JobsWithPay

AI researcher salary

The median posted base pay for AI research jobs is $234K a year, from 1,000 open jobs at 441 companies. The middle half of the jobs is from $193K to $293K. One job in ten has posted pay above $400K.

Data of . This is posted base pay, not total pay. It does not include stock or a bonus.

Median posted base pay
$234K
Middle half of the jobs
$193K to $293K
10th to 90th percentile
$158K to $400K
Open jobs with posted pay
1,000
Companies
441

AI researcher pay by level

Posted base pay for AI research jobs, by the level in the job title. A level needs 20 or more jobs with posted pay.

  • Level not stated710 jobs$238K$197K to $298K
  • Senior133 jobs$208K$183K to $242K
  • Staff80 jobs$260K$223K to $310K
  • Principal26 jobs$241K$214K to $308K
  • Director+23 jobs$281K$217K to $325K
Each band goes from the 10th to the 90th percentile. The darker part is the middle half of the jobs. The line is the median. This is posted base pay, not total pay.
Pay bands by level, research. Posted base pay in US dollars for each year.
Level10th25thMedian75th90thJobs with pay
Level not stated$161K$197K$238K$298K$413K710
Senior$160K$183K$208K$242K$300K133
Staff$199K$223K$260K$310K$347K80
Principal$189K$214K$241K$308K$409K26
Director+$158K$217K$281K$325K$397K23

Top-paying companies for AI research jobs

The companies with the highest median posted base pay for AI research jobs. A company name opens its levels in the pay explorer.

  1. 1Anthropic$600K45 jobs
  2. 2OpenAI$440K35 jobs
  3. 3Thinking Machines Lab$413K19 jobs
  4. 4Aaru$400K6 jobs
  5. 5Datadog$360K5 jobs
  6. 6Runway$320K5 jobs
  7. 7Turing$313K10 jobs
  8. 8Institute of Foundation Models$300K10 jobs
  9. 9Decagon$300K7 jobs
  10. 10Periodic Labs$300K7 jobs
  11. 11Percepta$300K5 jobs
  12. 12Scale AI$292K10 jobs
  13. 13FAR.AI$288K7 jobs
  14. 14Snorkel AI$288K5 jobs
  15. 15Cartesia$275K5 jobs
  16. 16Applied Intuition$275K10 jobs
  17. 17The Voleon Group$263K8 jobs
  18. 18Salesforce$256K5 jobs
  19. 191X$250K5 jobs
  20. 20Lila Sciences$240K6 jobs
The median posted base pay of each company for AI research jobs. We use the middle point of each posted range. A company needs 5 or more jobs with posted pay. This is posted base pay, not total pay.

AI researcher pay by US region

The median posted base pay for AI research jobs in each US region, compared with the median of all US jobs.

  • Bay Area632 jobs+6%$250K
  • New York253 jobs+6%$250K
  • Other US cities248 jobs−10%$213K
  • US remote144 jobs−12%$208K
The median posted base pay for research in each US region, compared with the median of all US jobs ($235K). A job that lists two regions counts in each region. A region needs 20 or more jobs. This is posted base pay, not total pay.
Pay by region, research. Posted base pay in US dollars for each year.
RegionMedian posted base payAgainst the US medianJobs with pay
Bay Area$250K+6%632
New York$250K+6%253
Other US cities$213K−10%248
US remote$208K−12%144
All US jobs$235K0%951

Open jobs

Other levels

By place

Other job types

How we compute these numbers

We read each job from the job board of the company and check it every day. We use only open jobs that state a yearly pay range in US dollars. One job counts with the middle point of its posted range. The median is the middle value of these amounts: half of the jobs are above it and half are below it.

We do not use a range with a bottom below $15,000, a top above $1,000,000, or a top that is more than four times the bottom. A role page needs 20 or more open jobs with posted pay. In the bar chart, a company needs 5 or more jobs with posted pay.

The numbers are base pay as the company posted it. They are not the pay of a person, and they do not include stock, a bonus or benefits. For the stock and the bonus that people reported, see Reported pay.