Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.8%
- Live roles
- 5,113
Quantitative Analyst
$197,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.2%
- Live roles
- 206
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
Quant Strategist
Quantitative Intelligence Analyst
2027 Internship - Quant Research (Undergrad)
Quantitative Research Analyst - Jersey City, NJ
Campus Quantitative Trader (Full-Time)
Summer Intern 2027 - Quantitative Trader
Software Engineer, Macro Quant Analytics Technology
Algorithm Developer (Quant Research & Trading) – 2027 Grads
Campus Full Time 2027 - Quantitative Trader
Algorithm Developer (Quant Research & Trading) – 2027 PhDs
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Hudson River Trading
|
$300,000 | 3 |
|
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 3 |
Man Group
|
$160,000 | 3 |
|
Five Rings LLC - Careers
|
$300,000 | 2 |
IMC
|
$250,000 | 2 |
|
Virtu Financial
|
$227,900 | 2 |
Graham Capital Management, L.P.
|
$225,000 | 2 |
| DR DRW | $225,000 | 2 |
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 |
AI Engineer vs Quantitative Analyst: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,000 per year (typically $165,000–$243,109), versus $197,500 for Quantitative Analyst ($150,000–$234,375). 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 Quantitative Analyst 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.