With 408 open active software and IT positions advertised at 164 hiring companies during the past 30 days, average hourly wages for workers were estimated at $147,750 in San Diego.
During the same period, local biotech ventures received $804 million in venture capital investment, which is lower than any other point in the last 10 years. Physical artificial intelligence and defense systems spiked with $2 billion in Series G fundraising.
This guide reviews the largest contributors to the tech companies in San Diego ecosystem, metrics for hiring in and around the area, and how the structural nature of software purchases is affecting the market.
Regional Distribution of Tech Companies in San Diego
The technology market in San Diego operates as two separate markets: financially and physically. The largest concentration of companies is located within the Sorrento Valley/UTC area.
Within a 5-minute drive of one another, you will find extremely large physical buildings housing telecom hardware, genomic sequencing laboratories, and defense contractors.
The data indicates that money flows through San Diego according to strict divisions. Venture capital is very concentrated, in that you do not see a flat distribution of money across consumer apps.
The largest concentration of capital invested comes into positions in physical hardware, national defense, and life sciences.
Market Size and Data Points
To evaluate this market size, let’s examine the following three specific pieces of data:
The Inc5000 list includes 81 different companies based in the San Diego metro area.
It is estimated that regional life science operations support 75,816 direct jobs within approximately 2,000 different establishments.
Academic research remains a significant contributor in the region. UCSD received approximately $1.8 billion in research funding awards, which includes a $25.8 million award for 3D bioprinting.
IT Demands and Heavy Industry
Information Technology (IT) is at the center of San Diego's economy and is largely driven by the demands and restrictions placed on IT by the military, by regulations (particularly in the case of medical technology), and by heavy industry in general.
Because of this, all software developed in the area must interface with physical devices such as machines and biological systems, as well as military hardware, all of which require highly specialized technical expertise.
Top 17 Tech Companies in San Diego
The top 17 tech companies in San Diego are based on accurate hiring information, current office locations, and recent funding events.
These companies represent the epicenter of the technology sector in San Diego, and are mostly responsible for hiring a large number of engineers and technical staff.
1. Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the largest technology employer in San Diego and is focused on developing wireless chips used in wireless devices (and more recently, in cloud computing), wireless modems, and System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures.
Qualcomm's engineering resources are currently committed to the next generation of wireless technology, including 5G and 6G technologies; developing IoT (Internet of Things) devices (primarily for the transportation sector); developing edge AI software; and developing automotive electronic systems.
Qualcomm's primary customers are mobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), telecommunications carriers (telecom provider networks), and manufacturers of automotive electronic devices.
In order to sell software to Qualcomm you must meet rigorous security standards and scale requirements in order to meet the needs of their internal engineering teams who are developing large-scale global networks.
According to compensation information obtained by Glassdoor, Qualcomm is hiring aggressively for its technical staff and has over 75 active job openings in San Diego. Salaries for senior and staff software roles range from $140,000 to $244,000.
In terms of physical location, Qualcomm is one of the largest physical locations in San Diego and is centrally located at 5775 Morehouse Drive, with an estimated 160 satellite locations worldwide.
2. Illumina
Illumina is the dominant player in the genomic sequencing hardware market. They manufacture both the hardware as well as the software to process human DNA.
Illumina's hardware and software systems require enormous volumes of data to be processed and therefore require an extremely special type of software engineer with a deep knowledge of both cloud architecture and biological data.
Illumina's primary customers include primary research laboratories, clinical genomics laboratories, and global biomedical or biopharmaceutical companies. Their machines produce petabytes of data, making them a large consumer of cloud-based infrastructure and data storage products.
Recent local hiring trends show 60 active openings within the company. The company has made it a priority to recruit people for staff software engineer positions due to the documented compensation ranges of $156-$233/hour in Coronado/San Diego. They are one of the leading employers for the bioinformatics industry.
3. Dexcom
Dexcom is a manufacturer of continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and the software platform that enables the processing of real-time health metrics. The integration of medical devices with consumer-facing applications is essential to the Dexcom business model.
The market for Dexcom includes: diabetes care, the direct consumer, and integrated health systems. Because the company processes live patient data, any vendor who wishes to sell to Dexcom must meet very high HIPAA and FDA compliance standards.
Dexcom has been identified as one of the top employers in San Diego and continues to have many open requisitions for software positions related to medical devices. The company is headquartered within the Sorrento Valley tech cluster, which means it has a very close proximity to many of the medical hardware and software engineering talent pools.
4. General Atomics
General Atomics develops unmanned aerial vehicles, sensor networks, and advanced nuclear energy systems for the defense, aerospace, and advanced energy sectors. The software needs of their customers include flight control, remote data transmission, and hardware integration.
The government of the United States, allied defense organizations, and other prime contractors are the primary buyers of General Atomics' products. Because of this, any vendor wishing to sell to General Atomics must have federal security clearance and be in compliance with federal procurement laws.
As of recently, General Atomics is currently tracking 14 active open positions within the city of San Diego. Traditionally, the defense industry has offered the highest compensation range among engineering job categories, especially for engineers who possess an active security clearance. The defense industry's headquarters are located in Sorrento Valley.
