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AI Research salaries

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

1,975 openings with posted pay · Updated Nov 2, 2026

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AI Research

1,975 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

$284k

1,975 openings with posted pay

Typical range

$225k–$356k

25th to 75th percentile

Across all 26,344 openings with posted pay, the median is $175k. Annual base salary. Equity and bonus excluded. Methodology

AI Research by role

Bar shows 25th to 75th percentile

Software & Data449 openings
Typical range $243k–$366k
$310k
Infrastructure, IT, & Security274 openings
Typical range $230k–$369k
$310k
AI & Autonomy259 openings
Typical range $273k–$413k
$310k
Product, Programs, & Systems172 openings
Typical range $225k–$345k
$284k
Business Development & Customer Ops302 openings
Typical range $225k–$333k
$266k
Finance, Legal, & Compliance132 openings
Typical range $214k–$300k
$254k
Marketing & Design140 openings
Typical range $203k–$303k
$252k
Business & People Operations96 openings
Typical range $150k–$238k
$206k

By sector

All openings

AI Research1,975 openings
Typical range $225k–$356k
$284k
Compute & Semiconductors2,958 openings
Typical range $174k–$261k
$216k
AI App3,545 openings
Typical range $168k–$258k
$214k
Fintech936 openings
Typical range $137k–$241k
$190k
Defense4,616 openings
Typical range $144k–$210k
$172k
Robotics929 openings
Typical range $125k–$210k
$170k
Public Services177 openings
Typical range $120k–$220k
$170k
Bio & Health545 openings
Typical range $125k–$216k
$168k
Construction & Housing115 openings
Typical range $135k–$215k
$165k
Energy & Climate1,901 openings
Typical range $121k–$188k
$159k
Supply Chain402 openings
Typical range $105k–$216k
$158k
Transportation1,894 openings
Typical range $92k–$212k
$154k
Agriculture160 openings
Typical range $115k–$168k
$153k
Aerospace5,331 openings
Typical range $117k–$183k
$150k
Manufacturing811 openings
Typical range $98k–$183k
$144k
Education49 openings
Typical range $78k–$197k
$140k

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 26,344 live openings at 532 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 ($201k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.
Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?
MatX tops the list with a $363k median posted base salary, ahead of Aaru ($353k) and Anthropic ($345k), 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 26,344 live openings. Browse the roles behind them.

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