Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.2%
- Live roles
- 5,174
Medical Affairs
$215,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 70.4%
- Live roles
- 108
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 (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
Medical Science Liaison
Senior Director, Regional Field Medical Science Liaison (MSL) West
Senior Medical Science Liaison (MSL) - Dermatology
Director, Medical Science Liaison Texas (Houston, Austin, San Antonio)
Director, Medical Science Liaison, Oncology (Dallas, AR, LA, OK, MS)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (MI, WI, MN)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Southern Florida, Puerto Rico)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Northern Florida, GA, SC, AL, MS)
Director, Medical Science Liaison, (NY, Southern Connecticut)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Northern California, Hawaii)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$156,000 | 55 |
OpenAI
|
$239,000 | 39 |
Handshake
|
$252,500 | 23 |
Databricks
|
$222,325 | 23 |
| SE Sezzle | $85,000 | 23 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 21 |
Grafana Labs
|
$145,807 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 19 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Revolution Medicines
|
$247,500 | 18 |
Oruka Therapeutics
|
$211,000 | 5 |
| AT Axsome Therapeutics | $175,000 | 5 |
Regenxbio
|
$200,000 | 4 |
| PP Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc. | $183,750 | 4 |
|
BridgeBio Pharma
|
$230,000 | 3 |
Vor Bio
|
$224,000 | 3 |
Cogent Biosciences
|
$222,500 | 3 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $228,100 | 468 |
| New York | $220,000 | 350 |
| Singapore | $212,980 | 7 |
| Seattle | $205,000 | 99 |
| Chicago | $201,626 | 38 |
| Los Angeles | $200,000 | 33 |
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Austin | $194,500 | 45 |
| Sydney | $190,000 | 3 |
| Toronto | $187,359 | 61 |
Medical Affairs salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $175,000 | 4 |
AI Engineer vs Medical Affairs: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,000 per year (typically $165,000–$242,623), versus $215,500 for Medical Affairs ($195,000–$247,500). That puts Medical Affairs 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 Medical Affairs 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.