Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.2%
- Live roles
- 5,238
Chief of Staff
$197,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.4%
- Live roles
- 284
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Machine Learning Engineer - Fraud Risk
Backend Engineer, AI
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Senior AI Security Engineer II
Highest-paying jobs
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
Sr. Staff Program Manager & Chief of Staff, Operations
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff to the CEO
Chief of Staff (Executive Office) and VP of Strategy & Operations
Chief of Staff to the COO & GM of Marketplace
Chief of Staff Director, Product
Chief of Staff, Product
Chief of Staff, CEO
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$156,000 | 55 |
OpenAI
|
$239,000 | 40 |
Databricks
|
$222,325 | 23 |
| SE Sezzle | $85,000 | 23 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 22 |
|
Handshake
|
$237,500 | 21 |
Reddit
|
$268,025 | 20 |
Grafana Labs
|
$146,235 | 20 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Flex
|
$301,500 | 2 |
|
Checkr
|
$282,250 | 2 |
Sonatus
|
$244,000 | 2 |
Nuro
|
$231,520 | 2 |
EliseAI
|
$212,500 | 2 |
Coursera
|
$212,040 | 2 |
Coursera Sourcing
|
$212,040 | 2 |
CHAOS Industries
|
$198,750 | 2 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $227,500 | 465 |
| New York | $220,000 | 350 |
| Singapore | $212,980 | 7 |
| Seattle | $207,500 | 99 |
| Chicago | $202,126 | 36 |
| Los Angeles | $198,750 | 34 |
| Austin | $196,000 | 46 |
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Sydney | $190,000 | 3 |
| Boston | $185,500 | 85 |
Chief of Staff salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $300,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $220,000 | 19 |
| New York | $200,000 | 34 |
| Los Angeles | $192,500 | 4 |
| Toronto | $128,342 | 3 |
AI Engineer vs Chief of Staff: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,000 per year (typically $163,966–$242,500), versus $197,500 for Chief of Staff ($160,625–$234,088). That puts AI Engineer about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and Chief of Staff are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.