Lead Design Engineer H-1B wages

Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (SOC 17-2072).

Employers filed 29 wage applications for Lead Design Engineer jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 12 employers. The median offered wage was $130,832, exactly the government's prevailing wage, the legal minimum, for the job. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. filed the most (16, median $133,370).

Filings: 29
Positions covered: 29
Employers: 12
Median offered: $130,832
Median prevailing wage: $129,771
Filings since FY2020: 130
Median offer change since FY2020: +17%

Lead Design Engineer, all employers29 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$130,832Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$120,000 to $139,630Where the middle half of the filings fall

$129,771Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Lead Design Engineer jobs rose 17%, from $111,634 in fiscal 2020 to $130,302 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it sat exactly on the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2022, with 25 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.

Lead Design Engineer by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	26	$130,302	−5.4%	$130,302	at the minimum
2025	15	$137,804	+10.2%	$124,374	at the minimum
2024	15	$125,000	+16.9%	$119,330	at the minimum
2023	23	$106,912	−13.9%	$103,750	at the minimum
2022	25	$124,176	+8.5%	$120,283	+4.0%
2021	12	$114,462	+2.5%	$114,462	at the minimum
2020	14	$111,634	n/a	$111,634	at the minimum

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.	16	$133,370	at the minimum
SL America Corporation	2	$125,000	+14.1%
Lucid USA, Inc.	1	$129,771	at the minimum
Stanadyne Operating Company LLC	1	$120,000	+3.4%
Sayari Labs, Inc.	1	$154,440	+2.4%
Coherent Corp.	1	$138,258	at the minimum
North American Lighting, Inc.	1	$144,450	+15.2%
Target Enterprise, Inc.	1	$166,962	at the minimum
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.	1	$161,179	at the minimum

Showing the 9 employers with the most filings of 12. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Lead Design Engineer jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Austin, TX	6	$135,907	at the minimum
Cary, NC	5	$125,632	at the minimum
San Jose, CA	3	$156,853	at the minimum
Auburn Hills, MI	2	$125,000	+14.1%
Allentown, PA	1	$93,309	at the minimum
Bastrop, TX	1	$161,179	at the minimum
Cincinnati, OH	1	$76,960	+5.7%
Columbia, SC	1	$120,000	+3.4%
Duncan, SC	1	$120,000	+3.9%
Ephrata, PA	1	$92,560	at the minimum
Farmington Hills, MI	1	$144,450	+15.2%
Fremont, CA	1	$138,258	at the minimum
Moraine, OH	1	$76,960	+13.9%
Newark, CA	1	$129,771	at the minimum
San Diego, CA	1	$128,898	at the minimum
Sunnyvale, CA	1	$166,962	at the minimum
Washington, DC	1	$154,440	+2.4%

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry8%

Level II, qualified23%

Level III, experienced46%

Level IV, fully competent23%

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.

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