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AI engineer vs software engineer salary: what the pay data shows

We found no official AI engineer pay figure. In the postings we compared, pay tracked level, location and scope more closely than the AI label.

By AI Salary Report editorial teamPublished Updated 9 minute read

Key points

  1. We found no official AI engineer salary: BLS lists no AI engineer among its computer occupations, in either the Occupational Outlook Handbook or its May 2025 wage-survey list. May 2025 medians are $135,980 for software developers and $140,300 for computer and information research scientists, a research-oriented neighbor⁠1,2,3,4.
  2. User-submitted totals show a bigger gap: on October 23, 2026 Levels.fyi listed a $250,000 median total compensation for ML/AI software engineers against $198,000 for all software engineers, but the pages do not hold employer or level constant⁠5,6.
  3. Where one employer posts both kinds of role, the ranges often match or overlap. Scale AI lists $180,000 to $225,000 base for both an applied AI role and an AI-tools software engineer role, and Vercel lists the same $196,000 to $294,000 San Francisco base for AI Gateway and Backend software engineers⁠7,8,9,10.
  4. In the postings we read, level, years asked and location tracked pay more closely than the AI label did. Twin Health's lead software engineer range ($220,000 to $240,000) is $20,000 above its senior AI engineer range ($200,000 to $220,000) at both ends⁠11,12, and one Scale AI software role lists a St. Louis range 25% below its San Francisco range⁠13.
  5. Check whether a number is base or total. BLS excludes stock bonuses, Levels.fyi totals include annualized stock and bonus, and several postings do not say which they mean⁠14,6,15,11.
Contents

Short answer: we found no official AI engineer salary, and the published pay data we could check does not show a reliable premium over software engineers once the comparison is held to the same employer. User-reported totals put ML/AI software engineers at a $250,000 median against $198,000 for all software engineers⁠5,6, but that compares different employers and seniority. Where one employer posts both kinds of role, the ranges often match or overlap⁠7,8,9,10. This page keeps each source separate because their pay definitions differ.

Is there an official salary figure for AI engineers?

Not that we could find. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists ten occupations in the computer and information technology group of its Occupational Outlook Handbook, and none is titled AI engineer, artificial intelligence engineer or machine learning engineer⁠1. The computer occupations in its May 2025 wage-survey list have no AI or machine learning title either⁠2. The closest published medians belong to neighboring jobs, all for May 2025:

BLS occupationMedian annual wage, May 2025How close it is to an AI engineer
Software developers$135,980⁠3The software engineer baseline
Software developers, QA analysts and testers (combined)$134,040⁠3A broader baseline that includes testers
Computer and information research scientists$140,300⁠4Research-oriented work; BLS lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education
Data scientists$120,230⁠16Analytics-focused work; BLS describes machine learning as one of its tools

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Research scientists sit about $4,320, or 3%, above software developers, and data scientists about 12% below. Neither is an AI engineer, so these numbers show where nearby jobs sit, not what AI engineers earn.

BLS counts straight-time gross pay. Base rates, commissions, incentive pay and production bonuses are in; stock bonuses, year-end bonuses and non-production bonuses are out⁠14. Where an employer pays part of the package in stock, that part is outside a BLS median. The May 2025 estimates also pool six survey panels, collected from November 2022 through May 2025, with the older panels' wages aged to the May 2025 reference date⁠14, so they describe a three-year sample rather than a single month.

What do user-reported totals say about ML/AI engineers versus software engineers?

Levels.fyi, where professionals submit their own pay, shows the largest gap we found. Its figures are total compensation, defined as base salary plus annualized stock plus bonus⁠6. Both pages below are for the United States, and both update as new reports arrive; the figures are as read on October 23, 2026.

