Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$201,325
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.4%
- Live roles
- 5,240
ML Engineer
$212,091
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 43.5%
- Live roles
- 1,675
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Software Engineer, ML Networking
AI Product Engineer
Senior AI Fullstack Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Software Engineer, ML Networking
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Machine Learning Engineer, Integrity
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Ad Serving
Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Search
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$307,500 | 33 |
Databricks
|
$222,325 | 23 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 21 |
Nuro
|
$242,540 | 19 |
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 17 |
Torc Robotics
|
$195,050 | 17 |
XPENG
|
$257,688 | 16 |
| SA Scale AI | $232,360 | 16 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Nuro
|
$242,540 | 16 |
|
Torc Robotics
|
$195,050 | 16 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 14 |
|
Pinterest
|
$260,867 | 13 |
Airbnb
|
$238,500 | 13 |
|
Roku
|
$294,750 | 12 |
DoorDash USA
|
$169,350 | 12 |
Roblox
|
$311,785 | 11 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | $250,000 | 7 |
| San Francisco | $225,900 | 443 |
| New York | $222,325 | 338 |
| Boston | $215,000 | 71 |
| Seattle | $210,000 | 101 |
| Austin | $208,750 | 30 |
| Los Angeles | $206,300 | 33 |
| Chicago | $200,000 | 29 |
| Atlanta | $183,975 | 13 |
| Denver | $181,908 | 20 |
ML Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $275,000 | 5 |
| Singapore | $260,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $248,820 | 161 |
| Austin | $235,000 | 9 |
| Boston | $233,750 | 20 |
| Los Angeles | $230,000 | 14 |
| New York | $228,000 | 94 |
| Seattle | $220,300 | 47 |
| London | $195,018 | 15 |
| Denver | $188,750 | 6 |
AI Engineer vs ML Engineer: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $201,325 per year (typically $163,188–$246,000), versus $212,091 for ML Engineer ($175,150–$260,000). That puts ML Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and ML 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.