ML and AI engineer salary
What remote US ML and AI engineer roles pay at each experience level, and where the next step up sits. All roles
Pay by experience level
Median posted pay by the experience each posting asks for. The role family is the base title plus the steps on the ladder below, 371 postings.
How pay is spread across postings
Each outline is one experience band. Taller means more postings at that pay. Dashed lines mark each band median.
Half of 5 to 10 year postings pay between $160,000 and $216,000, with a median of $189,000. The medians are $160,000 for 2 to 5 years, $189,000 for 5 to 10 years and $230,000 for 10+ years.
What each step up the ladder pays
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile within one experience band, so it holds the middle half of postings. The dot is the median. A step needs 30 postings in a band before we draw it.
Among 5 to 10 year postings, the median moves from $175,000 for ML or AI engineer to $199,000 for Staff, principal or lead, a difference of $24,000.
| Step | 2 to 5 years | 5 to 10 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| ML or AI engineer | $150,750middle half $126,875 to $173,125, n 52 | $175,000middle half $150,400 to $217,749, n 55 | not enough postings yetn 9 |
| Senior ML or AI engineer | not enough postings yetn 11 | $189,300middle half $166,500 to $210,000, n 77 | not enough postings yetn 20 |
| Staff, principal or lead | not enough postings yetn 2 | $198,500middle half $166,725 to $240,000, n 35 | $234,000middle half $191,250 to $265,000, n 69 |
| ML or AI manager | not enough postings yetn 4 | not enough postings yetn 18 | not enough postings yetn 5 |
| Director of ML or AI | not enough postings yetn 0 | not enough postings yetn 2 | not enough postings yetn 25 |
How pay changes with job title
Each outline is one step of the ladder, and each posting counts once, in the highest step its title matches. A step needs 30 postings in the view to be drawn. Dashed lines mark medians.
For postings asking for 5 or more years, the median is $175,000 for ML or AI engineer and $218,000 for Staff, principal or lead. Postings asking for 2 to 5 years are shown in the charts above.
| Step, 5 or more years | Median | n |
|---|---|---|
| ML or AI engineer | $175,000 | 64 |
| Senior ML or AI engineer | $188,800 | 84 |
| Staff, principal or lead | $217,850 | 104 |
Left out with fewer than 30 postings in this view, ML or AI manager (n 23), Director of ML or AI (n 27). This view combines the 5 to 10 and 10+ bands, which come from the same continuous pulls. The 2 to 5 band is never combined with them.
Where this role leads
Two kinds of next move. Steps up the ladder compare the same experience band at both ends. Nearby roles compare whole role families.
These roles list similar skills, so they are common moves. Each figure is the other role median minus this one, in the same experience band, and each role mixes every step of its ladder. It is not the raise a move would bring.
The skill groups this role asks for
Skills that tend to be listed together are grouped. The bar shows the share of this role's postings that list at least two skills from a group. Postings with no skills listed are left out.
Machine learning and generative AI appears in 64% of the 371 postings that list skills, followed by cloud infrastructure at 37%.
Machine learning and generative AI
64% of postings, n 236- machine learning
- pytorch
- prompt engineering
- generative ai
- mlops
- tensorflow
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Cloud infrastructure
37% of postings, n 137- aws
- kubernetes
- ci/cd
- docker
- azure
- gcp
Among 5 to 10 year postings, those with this group have a median pay about $8,000 lower than those without, compared within the same ladder step (34 with, 42 without, Senior ML or AI engineer).
Engineering leadership and architecture
26% of postings, n 97- technical leadership
- system architecture
- software engineering
- distributed systems
- mentorship
- system design
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Data engineering
16% of postings, n 60- data engineering
- databricks
- data pipelines
- spark
- cloud platforms
- snowflake
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Web and application stack
14% of postings, n 51- typescript
- java
- react
- javascript
- node.js
- postgresql
Not enough postings on both sides, within one ladder step, to compare pay.
Pay comparisons show association and not cause. Postings that ask for a skill group may differ in employer, industry or the work itself, and listing a skill does not guarantee the raise. A comparison appears only for 5 to 10 years of experience, within one ladder step, with at least 30 postings with and without the group.
Top hiring employers
How wide posted pay ranges are
Median gap between the top and bottom of the range, within each experience band. Postings with a single figure are left out.
A typical 5 to 10 year posting's range spans $50,000 from bottom to top, so the top is about 1.30 times the bottom.
| Experience | Median range width | Top as a multiple of bottom | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 to 5 years | $46,000 | 1.33 | 67 |
| 5 to 10 years | $50,000 | 1.30 | 184 |
| 10+ years | $61,000 | 1.35 | 115 |
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