This article is part of an ongoing series that will take a deeper look at the jobs featured in our annual Austin Tech Salaries Guide.
The salary range for a senior backend developer in Austin is between $110,000 and $130,000, according to the latest data compiled by Built In.
Job Outlook
Due to the growing popularity of mobile devices and online shopping, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that web developer jobs will grow 27% from 2014 to 2024—much faster than the average for any other occupation.
As the Austin startup market continues to show healthy growth, backend web development will be an essential need for any startup or tech company.
At any given time, our job board has numerous backend developer jobs on offer, and generally these positions are in demand and well-paid.
Austin vs. National Average
On average, a backend developer in the U.S. makes $115,120, according to research from CyberCoders, a leading national recruiting firm.
Built In Austin’s salary range of $110,000 to $130,000 is based on a survey of hiring managers at local tech companies. Salary is dependent on company size, employee experience, and the negotiating ability of the employers and applicants. (Note: The job position reported on was "senior backend developer," so salary may vary for different levels).
Skills Required
A backend developer works closely with product managers, other software engineers, and QA engineers to fine-tune software features to the needs of customers. The backend developer must be able to do the following:
- Build efficient and scalable software
- Identify and address performance issues
- Participate in design and code review sessions
- Identify and prototype best practices for backend engineering
- Perform debugging and benchmarking quickly and proficiently
The backend developer is a critical member of any startup team because they build the infrastructure of the website and the applications that store business functions, such as customer information and ecommerce data.
Required development languages include .NET, Android (Java), C#, DevOps, iOS (Objective-C), Java, Javascript, Perl, PHP and Python.
