Short answer: In the US, engineering managers typically earn $138K to $221K a year in base wages (the middle 50% of computer and information systems managers, BLS, May 2025), and the median works out to about $256K a year once benefits are added. In Latin America, Levels.fyi's 2026 data puts median total pay for software engineering managers between $56K (Chile) and $146K (Argentina) across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
Engineering managers run teams of engineers: hiring, delivery, people development, technical direction with the tech lead, and the link between engineering and product. It is one of the highest-paid roles in software in every source we checked, and in Latin America the supply of people who have managed distributed teams for US companies is limited.
We're Ryz Labs. We match senior Latin American engineers with US teams, so we look at these numbers every week. The market figures below are public data with their source and year. Ryz pricing (typically $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month) is covered below.
Salary sources measure different things, so we show the measure next to every figure. BLS surveys employers and reports base wages only. Levels.fyi collects self-reported total pay, including equity and bonuses, which pulls its numbers toward large tech companies. Read each row on its own terms rather than comparing them one to one.
We flag Levels.fyi samples under 20 submissions. Brazilian survey figures are in reais, not converted. Other offshore rows cover all software engineers, because role-level data there is thin.
Seniority is the biggest single driver. In the US, base wages for computer and information systems managers run from $108K at the 10th percentile to $298K at the 90th (BLS, May 2025). Latin America shows the same pattern: Levels.fyi's 2026 medians for entry-level software engineers range from $9K to $32K across the five countries, while senior medians range from $45K to $63K. A senior engineer who can work without close supervision usually costs less in total than two juniors who need it.
Pay follows team size and scope. Managing one team of five to eight engineers is different from managing managers or owning a platform area. Hands-on managers who still review code and make architecture calls are priced differently from people-focused managers. Experience running teams across time zones, building hiring loops, and managing through reorganizations or rapid growth all show up in offers. Big-tech manager packages are heavy in equity, which is why Levels.fyi figures run far above BLS base wages.
The same person costs different amounts depending on how you engage them. A direct hire carries salary, benefits, employer taxes and recruiting. A freelancer bills by the hour with no benefits, but you manage the work and the risk of them leaving. A staff augmentation firm charges a monthly rate per engineer that covers sourcing, vetting and replacement.
Overlap with your working day has a cost even when it does not show up on an invoice. Engineers several time zones away often wait a day for code review or answers, and that slows the whole team. Latin America shares most of the US working day, which is a big reason US companies hire there. Lower-cost regions with little overlap can end up costing more in lost speed.
Salary is not the full cost of an in-house hire. In BLS's June 2026 Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release, wages made up 68.5% of total compensation for private-industry management, professional and related workers, and benefits made up the other 31.5% ($24.82 an hour on top of $54.06 in wages). That is why we divide salary by 68.5% to estimate a fully loaded figure. On top of that come costs public data does not price well: the weeks a seat sits empty while you recruit, interview time from your engineers, onboarding, equipment and software, and the management time every hire needs.
There are five common ways to bring on engineering managers. Each has a different cost structure, so the right comparison is total cost for the work you need done, not the headline rate.
Some providers publish their own figures. These are their claims, not ours, and we have not verified them. Arc's 2026 guide, based on a survey of its freelancers, puts typical hourly rates at $35 to $75 in Latin America and $82 to $130 in the US and Canada (Arc). BairesDev says nearshore development typically runs 30 to 50% below US rates (BairesDev). Howdy, drawing on its own salary data, puts Latin American software engineer salaries at $55,000 to $67,000 and its all-in cost at $65 to $72K a year (Howdy).
Ryz typically charges $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month, mostly for mid-level to senior people. Engineering managers and tech leads are priced at our lead level: from $15,000 a month, quoted per team. The engineers they lead typically cost $7,000 to $10,000 a month at mid-level and $10,000 to $15,000 at senior level. Every engagement is a custom quote, scoped per team. Our senior Latin American engineering managers (only the top 1% of the people we interview make it) work on your team, on US business hours.
See how we hire engineering managers, how staff augmentation with Ryz works, or model your own numbers with our talent cost savings calculator.
Market pay is the floor, not the price. Levels.fyi's 2026 medians for software engineering managers run from $56K in Chile to $146K in Argentina. What you pay depends on how you engage them: a freelancer, a vendor or a direct hire each adds different costs on top of pay.
BLS reports a median hourly wage of $84.20 for computer and information systems managers (May 2025). With benefits, that is roughly $123 an hour to the employer. Freelance and agency rates are usually higher than the wage, because they cover the freelancer's own taxes, gaps between projects and the agency's margin.
Computer and information systems managers (SOC 11-3021) is the closest. It also includes IT managers, so read it next to the Levels.fyi software engineering manager and Indeed rows.
It helps a lot. Managers spend much of the day in one-on-ones, planning and incident calls. A Latin American manager leading a Latin American team on US business hours keeps those conversations live. See how we hire engineering managers.
All figures were checked on October 2, 2026. Ryz prices are typical ranges by seniority; your quote is scoped per team.
Questions we didn't answer? Email info@ryzlabs.com.
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