AI pay index

Name: MantaWork AI pay index
Creator: MantaWork
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

633 job posts and 5,044 H-1B filings

Know what an AI job pays before you apply or negotiate. Every figure comes from a public source: pay ranges employers post on our boards, wages on certified US H-1B filings, the US government wage survey, and the hourly ranges AI training platforms post.

AI jobs: yearly pay

Base pay, before bonus and equity. The range covers the middle half of jobs. A quarter pay less and a quarter pay more.

Machine learning and AI engineer

Country	Middle half	Median	Job posts
United States	$218K–$295K	$248K	307 from 52 companies
Canada	CA$177K–CA$240K	CA$196K	23 from 14 companies
United Kingdom	£167K–£240K	£178K	7 from 3 companies

By level, United States: Mid level $249K · Senior and staff $247K

H-1B filings, US, fiscal year 2026 to Q3:: median $157K, middle half $119K–$198K, 2,799 filings; senior and staff titles $188K
US government survey, May 2025:: Software developers, all employers, median $136K

AI research scientist

Country	Middle half	Median	Job posts
United States	$285K–$600K	$366K	82 from 14 companies

By level, United States: Mid level $425K · Senior and staff $292K

H-1B filings, US, fiscal year 2026 to Q3:: median $190K, middle half $176K–$220K, 2,024 filings; senior and staff titles $214K
US government survey, May 2025:: Computer and information research scientists, all employers, median $140K

Data scientist (AI and ML)

Country	Middle half	Median	Job posts
United States	$206K–$396K	$333K	28 from 10 companies

By level, United States: Mid level $333K · Senior and staff $202K

H-1B filings, US, fiscal year 2026 to Q3:: median $125K, middle half $104K–$156K, 91 filings; senior and staff titles $141K
US government survey, May 2025:: Data scientists, all employers, median $120K

AI product manager

Country	Middle half	Median	Job posts
United States	$234K–$300K	$270K	105 from 32 companies
Canada	CA$188K–CA$295K	CA$249K	5 from 4 companies

By level, United States: Mid level $285K · Senior and staff $244K

H-1B filings, US, fiscal year 2026 to Q3:: median $153K, middle half $125K–$200K, 76 filings; senior and staff titles $200K

Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer

Country	Middle half	Median	Job posts
United States	$215K–$261K	$243K	76 from 15 companies

By level, United States: Mid level $243K · Senior and staff $225K

H-1B filings, US, fiscal year 2026 to Q3:: median $145K, middle half $145K–$163K, 54 filings; senior and staff titles $190K

AI training gigs: hourly pay

Hourly ranges that platforms post for 1,346 open roles on our AI training board, in US dollars.

By kind of work
	Middle half	Median	Roles
Software & coding	$80–$110	$97	38 on 5 platforms
STEM & research	$70–$135	$95	67 on 5 platforms
Finance & specialist	$60–$105	$80	335 on 3 platforms
General projects	$35.50–$109	$60	122 on 7 platforms
Voice & audio	$17.50–$75	$46.25	28 on 4 platforms
Language	$25–$47.50	$40	200 on 6 platforms
Record at home	$18.25–$36.25	$22.50	7 on 3 platforms

By platform
	Middle half	Median	Roles
Alignerr	$25–$25	$25	24
Mercor	$42.25–$110	$75	323
micro1	$45–$95	$70	344
Mindrift	$100–$100	$100	22
Outlier	$25–$30	$25	9
Terac	$26.25–$100	$87.50	18
Welocalize	$5–$12	$8.75	55

Pay at AI companies

Compare median yearly base pay in each company's job posts with the median wage it filed for H-1B hires in the US.

Company	Role	Job posts	H-1B filings
Anthropic	Machine learning and AI engineer	$310K (29, US)	–
Anthropic	AI research scientist	$600K (37, US)	$209K (12)
Anthropic	Data scientist (AI and ML)	$333K (6, US)	–
Anthropic	AI product manager	$345K (10, US)	–
Baseten	Machine learning and AI engineer	$248K (7, US)	–
Baseten	AI product manager	$300K (5, US)	–
Baseten	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$248K (6, US)	$214K (5)
Cohere	Machine learning and AI engineer	CA$325K (3, CA)	–
Deepgram	Machine learning and AI engineer	$200K (5, US)	–
Deepgram	AI product manager	$234K (4, US)	–
Deepgram	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$213K (5, US)	–
Fieldguide	AI product manager	$264K (4, US)	–
Harvey	AI product manager	$239K (8, US)	–
Harvey	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$302K (4, US)	–
LangChain	Machine learning and AI engineer	$208K (9, US)	–
Legora	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$237K (6, US)	–
Moloco	Machine learning and AI engineer	–	$162K (7)
Moloco	AI product manager	$267K (6, US)	–
OpenAI	Machine learning and AI engineer	$265K (45, US)	–
OpenAI	AI research scientist	$440K (18, US)	–
OpenAI	Data scientist (AI and ML)	$396K (12, US)	–
OpenAI	AI product manager	$338K (8, US)	–
OpenAI	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$243K (25, US)	$231K (9)
Perplexity	Machine learning and AI engineer	$313K (8, US)	–
Perplexity	AI product manager	$280K (7, US)	–
Scale AI	Machine learning and AI engineer	$243K (11, US)	–
Scale AI	AI research scientist	$292K (8, US)	$250K (13)
Scale AI	AI product manager	$270K (6, US)	–
Scale AI	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$239K (6, US)	–
Sierra	AI product manager	$285K (6, US)	–
Snowflake	Machine learning and AI engineer	$244K (13, US)	–
Snowflake	AI research scientist	$223K (4, US)	–
Snowflake	AI product manager	$244K (11, US)	–
Snowflake	Forward deployed and AI solutions engineer	$205K (10, US)	$165K (13)
Speak	AI product manager	$253K (3, US)	–
Together AI	Machine learning and AI engineer	$248K (10, US)	–

See open AI jobs

How we count

Job posts: the pay range an employer posts with an AI job on our boards, read each day. One figure per post (the middle of its range), and a role posted in several cities counts once. A country shows when it has 5 or more posts from 3 or more companies.
H-1B filings: the wage offered on certified, full-time H-1B filings with an AI job title, from the US Department of Labor. A filing shows the wage offered, not that someone was hired.
Government survey: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the nearest occupation. It covers all employers, not only AI ones.
Training gigs: the hourly range each platform posts for a role, from the roles open on our board today.
Not for sale: no employer or platform pays to appear here or to change a number.

Cite these numbers

Use them in articles, reports and posts for free. Credit the MantaWork AI pay index and link to this page.

As of 15 November 2026, the median posted base pay for machine learning and AI engineer jobs in the United States is $248K a year (middle half $218K–$295K), across 307 job posts at 52 companies. Source: MantaWork AI pay index, https://mantawork.com/ai-training-jobs/pay

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