Design Lead H-1B wages

Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Mechanical Engineers (SOC 17-2141).

Employers filed 38 wage applications for Design Lead jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 12 employers. The median offered wage was $98,051, exactly the government's prevailing wage, the legal minimum, for the job. HCL America Inc filed the most (23, median $98,987).

Filings: 38
Positions covered: 37
Employers: 12
Median offered: $98,051
Median prevailing wage: $98,051
Filings since FY2020: 176
Median offer change since FY2020: −19%

Design Lead, all employers38 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$98,051Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$90,106 to $127,171Where the middle half of the filings fall

$98,051Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Design Lead jobs fell 19%, from $121,000 in fiscal 2020 to $98,051 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it sat exactly on the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2025, with 61 filings.

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wageFilings per year

Fiscal years run October to September. Fiscal 2026 is still running: these figures cover October 2025 to June 2026.

Design Lead by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	19	$98,051	−0.9%	$98,051	at the minimum
2025	61	$98,966	+3.8%	$97,198	at the minimum
2024	40	$95,368	−20.4%	$95,368	at the minimum
2023	24	$119,829	+13.4%	$101,650	+12.5%
2022	12	$105,700	−29.5%	$87,655	+12.8%
2021	11	$150,000	+24.0%	$90,438	+83.4%
2020	9	$121,000	n/a	$95,680	+1.4%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
HCL America Inc	23	$98,987	at the minimum
Sapient Corporation	2	$148,426	+16.5%
Calerie Health Holding LLC	2	$87,000	+54.8%
Manhattan Associates, Inc.	2	$130,031	+9.7%
Greenskies Clean Energy LLC	1	$86,016	+19.6%
Endless Health Inc	1	$63,981	at the minimum
Public Policy Lab Inc	1	n/a
GroupUltra Limited	1	$143,520	+0.2%

Showing the 8 employers with the most filings of 12. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Design Lead jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Irvine, CA	7	$98,987	at the minimum
Round Lake, IL	5	$90,106	at the minimum
Brooklyn, NY	3	$98,051	at the minimum
Santa Clara, CA	3	$132,142	at the minimum
Atlanta, GA	2	$130,031	+9.7%
Memphis, TN	2	$87,547	at the minimum
Mesa, AZ	2	$90,771	at the minimum
Aubrey, TX	1	$95,826	at the minimum
Austin, TX	1	$63,981	at the minimum
Blue Ash, OH	1	$89,690	at the minimum
Boston, MA	1	$158,166	+12.4%
Bothell, WA	1	$139,298	at the minimum
Fort Lee, NJ	1	$138,685	+20.6%
Jersey City, NJ	1	$68,640	+2.4%
Kirkland, WA	1	$143,520	+0.2%
Little Elm, TX	1	$118,456	at the minimum
Los Angeles, CA	1	$90,000	+3.5%
North Haven, CT	1	$86,016	+19.6%
Philadelphia, PA	1	$97,000	+27.6%
Sparks Glencoe, MD	1	$97,344	at the minimum
Tarrytown, NY	1	$127,171	at the minimum

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry8%

Level II, qualified62%

Level III, experienced16%

Level IV, fully competent14%

The government assigns each job one of four wage levels. A higher level means a higher legal minimum.

What these numbers are

They are wages employers attested to on Labor Condition Applications (Form ETA-9035), not paychecks. Bonuses and stock are not included.
A filing is not a visa or a hire. One filing can cover several positions, and some are later withdrawn. Wage figures use certified filings only.
The prevailing wage is the minimum the employer must pay for that job in that area, set from government wage surveys.
1 filing is for part-time work. Hourly wages are shown as full-time equivalents (2,080 hours a year).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC disclosure data. How we clean and count it.