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Salaries

What companies building the future pay, straight from their own job postings.

26,360 openings with posted pay · 529 companies · Updated Nov 3, 2026

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Sorted by top of posted range

26,361 matching openings with posted pay
1
Research Engineer, Computer Use

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$500k–$850k / year
2
Research Engineer / Scientist, Pre-training

Anthropic · Remote · Senior

$500k–$850k / year
3
Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed Systems

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$500k–$850k / year
4
Research Engineer, Chip Design RL

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$500k–$850k / year
5
Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Manager

$500k–$850k / year
6
Staff Research Engineer, Multi-Agent Scaling

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Staff / Principal

$500k–$850k / year
7
Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning)

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$500k–$850k / year
8
Staff+ Research Scientist, Multi-Agent

Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Staff / Principal

$500k–$850k / year

Median base salary

$175k

All openings with posted pay

Typical range

$135k–$225k

25th to 75th percentile

26,360 openings with pay data across 529 companies · 57% of 46,541 tracked openings. Annual base salary. Equity and bonus excluded. Methodology

Distribution

Share of openings by posted midpoint

Under $50k
254
$50k–$100k
2,895
$100k–$150k
5,298
$150k–$200k
7,902
$200k–$250k
5,431
$250k–$300k
2,542
$300k–$400k
1,640
$400k+
398

By role

Bar shows 25th to 75th percentile

AI & Autonomy1,589 openings
Typical range $180k–$281k
$230k
Software & Data3,818 openings
Typical range $170k–$256k
$215k
Infrastructure, IT, & Security2,268 openings
Typical range $160k–$250k
$202k
Product, Programs, & Systems2,170 openings
Typical range $163k–$238k
$195k
Business Development & Customer Ops3,408 openings
Typical range $134k–$248k
$185k
Marketing & Design1,047 openings
Typical range $150k–$225k
$183k
Electrical & Firmware2,235 openings
Typical range $147k–$218k
$177k
Finance, Legal, & Compliance1,358 openings
Typical range $130k–$228k
$171k
Mechanical & Physical Systems2,066 openings
Typical range $130k–$189k
$160k
Business & People Operations1,410 openings
Typical range $112k–$181k
$146k
Supply Chain & Procurement979 openings
Typical range $110k–$180k
$145k
Test, Quality, & Reliability2,286 openings
Typical range $97k–$177k
$140k
Manufacturing & Production1,726 openings
Typical range $79k–$155k
$117k

By experience level

Intern944 openings
Typical range $62k–$112k
$77k
Entry-Level1,837 openings
Typical range $63k–$123k
$91k
Mid-Level5,948 openings
Typical range $116k–$174k
$145k
Senior11,175 openings
Typical range $160k–$230k
$192k
Staff / Principal2,547 openings
Typical range $193k–$265k
$226k
Manager2,457 openings
Typical range $149k–$239k
$190k
Director1,328 openings
Typical range $213k–$290k
$249k
Executive124 openings
Typical range $256k–$325k
$297k

By funding stage

Seed512 openings
Typical range $120k–$190k
$160k
Series A1,715 openings
Typical range $128k–$200k
$163k
Series B1,687 openings
Typical range $135k–$218k
$175k
Series C+16,896 openings
Typical range $144k–$233k
$185k
Public5,485 openings
Typical range $118k–$218k
$163k

By sector

AI Research1,971 openings
Typical range $225k–$356k
$284k
Compute & Semiconductors3,000 openings
Typical range $174k–$261k
$216k
AI App3,547 openings
Typical range $168k–$258k
$213k
Fintech945 openings
Typical range $137k–$240k
$187k
Robotics905 openings
Typical range $125k–$213k
$175k
Defense4,633 openings
Typical range $144k–$210k
$172k
Public Services168 openings
Typical range $120k–$220k
$170k
Bio & Health548 openings
Typical range $123k–$216k
$167k
Construction & Housing116 openings
Typical range $135k–$210k
$165k
Energy & Climate1,898 openings
Typical range $121k–$189k
$159k
Supply Chain397 openings
Typical range $107k–$215k
$158k
Transportation1,884 openings
Typical range $92k–$212k
$153k
Agriculture157 openings
Typical range $115k–$170k
$153k
Aerospace5,332 openings
Typical range $117k–$183k
$150k
Manufacturing810 openings
Typical range $98k–$185k
$144k
Education49 openings
Typical range $78k–$197k
$140k

Top-paying companies

Median pay · 8+ openings each

1Aaru18 roles$353k
2Anthropic580 roles$345k
3Thinking Machines Lab42 roles$330k
4MatX28 roles$325k
5OpenAI638 roles$308k
6Simile9 roles$300k
7Periodic Labs24 roles$294k
8World Labs8 roles$288k
9Goodfire17 roles$288k
10Wispr Flow31 roles$285k
11Wayve75 roles$285k
12Polymarket37 roles$280k
13Lambda91 roles$278k
14Whop21 roles$275k
15Oxide14 roles$275k

More company salaries: Anduril Industries · Bending Spoons · Blue Origin · Character.AI · CoreWeave · Databricks · Epic Games · Flock Safety · Mercor · Midjourney · Nebius · Neuralink · Nvidia · Palantir · Perplexity · Rivian · Rocket Lab · Scale AI · SpaceX · SpaceXAI · Stripe · Waymo

Methodology

All figures come from salary ranges companies publish on their own job postings, pulled from their applicant tracking systems hourly. Nothing is self-reported or estimated.

Pay in other currencies is converted at fixed recent exchange rates. Hourly, weekly, and monthly pay is annualized. Everything is base salary only. Equity and bonus are excluded because postings rarely quantify them.

Stats are medians and quartiles of each posting's range midpoint, weighted by open roles. Groups with fewer than 30 openings (8 for a single company) are not shown.

Numbers reflect currently open roles, not historical offers. About 57% of tracked openings post pay. US pay-transparency laws drive most disclosure, so coverage skews to US roles. Explore hiring patterns in the hiring report.

Frequently asked questions

What is the median salary at companies building the future?
The median posted base salary is $175k per year, across 26,360 live openings at 529 companies. The middle half of postings falls between $135k and $225k.
Which startup roles pay the most?
AI & Autonomy roles lead at a $230k median, followed by Software & Data ($215k) and Infrastructure, IT, & Security ($202k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.
Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?
Aaru tops the list with a $353k median posted base salary, ahead of Anthropic ($345k) and Thinking Machines Lab ($330k), among companies with eight or more openings that post pay.
Do startup job postings include salary?
About 57% of the openings BuildList tracks post a pay range. Disclosure is highest at US companies covered by pay-transparency laws, so coverage skews to US roles.
Where does this salary data come from?
From the pay ranges companies publish on their own job postings, pulled hourly from their applicant tracking systems and normalized to annual base salary. Equity and bonus are excluded. Nothing is self-reported or estimated.

These numbers come from 26,360 live openings. Browse the roles behind them.

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