5. Apple
Apple has an engineering office in San Diego that is highly focused on sensing and connectivity, wireless communications, along with chipset-related hardware and software. The San Diego office is designed to lead in attracting top-notch telecommunication engineers.
The marketplace is entirely internal for Apple, building the hardware and software components that are needed to support all global consumer electronics and services.
The hiring momentum is robust. The most recent tracking indicates that 27 technical positions are currently open in San Diego. Apple has a strong focus on recruiting software quality engineers and connectivity specialists. Apple has a long history of being one of the very top employers in San Diego's software and talent IT recruitment market.
6. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is the leading business in building enterprise workflow automation applications. The ServiceNow platform includes the managing of IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM), and, more recently, AI-based corporate workflow solutions.
The market for ServiceNow is the global enterprise IT marketplace and organizations going through digital transformation. ServiceNow targets chief information officers with high dollar value contracts for SaaS applications.
The ServiceNow office is located within Sorrento Valley. The most current data indicates there are 9 active open roles in San Diego. The workplace culture and compensation structure align with the standard Tier 1 model of enterprise SaaS businesses.
7. Intuit
Intuit has a San Diego engineering office, where the focus is on the creation of critical financial software products, primarily TurboTax, QuickBooks, and the development of AI models for consumer financial products.
The market served by Intuit consists of small to medium business enterprises (SMB), independent accountants, and direct consumers.
The company handles highly-sensitive financial information and, therefore, requires very specialized personnel with extensive security and data infrastructure backgrounds.
In the last few years, there has been steady growth in hiring within this region, as evidenced by the 6 technical openings in recent datasets that are public. They continue to rank as one of the top employers based on the number of software-related jobs filled in this area.
8. Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman is one of the top employers of defense-related engineering in San Diego. They primarily work on defense-related platforms, unmanned systems, and C4ISR system (Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) related products.
Their primary customer base is the US Department of Defense as well as various federal intelligence agencies.
They are among the top-three employers of software engineers in San Diego, having nearly 25 open positions according to datasets that are produced every month. A senior principal software engineer would earn between $116,000 to $213,000 per year, depending on their skill set and experience.
Northrop Grumman also actively recruits from both local colleges and competing defense contracting companies within their vicinity.
9. Shield AI
Shield AI represents the most well-capitalized defense software start-up in San Diego. They produce autonomous AI systems for air-ground-sea communication systems of military vehicles. They produce software that enables vehicles to function without GPS and without direct human operator control.
Their market consists of various prime defense contractors and government contracts.
Shield AI remains the most well-capitalized defense start-up in San Diego; in March, Shield AI closed a $2 billion Series G round, raising their valuation to $12.7 billion. There are still 9 open engineering roles at Shield AI, which remains a rapidly-growing technology start-up with significant access to capital.
10. Singular Genomics
Singular Genomics produces next-generation sequencing devices and PCI (pipeline component instrumentation) to process the data generated by those devices. Singular Genomics is located physically close to Illumina and competes directly with Illumina in the marketplace for rights to DNA sequencing technology.
Their target customers are all academic research laboratories, clinical genomics laboratories, and biotechnology companies.
They are searching for senior software engineers to support the development of their core product pipeline. There is high demand for software engineers who understand computational biology in San Diego since venture capital investment in biotech has fallen significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
11. Nucleus Biologics
Nucleus Biologics develops a software platform that allows the design and engineering of customized biologics. The software uses a direct integration model with physical laboratory manufacturing processes.
Their largest customers are biopharma companies and the R&D departments of biotechnology companies.
Nucleus Biologics is headquartered in San Diego and publishes salary information for their technical positions. For example, a full stack engineer at Nucleus Biologics earns a salary between $85,000 and $100,000. The lower end of this salary band is reflective of typical startup pay as compared to larger publicly traded companies in the same market.
12. Inocras
Inocras is a bioinformatics and computational biology company that focuses on advanced genomics. They develop software that helps to analyze complex biological data sets.
Biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and primary research laboratories are their targeted markets.
They require highly skilled engineers to support product development. A bioinformatics engineer working on-site at Inocras' San Diego facility earns a salary between $100,000 and $140,000.
13. ClickUp
ClickUp is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for task and work management. ClickUp's SaaS platform centralizes task management, documents, and team communication.
Their market includes small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and mid-market enterprise teams, with a focus on remote workforces.
ClickUp is headquartered in San Diego and uses a standard three-tiered subscription model (Consumer, Professional, Enterprise). Companies categorized as pure software-as-a-service (SaaS) application companies represent a smaller segment of San Diego when compared to hardware and biotech companies.
14. Tealium
Tealium builds customer data platforms (CDPs) and data orchestration applications for enterprises.
In addition to their CDPs, Tealium provides a data orchestration platform which enables marketers to collect, format, and route all of their customer information to the disparate marketing and analytics products in real-time through APIs.
Tealium primarily targets corporate marketing departments and various data teams within those companies.
Tealium's headquarters are located in San Diego, and all of its products are priced using typical enterprise SaaS pricing models. Tealium focuses on hiring engineers who are skilled in designing systems that handle the high volume and low latency associated with data streaming.
