Cost per hire in tech: why engineering runs $6,200 and up.
The SHRM tech CPH average is $6,200, 30 percent above the US mean. Inside the average sits a 5x spread between pure SaaS engineering and AI/ML research hiring. Here is the full breakdown with the drivers behind every band.
The headline number.
SHRM Talent Access Benchmark 2026 puts tech industry CPH at $6,200, with time-to-fill averaging 45 to 58 days. That figure is a function-mix average across all hiring inside tech companies, not an engineering benchmark. Engineering-only CPH typically runs $8,000 to $20,000 with senior and AI/ML roles substantially above.
Cost per hire by tech sub-segment.
Tech is not one labour market. Each sub-segment has its own talent pool, loop pattern, and salary curve. Direct CPH ranges below are mid-level IC unless otherwise stated.
| Sub-segment | Direct CPH (mid-level IC) | Loop and drivers |
|---|---|---|
| Pure software (SaaS, web, mobile) | $5,500 to $9,000 | 4 to 5 rounds, mostly remote, broad candidate pool |
| Infrastructure / platform engineering | $6,500 to $11,000 | 5 to 6 rounds, deeper system-design, smaller pool |
| Hardware / embedded engineering | $7,500 to $14,000 | 6 to 7 rounds, in-person sign-off, logistics premium |
| AI / ML research and engineering | $12,000 to $30,000+ | 6 to 8 rounds, research-tier interviewers, scarcity |
| Cybersecurity engineering | $8,000 to $15,000 | 5 to 6 rounds plus background-check overhead |
| Data engineering and analytics | $6,000 to $10,000 | 4 to 5 rounds, growing candidate pool |
| DevOps / SRE | $7,000 to $12,000 | 5 to 6 rounds, on-call signal evaluation |
| Product management (tech) | $5,500 to $11,000 | 5 to 6 rounds, case-study heavy, varies by seniority |
Why tech runs 30 percent above the SHRM mean.
20 to 40 engineering hours per hire at BLS-anchored loaded rates of $86 to $150/hr produces $2,000 to $6,000 in interviewer time before any other cost line.
45 to 58 days for engineering vs 36 to 48 day US median. Vacancy cost on a $150K engineer at 2x impact is $1,154/day; the gap costs $11K to $13K per hire.
5 to 7 onsite finalists per offer in engineering vs 2 to 3 for retail. Each finalist consumes panel hours, logistics, and coordinator time.
Senior IC and specialist talent forces aggressive sourcing: LinkedIn Recruiter, agency, retained, or referral bonus stacks. Sourcing cost alone runs $2K to $10K per hire.
Sourcing channel mix and cost.
Tech sourcing leans heavily on referrals and proactive outreach because reactive job-board applicant flow rarely produces senior signal. Cost per channel for a $150K mid-to-senior engineering hire.
| Channel | Typical cost per hire | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Employee referral | $1,800 to $3,500 | 60 to 70 percent fill rate; quality signal strong |
| LinkedIn Recruiter sourcing | $3,500 to $7,000 | Cost per contact rises with role seniority |
| In-house sourcer | $2,500 to $5,000 | Loaded sourcer rate, hours per hire, tooling overhead |
| Contingency agency (specialist) | $22,500 to $40,000 | 20 to 25 percent on $150K to $200K base |
| Retained search (senior or specialist) | $45,000 to $90,000+ | 30 percent on $180K to $300K total comp |
| Job board (Indeed, ZipRecruiter) | $1,500 to $5,000 | High applicant volume, mid-level signal at best |
Role-mix effect: why engineering distorts the company average.
A tech company hiring 100 people per year typically splits ~45 percent engineering, ~25 percent GTM, ~10 percent product, ~10 percent customer success, ~10 percent other (finance, HR, ops, marketing). Engineering at $12,000 average CPH and GTM at $5,000 average CPH pull in opposite directions. The company-wide CPH lands somewhere between, often $7,500 to $9,500, depending on the engineering share.
The SHRM $6,200 tech average comes from a survey that includes mature enterprise tech with lower engineering ratios (e.g., legacy enterprise software with heavy services orgs). Startup or AI-first companies hiring 60 to 80 percent engineering will land $9,000 to $14,000 company-wide.
Worked example: 500-employee Series C SaaS company.
Hiring plan: 80 engineers, 30 GTM (sales + customer success), 15 product, 10 G&A. Total 135 hires/yr. Engineering CPH $12,000 average ($960K). GTM CPH $5,500 average ($165K). Product CPH $8,000 average ($120K). G&A CPH $4,500 average ($45K). Total direct CPH spend: $1.29M.
Company-wide blended CPH: $1.29M / 135 = $9,556. Add 20 percent of engineering hires through agency at $25K incremental: 16 hires x $25K = $400K. Add 45 days median vacancy at $1,154/day across all roles: $7M+ in productivity loss (treated separately, not in CPH).
True total cost of hire: $1.29M direct + $0.4M agency + $7M+ vacancy = $8.69M+ for the year. Per-hire fully-loaded: $64,000+. The SHRM CPH benchmark is the smallest line on the chart.
Cross-reference and deep dives.
Plug your engineering loop into the calculator with BLS-anchored loaded-rate defaults.