Median base salary
$175k
All openings with posted pay
Typical range
$138k–$222k
25th to 75th percentile
Openings with pay data
18,364
54% of 33,907 live openings
Companies disclosing
434
From their own postings
Annual base salary in USD. Equity and bonus excluded. Methodology
Find high-paying roles
Sorted by top of posted range
18,355 matching openings with posted pay
Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior
Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior
Anthropic · San Francisco, CA · Senior
Distribution
Share of openings by posted midpoint
By role
Bar shows 25th to 75th percentile
By experience level
By sector
Top-paying companies
Median pay · 8+ openings each
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.
Non-USD pay 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 54% of tracked openings post pay. US pay-transparency laws drive most disclosure, so coverage skews to US roles.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the median salary at startups building the future?
- The median posted base salary is $175k per year, across 18,364 live openings at 434 companies. The middle half of postings falls between $138k and $222k.
- Which startup roles pay the most?
- AI & Autonomy roles lead at a $222k median, followed by Software & Data ($215k) and Product, Programs, & Systems ($195k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.
- Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?
- Thinking Machines Lab tops the list with a $413k median posted base salary, ahead of Magic ($375k) and MatX ($363k), among companies with eight or more openings that post pay.
- Do startup job postings include salary?
- About 54% 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?
These numbers come from 18,364 live openings. Browse the roles behind them.