What is the median salary at companies building the future?

The median posted base salary is $178k per year, across 18,835 live openings at 455 companies. The middle half of postings falls between $135k and $228k.

Which startup roles pay the most?

AI & Autonomy roles lead at a $236k median, followed by Infrastructure, IT, & Security ($203k) and Software & Data ($200k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.

Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?

Anthropic tops the list with a $377k median posted base salary, ahead of Thinking Machines Lab ($338k) and OpenAI ($309k), among companies with eight or more openings that post pay.

Do startup job postings include salary?

About 46% 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.

World Labs Salaries — 8 Live Pay Ranges

Find high-paying roles

Sorted by top of posted range

World Labs: median base salary $294k · Typical range $263k–$300k · 8 openings with pay.

world-labs

Job Types

Experience Levels

Locations

Sectors

Stages

8 matching openings with posted pay

Research Engineer / Scientist (Robot Learning)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Entry-Level

$250k–$350k / year

Research Engineer / Scientist (SLAM)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Entry-Level

$250k–$350k / year

Senior Business Development & Ops Lead, Robotics & Physical AI

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$250k–$350k / year

Research Engineer / Scientist (3D Tech Lead)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Entry-Level

$250k–$350k / year

Research Scientist (Generative Modeling)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Mid-Level

$250k–$325k / year

Senior Product Engineer (Tech Lead)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Senior

$250k–$325k / year

Pipeline Engineer (Graphics/3D)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Mid-Level

$200k–$325k / year

Performance Engineer (Inference, Training & GPU)

World Labs · San Francisco, CA · Entry-Level

$200k–$300k / year

Median base salary

$178k

All openings with posted pay

Typical range

$135k–$228k

25th to 75th percentile

18,835 openings with pay data across 455 companies · 46% of 41,333 tracked openings. Annual base salary. Equity and bonus excluded. Methodology

Distribution

Share of openings by posted midpoint

Under $50k

192

$50k–$100k

2,056

$100k–$150k

3,780

$150k–$200k

5,411

$200k–$250k

3,966

$250k–$300k

1,925

$300k–$400k

1,203

$400k+

302

By role

Bar shows 25th to 75th percentile

AI & Autonomy984 openings

Typical range $193k–$283k

$236k

Infrastructure, IT, & Security1,413 openings

Typical range $154k–$260k

$203k

Software & Data5,411 openings

Typical range $160k–$250k

$200k

Product, Programs, & Systems1,565 openings

Typical range $160k–$235k

$193k

Marketing & Design526 openings

Typical range $155k–$220k

$185k

Business Development & Customer Ops1,753 openings

Typical range $138k–$250k

$185k

Electrical & Firmware1,255 openings

Typical range $145k–$216k

$176k

Finance, Legal, & Compliance838 openings

Typical range $128k–$226k

$172k

Mechanical & Physical Systems1,230 openings

Typical range $125k–$185k

$158k

Business & People Operations782 openings

Typical range $113k–$183k

$148k

Supply Chain & Procurement565 openings

Typical range $108k–$170k

$145k

Test, Quality, & Reliability1,318 openings

Typical range $99k–$177k

$143k

Manufacturing & Production1,195 openings

Typical range $73k–$145k

$108k

By experience level

Intern360 openings

Typical range $60k–$88k

$71k

Entry-Level2,141 openings

Typical range $78k–$183k

$124k

Mid-Level5,409 openings

Typical range $120k–$200k

$153k

Senior7,350 openings

Typical range $160k–$235k

$193k

Staff / Principal1,481 openings

Typical range $193k–$273k

$230k

Manager1,385 openings

Typical range $147k–$233k

$185k

Director643 openings

Typical range $215k–$295k

$250k

Executive66 openings

Typical range $260k–$317k

$294k

By funding stage

Seed407 openings

Typical range $123k–$188k

$150k

Series A1,197 openings

Typical range $125k–$195k

$160k

Series B1,081 openings

Typical range $138k–$215k

$175k

Series C+11,809 openings

Typical range $145k–$238k

$188k

Public4,310 openings

Typical range $118k–$220k

$168k

By sector

AI Research1,520 openings

Typical range $215k–$356k

$283k

Compute & Semiconductors2,528 openings

Typical range $177k–$261k

$218k

AI App2,618 openings

Typical range $175k–$263k

$216k

Fintech547 openings

Typical range $152k–$257k

$204k

Robotics545 openings

Typical range $125k–$205k

$175k

Defense2,418 openings

Typical range $145k–$205k

$170k

Construction & Housing115 openings

Typical range $135k–$215k

$170k

Public Services136 openings

Typical range $143k–$225k

$169k

Agriculture158 openings

Typical range $115k–$175k

$165k

Energy & Climate1,409 openings

Typical range $120k–$190k

$155k

Bio & Health406 openings

Typical range $111k–$213k

$155k

Transportation1,561 openings

Typical range $95k–$215k

$154k

Aerospace3,918 openings

Typical range $111k–$180k

$148k

Supply Chain242 openings

Typical range $103k–$207k

$141k

Manufacturing673 openings

Typical range $101k–$176k

$138k

Education41 openings

Typical range $77k–$170k

$110k

Top-paying companies

Median pay · 8+ openings each

1Anthropic265 roles$377k

2Thinking Machines Lab16 roles$338k

3OpenAI656 roles$309k

4Normal Computing21 roles$300k

5Polymarket52 roles$295k

6World Labs8 roles$294k

7Pika9 roles$293k

8Wayve67 roles$290k

9Goodfire17 roles$288k

10Wispr Flow21 roles$285k

11Lambda83 roles$276k

12Oxide12 roles$275k

13Luma AI21 roles$275k

14Generalist AI12 roles$275k

15Ambience Healthcare12 roles$275k

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 46% 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 $178k per year, across 18,835 live openings at 455 companies. The middle half of postings falls between $135k and $228k.
Which startup roles pay the most?: AI & Autonomy roles lead at a $236k median, followed by Infrastructure, IT, & Security ($203k) and Software & Data ($200k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.
Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?: Anthropic tops the list with a $377k median posted base salary, ahead of Thinking Machines Lab ($338k) and OpenAI ($309k), among companies with eight or more openings that post pay.
Do startup job postings include salary?: About 46% 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 18,835 live openings. Browse the roles behind them.

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