Senior AI Engineer salary (October 2026)
The median published US pay for Senior AI Engineer postings is $200K, from 280 postings with a pay range, as of October 24, 2026. That is -3% against the $206K median for AI Engineer postings at all levels (n=1,074); 26% of AI Engineer postings with pay are at this level. Among the 7 roles with enough senior pay data, it ranks 2nd, and sits +6% against the $189K median for every data & AI posting at this level. The next level up, staff / lead, has a median of $237K (+19%).
AI Engineer pay by level
| Level (from title) | Median pay (US) | n with pay | vs this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid (II) | — | 12 | — |
| Senior | $200K | 280 | — |
| Staff / lead | $237K | 238 | +19% |
| Principal | $246K | 42 | +23% |
| Level not stated | $200K | 486 | 0% |
Based on 1,058 postings with pay. A dash means fewer than 30 list pay.
Senior pay across data & AI roles
| # | Role | Median pay (US) | n with pay | vs this page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machine Learning Engineer | $208K | 218 | +4% |
| 2 | AI Engineer | $200K | 280 | — |
| 3 | Data Scientist | $188K | 189 | -6% |
| 4 | Analytics Engineer | $184K | 61 | -8% |
| 5 | Data Engineer | $178K | 178 | -11% |
| 6 | Database Engineer / DBA | $148K | 46 | -26% |
| 7 | Data Analyst | $139K | 108 | -30% |
| — | AI Research Scientist | — | 19 | — |
| — | Data Architect | — | 11 | — |
| — | BI Developer / Analyst | — | 11 | — |
Based on 1,121 postings with pay. A dash means fewer than 30 list pay.
How it is measured: median of the published pay range midpoint, US postings in USD, annualized (hourly × 2,080). Level comes from title words only. Medians are shown when n ≥ 30; “—” means fewer than 30 postings with pay. Data: CSV · JSON. See the methodology. Back to AI Engineer or all roles.