Group on Levels.fyiMedian total compensation25th to 75th percentileReported salariesPage updated
All software engineers$198,000⁠6$139,000 to $285,00047,830October 23, 2026
ML/AI software engineers$250,000⁠5$170,000 to $370,0005,943October 23, 2026

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The medians differ by $52,000, or about 26%. That is a fact about who reports to the site, not a measured AI premium. Levels.fyi lists ML/AI as a focus within its Software Engineer title, and the pages do not say whether the all-engineer figure includes those reports or how many reports in each come from the very highest payers. The all-engineer page alone lists five employers with medians between $550,000 and $882,500⁠6. Neither summary page gives a median by level, and only the all-engineer page gives employer medians, for those five companies. We cannot separate a premium for the work from a difference in employer and seniority mix.

What do employers pay when they post both roles?

The cleaner test is one employer on one date. On October 23, 2026 we read public job boards where an AI-focused role and a software engineer role were both open with published pay. This is a convenience sample of six employers, not a market survey. Employers with only one kind of role open cannot be compared and are not shown. Each range is what one posting says the employer expects to pay, not what anyone was paid.

EmployerAI-focused role (posted range)Software engineer roles (posted range)What the pair shows
Scale AI (base)Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI): $180,000 to $225,000; 4+ years of software engineering, machine learning or applied AI experience⁠7Software Engineer - AI Enablement: $180,000 to $225,000; 3+ years preferred⁠8. Senior Software Engineer, Platform: $216,000 to $270,000; 5+ years preferred⁠17Identical band to the software role on an AI-tools team; the senior platform role sits higher
Vercel (San Francisco base)Software Engineer, AI Gateway: $196,000 to $294,000; 5+ years⁠9Software Engineer, Backend: $196,000 to $294,000; years not stated⁠10Identical band; same title, different team
Glean (base)AI Engineer - Data and Evals: $200,000 to $280,000; 5+ years of software engineering⁠18. AI Engineer - Quality and Post-Training: $200,000 to $280,000; 5+ years of AI or ML engineering⁠19Software Engineer, Storage: $200,000 to $300,000; 5+ years⁠20. Cloud Infrastructure: $200,000 to $270,000; 4+ years⁠21. Agentic Runtime: $180,000 to $210,000; 3+ years⁠22Same $200,000 floor as the 4+ and 5+ year software roles, tops within $20,000; the 3+ year role is lower
BLEN (base or total not stated)AI Engineer: $130,000 to $150,000; 5+ years of software engineering and at least 1 year shipping LLM-based features⁠15Senior Software Developer I - Full Stack: $115,000 to $135,000; 7+ years⁠23. Senior Software Developer II - Full Stack: $135,000 to $170,000; 10+ years⁠24$15,000 above developer I at both ends with fewer years asked; overlaps developer II, which asks for 10+ years
Twin Health (base or total not stated)Senior AI Engineer: $200,000 to $220,000; 5+ years of AI and ML in production⁠12. Staff AI Engineer: $250,000 to $265,000; 8+ years⁠25Lead Software Engineer: $220,000 to $240,000; 6+ years⁠11The software role pays more than the senior AI role and less than the staff AI role, in step with the years each asks for
Anthropic (annual salary)Applied AI Engineer, Enterprise: $200,000 to $320,000; 4+ years in technical roles such as forward deployed engineer or software engineer⁠26Full-Stack Software Engineer, Reinforcement Learning: $300,000 to $405,000; years tied to internal level⁠27Not a like-for-like pair: a customer-facing applied role against a team building tools for reinforcement learning training. The software role's range is higher

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Across the six, we found no consistent AI premium. Two employers (Scale AI and Vercel) published the same band for an AI-focused role and a software role. Glean's AI engineer ranges start at the same $200,000 floor as its software roles that ask for 4+ and 5+ years. BLEN's runs $15,000 above a developer role that asks for more years. Twin Health's depends on level, and Anthropic's software role pays more. Six employers cannot rule out a premium elsewhere, and they are not a basis for a market average.

The labels matter. Scale AI, Vercel and Glean label their ranges base pay or base salary. Scale AI mentions equity on top, and Vercel and Glean mention equity and bonus or variable pay⁠7,9,18. Anthropic labels its figure annual salary⁠26. BLEN and Twin Health do not say whether their ranges are base or total; BLEN lists a performance bonus separately and Twin Health lists equity participation separately⁠15,12. BLEN's postings also show a broader $130,000 to $200,000+ figure in their perks lists, wider than the range each says it expects to offer⁠15,23. Do not add these ranges to the Levels.fyi totals.

