Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.8%
- Live roles
- 5,113
Embedded Engineer
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.5%
- Live roles
- 447
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Backend 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 (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Senior AI Security Engineer II
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Engineer, Embedded Linux Developer
Helix AI Engineer, Embedded Android Systems
Principal Embedded Security Engineer
Sr. Software Engineer, Embedded Agentic AI
Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer
Principal Embedded Software Engineer
Embedded Software Test Engineer, Onboard Test Automation
Embedded SW Engineer
Staff Embedded Linux Engineer
Senior Embedded Systems Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$156,000 | 55 |
OpenAI
|
$239,000 | 39 |
Handshake
|
$252,500 | 23 |
| SE Sezzle | $85,000 | 23 |
Databricks
|
$224,163 | 22 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 21 |
Grafana Labs
|
$145,807 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 19 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$199,500 | 23 |
Silvus Technologies
|
$170,000 | 10 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 9 |
| AX Axon | $183,300 | 7 |
Verkada
|
$245,000 | 6 |
Applied Intuition
|
$202,000 | 6 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$140,000 | 6 |
STR
|
$130,500 | 6 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | $250,000 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $226,750 | 462 |
| New York | $220,000 | 350 |
| Seattle | $205,500 | 95 |
| Chicago | $205,000 | 37 |
| Los Angeles | $200,000 | 33 |
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Austin | $194,500 | 45 |
| Sydney | $190,000 | 3 |
| Toronto | $187,359 | 61 |
Embedded Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto | $200,750 | 4 |
| Seattle | $193,025 | 12 |
| Austin | $186,975 | 6 |
| Boston | $183,300 | 11 |
| San Francisco | $180,000 | 19 |
| Los Angeles | $180,000 | 15 |
| Denver | $177,500 | 3 |
| New York | $167,500 | 6 |
AI Engineer vs Embedded Engineer: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,000 per year (typically $165,000–$243,109), versus $185,000 for Embedded Engineer ($155,000–$209,250). That puts AI Engineer about 8% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and Embedded Engineer 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.