Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,455
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.5%
- Live roles
- 5,105
CISO
$287,775
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35%
- Live roles
- 100
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Machine Learning Engineer - Fraud Risk
Backend Engineer, AI
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Senior AI Security Engineer II
Highest-paying jobs
CISO
Chief Information Security Officer
Head of Security & Compliance
Head of Security & Compliance
Chief Information Security Officer
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Chief Information Security Officer
Field Chief Information Security Officer (Field CISO)
Head of Security & Compliance
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
OpenAI
|
$239,000 | 37 |
Mindrift
|
$312,000 | 31 |
Handshake
|
$252,500 | 22 |
Databricks
|
$224,163 | 22 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 21 |
Pinterest
|
$265,928 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 19 |
Applied Intuition
|
$173,500 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Masabi
|
$482,308 | 3 |
Harvey
|
$317,500 | 2 |
|
Hippo Insurance
|
$313,750 | 2 |
|
DriveWealth
|
$308,750 | 2 |
NexHealth
|
$180,000 | 2 |
| DR DFO Referrals | $530,000 | 1 |
|
Rain
|
$524,500 | 1 |
|
Compass
|
$375,000 | 1 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | $250,000 | 4 |
| San Francisco | $230,000 | 465 |
| New York | $220,000 | 351 |
| Seattle | $205,500 | 98 |
| Chicago | $205,000 | 35 |
| Los Angeles | $200,000 | 33 |
| Austin | $197,500 | 45 |
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Sydney | $190,000 | 3 |
| Boston | $185,500 | 88 |
CISO salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $313,750 | 3 |
| New York | $295,000 | 11 |
| San Francisco | $227,500 | 9 |
| London | $222,500 | 3 |
| Seattle | $201,250 | 4 |
AI Engineer vs CISO: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,455 per year (typically $165,350–$243,750), versus $287,775 for CISO ($224,375–$319,375). That puts CISO about 44% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and CISO 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.