What actually moves pay: the AI label, level or location?

In these postings, level and location tracked pay more closely than the label did.

Level and years asked. Twin Health's staff AI engineer range ($250,000 to $265,000) is $45,000 to $50,000 above its senior AI engineer range ($200,000 to $220,000), a larger step than any gap between its AI and software titles⁠25,12,11. At BLEN, the developer II range (10+ years) tops the AI engineer range by $20,000⁠15,24.

Location. Scale AI's Software Engineer, ARC Team posting, a Public Sector role that requires an active secret clearance, lists $184,000 to $259,440 for San Francisco, New York and Seattle, $165,600 to $233,496 for a second group of locations, and $138,000 to $194,580 for St. Louis. The St. Louis range is 25% below the San Francisco one at both ends⁠13. That 25% spread inside one title is larger than the AI-versus-software difference in any pair of roles in the table that ask for similar experience (minimum years within one year of each other, leaving out Anthropic's pair, which is not like-for-like). The widest of those is about 20%, between Scale AI's applied AI role and its senior platform role⁠7,17.

Width of the range. One posting can span a lot. Anthropic's applied AI engineer range covers $120,000 and Scale AI's San Francisco range for the ARC role covers $75,440⁠26,13. Scale AI says where a hire lands in its ranges depends on factors including work location, skills, experience and interview performance⁠13, and no public number reveals that.

Which kinds of AI role should you compare separately?

The AI engineer label covers different jobs. Research-oriented roles are the first: BLS gives computer and information research scientists a $140,300 median and lists a master's degree as typical entry-level education⁠4. Customer-facing applied roles are the second. Anthropic's applied AI engineer posting asks for 4+ years in technical roles such as forward deployed engineer or software engineer and lists $200,000 to $320,000⁠26. We cover those variants in our guides to AI solutions architect salary and AI consultant salary. The third group is a product-engineering role on an AI team, such as Vercel's AI Gateway, whose posting lists the same San Francisco base range as its Backend role⁠9,10.

How should you use this if you are negotiating or hiring?

  • Compare inside one employer. Ask which level the role maps to and what the software engineer band is at that level. A premium that exists at your employer shows up there, not in a market average.
  • Ask whether the number is base or total. A BLS median, a Levels.fyi total and a posted base range are three different measures⁠14,6.
  • Match years and scope, not titles. BLEN's AI engineer asks for fewer years than its developer I role and posts a higher range⁠15,23; Twin Health's lead software engineer outranks its senior AI engineer⁠11,12. Titles alone do not predict the order.
  • If you set pay bands: where your AI engineer band sits above your software engineer band at the same level, be ready to say which scarce skill or scope the difference pays for. Scale AI and Vercel published the same band for both⁠7,8,9,10.

What can this data not tell you?

Treat every figure here as a dated snapshot with a stated definition. Posted ranges are what employers say they expect to pay, not what people were paid, and postings change or close. We read them on October 23, 2026.

Six employers are a handful of data points, so we computed no averages across them. None of the posted ranges includes equity values. We did not tabulate the Department of Labor's H-1B Labor Condition Application disclosure files, which the department's Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes by fiscal year as spreadsheets built from employer applications⁠28. A larger matched sample, or that tabulation, could show a premium that six postings do not. Re-check any figure here that is more than a few months old before you rely on it.

Questions

Do AI engineers earn more than software engineers?

Not consistently, on the data we could check. On October 23, 2026, Levels.fyi user submissions showed a $250,000 median total compensation for ML/AI software engineers against $198,000 for all software engineers, but that does not hold employer or level constant. Among six employers whose postings we compared, Scale AI and Vercel list identical ranges for an AI-focused and a general software role, the order at Glean, BLEN and Twin Health depends on which software role you compare against, and Anthropic's software role pays more but is not a like-for-like pair. Treat any premium as employer-specific until you see the band at your level.

How much does an AI engineer make?