15. Classy
Classy is focused on developing an application for non-profit organizations. The Classy platform manages P2P (peer-to-peer) fundraising, event ticketing, and donor management.
Classy only targets the non-profit marketplace, which includes charities and advocacy organizations.
Like Tealium, Classy has its headquarters in San Diego and uses a tiered pricing model for subscriptions. Classy also focuses on building an excellent user experience and creating secure transactions as part of their engineering mission.
16. SweetLabs
SweetLabs provides OEM software for PC manufacturers. SweetLabs builds application stores, driver utility applications, and distribution networks that are bundled with new PCs.
The SweetLabs target market includes global PC manufacturers and large consumer electronics retailers.
SweetLabs is headquartered in San Diego, and their business model includes B2B licensing and distribution agreements instead of direct-to-consumer sales.
17. ESET
ESET has its North American headquarters in San Diego. ESET develops endpoint security, malware detection, and EDR software.
ESET markets its products to direct consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and enterprise customers.
ESET sells its products through various tiers of subscription security services.
Employment Choices and Compensation
Working for tech companies in San Diego offers a wide variety of employment choices available for software engineers. However, the best compensation for an engineer and the number of hires come from the specific areas of specialization. The largest volume of positions available and the best-paying bands can be found in these specialized fields.
As a result, when a software engineer is searching for employment, they need to look closely at the 408 available IT job postings. There is an average salary of $147,750 for the market, but this average is being pulled up by the large defense and hardware companies.
Many of the high-paying active openings are within Qualcomm, Northrop Grumman, and Apple. A senior software engineer at Qualcomm may make between $140,000 and $244,000. Senior principal engineers at Northrop Grumman earn from $116,000 to $213,000.
In addition, the life sciences industry has varying salary structures based on the kinds of engineering jobs. Staff software engineers working for large, well-established companies such as Illumina earn between $156-$233 an hour, while full stack engineer positions at small biotech startups range from approximately $85,000-$100,000.
On average, bioinformatics engineers earn somewhere in the middle, with an approximate salary of $100,000-$140,000 depending on their geographic location and what is required to integrate their labs.
Entering the San Diego B2B Market
Selling software, IT services, or data tools in San Diego requires a very thorough knowledge of the local procurement pathways, as a standard sales approach will not succeed. In addition, companies purchasing software within San Diego must follow strict regulations and have hardware requirements.
Selling to the Life Sciences and Biotech
With over 2,000 regional companies in San Diego's biotech industry, there is an expansive market. However, selling software directly to early-stage biotech companies can be challenging.
Due to the nature of these companies, they tend to purchase most IT products through Managed Service Providers (MSPs). MSPs focused on life sciences often manage the purchasing decisions of many early-stage biotech companies.
To sell effectively to the life sciences marketplace, B2B vendors must identify strategies to contact platform engineers and bioinformatics leads. These individuals will not buy generic productivity tools. They desire software solutions to address their lab data pipeline issues, data storage limitations, and HIPAA compliance tracking.
Defense Sector and AI Hardware
The defense industry, represented predominantly by Northrop Grumman, General Atomics, and Shield AI, spends heavily on software; however, their procurement pathway is highly restricted. Startups attempting to sell defense contractors software products typically act as subcontractors to established defense companies.
The individuals within these departments responsible for the procurement of technologies are typically the chief information security officer or the systems engineering lead. These individuals require extensive compliance and security documentation and will only accept solutions that can be deployed on-premise or via zero-trust architecture.
The sale of cloud-based SaaS products to these departments without extensive compliance verification will result in a lost sale.
Startup Partnerships and Pilot Programs
For startup founders interested in forming partnerships or piloting products, San Diego has excellent opportunities if your technology aligns with the local technology ecosystem.
For startup founders focused on developing consumer applications, there will be limited institutional support for your product in the San Diego marketplace. However, founders developing solutions for edge computing, medical device data processing, and autonomous vehicle telemetry can find numerous potential partners located in Sorrento Valley.
The recent $2 billion funding round for Shield AI is an excellent illustration that there is a significant amount of capital available for breakthroughs in the physical AI space and in software integrated with hardware.
Nearshore software engineering firms such as ITJ (#44 on Inc's 5000) are creating effective business models by partnering with local life sciences and healthcare companies to create dedicated engineering teams to serve these organizations.
Final Market Review of Tech Companies in San Diego
The available data clearly demonstrates that this ecosystem of tech companies in San Diego is home to several of the leading hardware, defense, and biomedical engineering companies in the USA.
This is supported by job postings remaining steady at 408 active with an average annual salary of $147,750, as supported by companies such as Qualcomm, Apple, and Northrop Grumman.
Currently, venture capitalists will not entertain standard software applications as they prefer funding investments in hard physical AI, as demonstrated by Shield AI's $12.7 billion valuation.
In order to successfully transact with B2B vendors and job seekers, it is imperative that they align their technical skills and sales approach accordingly to the intricate hardware integration, compliance with security, and processing biological data, to reap the benefits from this particular geographic market.