- Uber bought Postmates last month in a deal that includes the delivery company's sophisticated tech stack.
- Insider analyzed US Office of Foreign Labor Certification disclosure data to see the base salaries for various tech-focused roles.
- Insider found Postmates pays senior engineers a base salary that is well above similar jobs at Google and Amazon.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Uber, the parent company of Uber Eats, bought Postmates in an all-stock deal valued at $2.65 billion last month. The merger was the second consolidation move in the food delivery space in 2020, where orders surged amid a prolonged pandemic that has kept consumers at home.
Uber, in part, bought Postmates for its state of the art last-mile logistics. As one of the early players in the meal delivery space, Postmates is known for doorstep delivery of everything from burgers to Band-aids from 600,000 restaurants and retailers that include McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy's, CVS, and Walgreens.
The San Francisco-based company uses sophisticated technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics to deliver food and merchandise.
But are the salaries paid to Postmates' employees best in class, as well?
Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification disclosure data for visa applications filed by Postmates between 2018 to 2020. Companies report base salaries that they offer current or prospective workers as part of the visa application process. Salary is usually part of a compensation package that typically includes bonuses and benefits.
The on-demand delivery platform founded a decade ago listed more than 150 jobs on the federal site including various levels of software engineers, data scientists, and product analysts. Most of the jobs were for positions in California, but other jobs were based in Washington state, Florida, and Colorado.
Base salaries ranged from $65,000 a year for an account executive to $275,000 a year for a vice president position.
According to its website, Postmates has a workforce of 1,000. Before merging with Uber, the company had raised $906 million as of September 2020, according to Pitchbook.
Postmates declined to comment on this story.
Here's what the federal visa data shows:
Pay for senior software engineers beats Google, Amazon
Software engineers appeared to be the most sought after positions with 55 jobs listed at various levels, according to the US Office of Foreign Labor data. The base pay for a "software engineer" ranged from $130,000 to $180,000 a year. The last-mile delivery company sought 26 visas for this particular position.
Senior-level engineers make significantly more with the starting base pay listed as $180,200 a year. The maximum base salary was $230,000 a year. Postmates sought 13 visas for this position.
Postmates' pay structure for senior engineers appears to beat tech-focused companies like Google and Amazon. The typical average base pay for senior software engineers at Amazon and Google is $156,452 and $182,467, respectively, according to the latest US pay data found on Glassdoor.
At a rival delivery company DoorDash, software engineers receive a higher maximum base pay. But the starting pay is lower compared to Postmates.
For example, the base annual salary for DoorDash "software engineers" range from $106,000 to $270,000, according to visa applications filed with the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification between 2018 to 2020. Both companies are based in San Francisco, where the cost of living is among the highest in the nation.
Jobs specializing in robotics can earn up to $220,000 a year
With the purchase of Postmates, Uber Eats gains access to Postmates' advanced work in robotics. In late 2018, Postmates introduced Serve, an autonomous rover designed to deliver food in hard to navigate urban environments.
Serve took to the streets of Los Angeles in 2019 and remains there as part of a pilot program. At the time, Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann said the company took a design-first approach with Serve. The company used data to model how food and goods could move around cities efficiently.
The rover "walks alongside people and fits into our communities," he said in a statement. "Ultimately, we believe that goods should move through cities at nearly zero cost to consumers."
According to the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification data, Postmates applied for two visas for positions with "robotics" in its title.
The annual salary for a "senior robotics engineer" was listed at $165,000. No range was provided.
A "software engineer, robotics-motion planning" position, on the other hand, made $220,000 a year. No range was provided.
By comparison, a robotics software engineer at DoorDash, is paid $160,000 a year, according to the same visa application data analyzed by Insider.
Last week, Tech Crunch reported that Uber might spin off the robotics unit.
Machine learning engineers make up to $180,000 a year
Postmates did not respond when asked to provide more details on certain tech-focused jobs. But, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you probably need a machine learning engineer to help tell robots what to do.
Postmates applied for six visas for positions titled, "machine learning engineer." The annual base pay range was $162,000 to $180,000.
The delivery company also listed a position titled, "software engineer (machine learning engineer)." The base yearly salary for the position was $160,000. No range was provided.
A position listed as "x, machine learning engineer" paid $162,000 a year.
What about management positions overseeing the engineering staff?
Postmates applied for three visas for "engineering director" and one visa for "director of engineering."
The base annual salary for engineering directors was $252,000 while the director of engineering made $230,000 a year. No range was provided for these positions.
Other I.T. and business operations jobs can pay as much as $270,000
Data scientist: Postmates applied for one visa for this position, listing the annual base salary as $140,000.
Business operations manager: Postmates applied for three visas for the position, listing the annual base salary ranging from $130,000 to $150,000.
Backend software engineers: Postmates sought four visas for this position, whose base salary ranged from $120,000 to $185,000.
Brand designer: Postmates sought three visas for this position and listed the base salary ranging from $95,000 to $96,000 a year.
Business operations lead (vice president): The base salary for this position was listed as $275,000, according to one visa application.
Product analyst: Postmates sought 14 visas for this position and listed the annual base salary ranging from $100,000 to $140,000.
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