | [Sr. Network Engineer - Data Center and Cloud (Hybrid, London)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/sr-network-engineer-data-center-and-cloud-hybrid-london-crowdstrike-london-2466803) |
| 37 | IonQ | Big tech | €215k | €107k | Oxford, 24 of 38 software postings | 36 | none posted | 41 | [Staff Quality Assurance Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-quality-assurance-engineer-ionq-geneva-2508527) |
| 38 | Atlassian | Big tech | €215k | €107k | London, 8 of 22 software postings | 17 | none posted | 83 | [Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, AI (Remote UK)](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/principal-forward-deployed-engineer-ai-remote-uk-atlassian-london-2471550) |
| 39 | Apple | Big tech | €215k | €83k | London, 15 of 56 software postings | 55 | €48k (n=1) | 100 | [Senior Swift Software Engineer, Employee Engagement Engineering](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-swift-software-engineer-employee-engagement-engineering-apple-cork-2500506) |
| 40 | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Big tech | €215k | €71k | Dublin, 122 of 529 software postings | 464 | none posted | 792 | [Principal Engineer, Nitro System, EC2](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/principal-engineer-nitro-system-ec2-amazon-web-services-aws-berlin-2482343) |
| 41 | Harvey | Big tech | €213k | €83k | London, 7 of 18 software postings | 13 | none posted | 52 | [Research Engineer / Scientist, Reinforcement Learning](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/research-engineer-scientist-reinforcement-learning-harvey-london-2515101) |
| 42 | Snowflake | Big tech | €205k | €94k | London, 12 of 38 software postings | 35 | none posted | 56 | [Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise Team](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-software-engineer-enterprise-team-snowflake-zurich-2509939) |
| 43 | NVIDIA | Big tech | €205k | €78k | United Kingdom (country-wide roles), 33 of 215 software postings | 95 | €107k (n=58) | 119 | [Senior Libraries Engineer – AI and HPC](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-libraries-engineer-ai-and-hpc-nvidia-2463093) |
| 44 | Amazon | Big tech | €205k | €71k | London, 184 of 634 software postings | 429 | none posted | 1,605 | [Senior Software Engineer – Backend, RIVR](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-software-engineer-backend-rivr-amazon-zurich-2484732) |
| 45 | Helsing | Big tech | €205k | €71k | Munich, 60 of 97 software postings | 92 | none posted | 138 | [Staff AI Research Engineer - Computer Vision](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-ai-research-engineer-computer-vision-helsing-munich-2523658) |
| 46 | Applied Intuition | Big tech | €205k | €71k | London, 13 of 36 software postings | 30 | €125k (n=7) | 33 | [Senior GNC Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-gnc-engineer-applied-intuition-london-2502751) |
| 47 | Axon | Big tech | €205k | €71k | London, 9 of 26 software postings | 19 | none posted | 39 | [Staff Software Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/staff-software-engineer-axon-london-2508424) |
| 48 | Databricks | Top | €201k | €108k | Amsterdam, 30 of 141 software postings | 93 | none posted | 147 | [Senior Staff Software Engineer - Delta](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/senior-staff-software-engineer-delta-databricks-zurich-2498232) |
| 49 | IMC Trading | Top | €201k | €108k | Amsterdam, 23 of 40 software postings | 36 | none posted | 47 | [Quant Developer DeFi - Digital Assets](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/quant-developer-defi-digital-assets-imc-trading-zug-49297) |
| 50 | Snap Inc. | Big tech | €195k | €107k | Abingdon, 6 of 24 software postings | 20 | none posted | 41 | [Cloud Software Engineer](https://www.eurotoptech.com/jobs/preview/cloud-software-engineer-snap-inc-zurich-2501180) |

Senior engineer pay: total compensation (bonus and equity included) the Euro Top Tech pay model gives a senior software engineer at the employer, median over its open software postings, each read in its own city. Kept a year: modeled savings after tax and a comfortable cost of living at that pay, same median. Open software roles: distinct roles on the as-of date.

## Method

Who is on the list: employers on the Euro Top Tech board with a researched pay tier and at least 10 distinct open software engineering roles on Nov 6, 2026. 157 of the 256 tiered employers with open software roles cleared that bar (8,508 software postings read); this edition lists the top 50. Companies that hire only through remote roles are not ranked here, since what you keep depends on the city you live in.

The pay figure: what the board's own pay model gives a senior software engineer at the employer, total compensation including bonus and equity. It is the city's big tech baseline (self-reported software engineer medians) times the employer's pay tier, a measure of how it pays against Google in the same country, curated by hand. The figure is read in the city of each open software posting and the median is taken, so an employer is priced where it actually hires. Holding one level keeps an employer hiring mostly juniors from ranking below one hiring staff engineers at lower pay.

What you keep: the same model's yearly savings at that pay in that city, after income tax, social contributions and a comfortable cost of living, the median taken the same way. It is the figure on the job cards and in the Compensation Report.

Order: pay first, then what you keep, then open software roles. Employers in the same pay tier hiring in the same city share a figure, so ties are common; the order among them follows the next columns.

Open roles: distinct roles, one employer and one title, however many cities it is posted in. The edition counts them on its as-of date; the open now column reads the board again every hour. Posted pay: where open software postings state a range, the median of their midpoints in euros, as a check on the model.

Pay tier is a pay measure, not a prestige ranking. Editions come out once a quarter and each is stored as published, so earlier editions stay readable and the next one shows who moved up, who is new and who dropped out.

## Cite this list

Source: Euro Top Tech, "Where engineers in Europe get paid most" (Q4 2026, data as of Nov 6, 2026), https://www.eurotoptech.com/research/top-paying-tech-employers-europe

You may reference this list with attribution to Euro Top Tech and a link to the page.