Principal Engineer H-1B salary at Autodesk — 99 certified filings (FY2016–FY2026)
- 5
- Filings · FY2025
- $174k
- Median base · FY2025
- $159k–$188k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- +4%
- vs market median · all years
Autodesk filed 5 certified H-1B LCAs for Principal Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $174k and the middle 50% of offers between $159k and $188k. Across all years its $156k median is 4% above the $150k market median for Principal Engineer. It has filed 99 Principal Engineer LCAs since FY2016, most often in San Francisco, CA.
How much does Autodesk pay a Principal Engineer?
Certified base salary for Principal Engineer at Autodesk by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $174k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Autodesk pay Principal Engineers above the market?
Autodesk's all-years median against every employer's certified Principal Engineer LCAs — 4% above the market. Same cleaned DOL title, same base-salary definition, so the two rows compare like for like.
| Base salary for this title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Autodesk | 99 | $156k |
| All employers · Principal Engineer | 2,679 | $150k |
How has Autodesk's Principal Engineer hiring changed by year?
6 certified Principal Engineer filings in FY2016 → 4 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 4 | −20% | $170k |
| FY2025 | 5 | −69% | $174k |
| FY2024 | 16 | +7% | $166k |
| FY2023 | 15 | +114% | $162k |
| FY2022 | 7 | −53% | $156k |
| FY2021 | 15 | +7% | $145k |
| FY2020 | 14 | +40% | $150k |
| FY2019 | 10 | +233% | $150k |
| FY2018 | 3 | −25% | $142k |
| FY2017 | 4 | −33% | $127k |
| FY2016 | 6 | — | $139k |
Which wage levels does Autodesk file for Principal Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 92% of Autodesk's Principal Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 52 Principal Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II7.7%4
- Level III11.5%6
- Level IV80.8%42
Where does Autodesk hire H-1B Principal Engineers?
Worksite states and cities on the certified filings for this title, all years, with the median base salary at each.
| State | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| California | 84 | $162k |
| Massachusetts | 7 | $142k |
| Georgia | 3 | $147k |
| Oregon | 2 | $134k |
| Michigan | 1 | $147k |
| New Hampshire | 1 | $147k |
| Texas | 1 | $120k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 66 | $164k |
| San Rafael, CA | 12 | $145k |
| Boston, MA | 7 | $142k |
| Atlanta, GA | 2 | $147k |
| Portland, OR | 2 | $134k |
| Tracy, CA | 2 | $166k |
| Antioch, CA | 1 | $170k |
| Cumming, GA | 1 | $125k |
Also filed as
Autodesk's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Principal Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Autodesk
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Software Engineer | 185 | $134k |
| Software Engineer | 173 | $108k |
| Software Development Engineer | 80 | $149k |
| Principal Software Engineer | 50 | $164k |
Top Principal Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Commvault Systems | 103 | $133k |
| Arm | 71 | $160k |
| Sambanova Systems | 65 | $161k |
| Tsmc Technology | 63 | $145k |
| Teksystems Global Services | 53 | $115k |
| Palo Alto Networks | 49 | $193k |
| Cisco Systems | 46 | $185k |
| Fusion Solutions | 33 | $118k |
| Comerica Management | 33 | $144k |
Common questions about Principal Engineer H-1B pay at Autodesk
- How much does Autodesk pay a Principal Engineer on an H-1B?
- Autodesk's median certified H-1B base salary for Principal Engineer is $174k in FY2025, from 5 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $159k and $188k. Across all years the median is $156k.
- How many Principal Engineer H-1B LCAs has Autodesk filed?
- Autodesk has 99 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Principal Engineer on record (FY2016–FY2026), 4 of them in FY2026. That is 4% of its 2,391 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Autodesk pay Principal Engineers above the market?
- Autodesk's all-years median of $156k is 4% above the $150k median for Principal Engineer across all H-1B employers (2,679 certified filings).
- Where does Autodesk hire H-1B Principal Engineers?
- Autodesk's Principal Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Massachusetts, Georgia; the top cities are San Francisco, CA, San Rafael, CA, Boston, MA.
- Does a certified LCA mean an H-1B visa was approved?
- No. A Labor Condition Application (LCA) is the Department of Labor attestation an employer must have certified before filing an H-1B petition with USCIS. It records the job, worksite and offered wage, but not whether the petition was filed, selected in the lottery, or approved. Filing counts measure intent to sponsor, not headcount.
- What salary do these figures show?
- The base annual wage offered on the certified LCA, converted to a yearly amount. Bonus, equity, overtime and benefits are not included, so total compensation is typically higher. Figures are medians and percentiles over certified filings; wages above $5,000,000 a year are excluded as data-entry errors.
- What do prevailing-wage levels I–IV mean?
- The Department of Labor assigns each LCA an OES wage level from I (entry) to IV (fully competent) for the occupation and area. Under the FY2027 wage-weighted H-1B lottery rule, a higher level earns more selection entries, so an employer's level mix is a proxy for how senior its sponsored roles are.
Keep exploring
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification — certified LCA disclosure data through June 2026 (FY2016–FY2026). An LCA is not an approved visa; pay figures are base salary and exclude bonus and equity. Methodology →