Senior Software Engineer H-1B salary at Cruise — 83 certified filings (FY2020–FY2026)
- 4
- Filings · FY2025
- $171k
- Median base · FY2025
- $169k–$181k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- +36%
- vs market median · all years
Cruise filed 4 certified H-1B LCAs for Senior Software Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $171k and the middle 50% of offers between $169k and $181k. Across all years its $178k median is 36% above the $131k market median for Senior Software Engineer. It has filed 83 Senior Software Engineer LCAs since FY2020, most often in San Francisco, CA.
How much does Cruise pay a Senior Software Engineer?
Certified base salary for Senior Software Engineer at Cruise by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $171k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Cruise pay Senior Software Engineers above the market?
Cruise's all-years median against every employer's certified Senior Software Engineer LCAs — 36% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cruise | 83 | $178k |
| All employers · Senior Software Engineer | 75,253 | $131k |
How has Cruise's Senior Software Engineer hiring changed by year?
20 certified Senior Software Engineer filings in FY2020 → 3 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 3 | −25% | $235k |
| FY2025 | 4 | −64% | $171k |
| FY2024 | 11 | −15% | $190k |
| FY2023 | 13 | +18% | $167k |
| FY2022 | 11 | −48% | $174k |
| FY2021 | 21 | +5% | $188k |
| FY2020 | 20 | — | $177k |
Which wage levels does Cruise file for Senior Software Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 90% of Cruise's Senior Software Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 70 Senior Software Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II10.0%7
- Level III60.0%42
- Level IV30.0%21
Where does Cruise hire H-1B Senior Software 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 | 77 | $177k |
| Washington | 5 | $184k |
| Texas | 1 | $171k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 73 | $177k |
| Bellevue, WA | 3 | $180k |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 2 | $190k |
| Chino Hills, CA | 1 | $166k |
| Coppell, TX | 1 | $171k |
| Fremont, CA | 1 | $239k |
| Issaquah, WA | 1 | $208k |
| Sammamish, WA | 1 | $190k |
Also filed as
Cruise's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Senior Software Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Cruise
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Software Engineer II | 38 | $205k |
| Senior Machine Learning Engineer | 33 | $205k |
| Software Engineer | 33 | $148k |
Top Senior Software Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart Associates | 3,938 | $150k |
| Microsoft | 3,271 | $155k |
| Uber Technologies | 1,271 | $174k |
| Intuit | 1,165 | $138k |
| Capital One Services | 1,115 | $94k |
| Bloomberg L P | 1,027 | $143k |
| Globallogic | 962 | $108k |
| Epam Systems | 941 | $115k |
| 798 | $133k | |
| Optum Services | 764 | $121k |
Common questions about Senior Software Engineer H-1B pay at Cruise
- How much does Cruise pay a Senior Software Engineer on an H-1B?
- Cruise's median certified H-1B base salary for Senior Software Engineer is $171k in FY2025, from 4 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $169k and $181k. Across all years the median is $178k.
- How many Senior Software Engineer H-1B LCAs has Cruise filed?
- Cruise has 83 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Senior Software Engineer on record (FY2020–FY2026), 3 of them in FY2026. That is 8% of its 1,055 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Cruise pay Senior Software Engineers above the market?
- Cruise's all-years median of $178k is 36% above the $131k median for Senior Software Engineer across all H-1B employers (75,253 certified filings).
- Where does Cruise hire H-1B Senior Software Engineers?
- Cruise's Senior Software Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Washington, Texas; the top cities are San Francisco, CA, Bellevue, WA, Sunnyvale, CA.
- 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
Calculate your H-1B lottery odds →orCheck out the insights →
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification — certified LCA disclosure data through June 2026 (FY2020–FY2026). An LCA is not an approved visa; pay figures are base salary and exclude bonus and equity. Methodology →