AI Research Scientist jobs: skills and pay (October 2026)
436 open AI Research Scientist postings (3.3% of data & AI postings) as of October 18, 2026. Median published US pay: $240K (n=173).
AI Research Scientist pay by level
| Level (from title) | Median pay | Postings with pay (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Intern | — | 4 |
| Entry / junior | — | 1 |
| Mid (II) | — | 5 |
| Senior | $208K | 21 |
| Staff / lead | $255K | 33 |
| Principal | — | 7 |
| Director+ | — | 1 |
| Level not stated | $245K | 101 |
Median of the published range midpoint, US postings in USD, annualized. Shown only when n ≥ 10; “—” means fewer.
The weekly Data Skills Index
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Top skills in AI Research Scientist postings
Share of AI Research Scientist postings that mention each skill.
| # | Skill | Share of AI Research Scientist postings | Postings | Companies | Week over week | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python language | 64.4% | 281 | 2,580 | needs more history | |
| 2 | PyTorch ml | 53.9% | 235 | 850 | needs more history | |
| 3 | LLMs genai | 51.1% | 223 | 1,791 | needs more history | |
| 4 | Deep learning ml | 44.0% | 192 | 594 | needs more history | |
| 5 | AI agents genai | 38.5% | 168 | 1,583 | needs more history | |
| 6 | Fine-tuning genai | 33.0% | 144 | 720 | needs more history | |
| 7 | Statistics analytics | 31.7% | 138 | 1,449 | needs more history | |
| 8 | CUDA / GPU ml | 27.1% | 118 | 439 | needs more history | |
| 9 | Reinforcement learning ml | 26.6% | 116 | 276 | needs more history | |
| 10 | A/B testing & experimentation analytics | 25.5% | 111 | 1,076 | needs more history | |
| 11 | TensorFlow ml | 20.0% | 87 | 555 | needs more history | |
| 12 | Generative AI genai | 18.6% | 81 | 720 | needs more history | |
| 13 | Streaming / real-time concept | 17.4% | 76 | 1,077 | needs more history | |
| 14 | JAX ml | 16.5% | 72 | 175 | needs more history | |
| 15 | LLM evaluation genai | 16.1% | 70 | 689 | needs more history | |
| 16 | NLP ml | 14.9% | 65 | 421 | needs more history | |
| 17 | Computer vision ml | 13.3% | 58 | 300 | needs more history | |
| 18 | C++ language | 11.0% | 48 | 355 | needs more history | |
| 19 | OpenAI API genai | 11.0% | 48 | 581 | needs more history | |
| 20 | vLLM / inference serving genai | 9.9% | 43 | 300 | needs more history | |
| 21 | Forecasting / time series ml | 9.9% | 43 | 605 | needs more history | |
| 22 | APIs / REST infra | 8.5% | 37 | 1,554 | needs more history | |
| 23 | AWS cloud | 8.0% | 35 | 1,452 | needs more history | |
| 24 | SQL language | 7.1% | 31 | 1,953 | needs more history | |
| 25 | Git infra | 6.9% | 30 | 980 | needs more history |