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AI Engineer Salaries
Compensation data for AI roles at top companies in 2026
Avg Base Salary
$175K
United States
Avg Total Comp
$350K
Including equity
Top Paying
$600K
Senior ML at OpenAI
| Role | Company | Base Salary | Total Comp | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML Engineer | OpenAI | $200K | $400K-$600K | San Francisco |
| Research Scientist | Anthropic | $200K | $350K-$500K | San Francisco |
| AI Engineer | Google DeepMind | $180K | $300K-$450K | London |
| LLM Engineer | Mistral AI | €100K | €150K-€200K | Paris |
| ML Engineer | Microsoft | $170K | $280K-$400K | Seattle |
| AI Researcher | Meta AI | $190K | $320K-$480K | Remote |
| Data Scientist | Scale AI | $140K | $220K-$320K | New York |
| NLP Engineer | Cohere | $150K | $250K-$380K | Toronto |
| AI Engineer | Sarvam AI | ₹30L | ₹40L-₹80L | Bangalore |
| ML Engineer | Groq | $180K | $300K-$450K | San Francisco |
Salary Insights
- • AI engineers at top companies earn 2-3x more than traditional software engineers
- • Total compensation includes base salary, equity, and annual bonuses
- • San Francisco Bay Area offers highest compensation but also highest cost of living
- • Remote AI roles typically offer 70-80% of in-office compensation
- • European AI salaries are 40-60% lower than US but with better work-life balance
- • India AI salaries are growing rapidly, with top talent earning ₹50L-₹1Cr+ total comp