We found no official figure, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics has no AI engineer occupation among its computer occupations. The AI-focused postings we read on October 23, 2026 ranged from $130,000 to $150,000 at BLEN (base or total not stated) to $200,000 to $320,000 for Anthropic's applied AI engineer (annual salary), and Levels.fyi listed a $250,000 median total compensation for ML/AI software engineers that day. These measure different things, so do not average them.

Is the pay in a job posting base salary or total compensation?

It depends on the employer, so read the wording. Scale AI, Vercel and Glean label their ranges base pay or base salary; Scale AI mentions equity on top, and Vercel and Glean mention equity and bonus or variable pay. BLS excludes stock bonuses, while Levels.fyi total compensation includes annualized stock and bonus. If a posting does not say, ask the recruiter before comparing it with another offer.

Does moving from software engineer to AI engineer mean a raise?

Not by itself, in the small sample we read. Pay followed level, years asked, location and team scope. At Twin Health the lead software engineer range ($220,000 to $240,000) is above the senior AI engineer range ($200,000 to $220,000). A move that raises your level or scope can raise pay; the title alone did not in this sample.

Where can I check pay for a specific employer?

Start with the employer's own posting for the exact role and location, since it states the range the company expects to pay. For a wider check, BLS publishes wages by occupation, and the U.S. Department of Labor publishes H-1B Labor Condition Application disclosure files by fiscal year. Those files are spreadsheets built from employer applications, so expect to do your own filtering.

Sources

  1. 1.Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Computer and Information Technology Occupations, 27 August 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  2. 2.Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2025 Occupation Profiles. Accessed . Back to text
  3. 3.Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, 27 August 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  4. 4.Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Computer and Information Research Scientists, 27 August 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  5. 5.Levels.fyi (structured-data summary file). ML / AI Software Engineer Salary (United States), 23 October 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  6. 6.Levels.fyi (structured-data summary file). Software Engineer Salary (United States), 23 October 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  7. 7.Scale AI (Greenhouse job posting). Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI). Accessed . Back to text
  8. 8.Scale AI (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer - AI Enablement. Accessed . Back to text
  9. 9.Vercel (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, AI Gateway. Accessed . Back to text
  10. 10.Vercel (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, Backend. Accessed . Back to text
  11. 11.Twin Health (Greenhouse job posting). Lead Software Engineer. Accessed . Back to text
  12. 12.Twin Health (Greenhouse job posting). Senior AI Engineer. Accessed . Back to text
  13. 13.Scale AI (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, ARC Team. Accessed . Back to text
  14. 14.Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed . Back to text
  15. 15.BLEN (Lever job posting). AI Engineer. Accessed . Back to text
  16. 16.Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data Scientists, 27 August 2026. Accessed . Back to text
  17. 17.Scale AI (Greenhouse job posting). Senior Software Engineer, Platform. Accessed . Back to text
  18. 18.Glean (Greenhouse job posting). AI Engineer - Data and Evals. Accessed . Back to text
  19. 19.Glean (Greenhouse job posting). AI Engineer - Quality and Post-Training. Accessed . Back to text
  20. 20.Glean (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, Storage. Accessed . Back to text
  21. 21.Glean (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure. Accessed . Back to text
  22. 22.Glean (Greenhouse job posting). Software Engineer, Agentic Runtime. Accessed . Back to text
  23. 23.BLEN (Lever job posting). Senior Software Developer I - Full Stack. Accessed . Back to text
  24. 24.BLEN (Lever job posting). Senior Software Developer II - Full Stack. Accessed . Back to text
  25. 25.Twin Health (Greenhouse job posting). Staff AI Engineer. Accessed . Back to text
  26. 26.Anthropic (Greenhouse job posting). Applied AI Engineer, Enterprise. Accessed . Back to text
  27. 27.Anthropic (Greenhouse job posting). Full-Stack Software Engineer, Reinforcement Learning. Accessed . Back to text
  28. 28.Office of Foreign Labor Certification, U.S. Department of Labor. Performance Data. Accessed . Back to text

How we research: each numbered note links to its source in the list above. How we source.

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