AI Startup Salaries Revealed

Aug 15, 2025 | AI Trends

AI Startup Salaries Revealed

As the hiring war in the tech industry escalates, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), workers in fields like English or psychology may find themselves longing for a technical background. Companies, both established and startup alike, are competing fiercely for a limited pool of AI talent, resulting in salaries that range from eye-popping to nearly obscene.

For instance, at OpenAI, technical staff can earn up to $530,000 annually, while research engineers at Anthropic command salaries of up to $690,000. Even software engineers at unicorn companies—those valued at one billion dollars or more—often see pay packages around $250,000. This information is derived from federal filings that these companies submit when hiring foreign workers through the H-1B visa program.

These salary figures, which capture only annual compensation and do not include stock options or bonuses, provide a glimpse into the lucrative nature of careers at AI startups. Below, we aggregate reported salary ranges for various positions across several leading companies in the AI space:

Abridged Salary Data

  • Senior Software Engineer: $235,000
  • Software Engineer: $240,000

Anthropic

  • Finance & Strategy: $230,000
  • Member of Technical Staff: $300,000 to $405,000
  • Member of Technical Staff (Manager): $690,000
  • People Partner: $285,000
  • Research Engineer: $340,000 to $690,000

Cohere

  • Member of Technical Staff: $240,000

Grammarly

  • AI Engineer: $223,000
  • Data Scientist: $170,000
  • Machine Learning Software Engineer: $318,000
  • Engineering Manager, Data Platform: $315,000

Mistral AI

  • AI Scientist: $280,000 to $350,000

OpenAI

  • Member of Technical Staff: $210,000 to $530,000
  • Member of Technical Staff (Research Engineer): $210,000 to $440,000

Perplexity

  • Member of Technical Staff: $206,315 to $290,000

Safe Superintelligence Inc.

  • Member of Technical Staff: $150,000 to $500,000

Synthesia

  • Customer Success Manager: $120,000

Thinking Machines Lab

  • Member of Technical Staff: $450,000 to $500,000

The high compensation packages signal the intense demand for skilled professionals within the AI field, highlighting a stark contrast between tech sectors and traditional roles. With many AI companies actively recruiting, the competition for top talent will likely continue to drive salaries higher, as organizations seek to secure the best and brightest in the industry.