AI Engineer Salary by Experience Level

2026 Median Salary$155KMid Level AI Engineer benchmark

Senior Range$155K - $280KSenior AI Engineer market range

Starting Hourly Range$13-$39/hrAI Engineer Intern / early-career estimate

Category (Experience)

Year

Min - Max (USD)

Salary Range (Min - Max in USD)

AI Engineer Intern(Current student; paid AI engineering internship, with annualized full-time-equivalent pay for comparison.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$13-$39/hr

$29-$58/hr

$25-$36/hr

$13

$39

$29

$58

$25

$36

$25

$36

$25

$36

Junior AI Engineer(0-1 years; implements scoped production AI features with close guidance.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$80K - $130K

$90K - $115K

$81K - $118K

$81K - $145K

$78K - $137K

$80K

$130K

$90K

$115K

$81K

$118K

$81K

$145K

$78K

$137K

Entry Level AI Engineer(1-2 years; ships bounded model integrations, tests, evaluations, and data or inference workflows.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$95K - $140K

$100K - $140K

$99K - $134K

$114K - $141K

$99K - $156K

$95K

$140K

$100K

$140K

$99K

$134K

$114K

$141K

$99K

$156K

Associate AI Engineer(2-4 years; owns components of RAG, agent, evaluation, inference, safety, or LLMOps systems.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$102K - $155K

$120K - $160K

$118K - $148K

$110K - $145K

$99K - $177K

$102K

$155K

$120K

$160K

$118K

$148K

$110K

$145K

$99K

$177K

Mid Level AI Engineer(3-5 years; independently builds, deploys, monitors, and improves production AI systems.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$130K - $200K

$140K - $190K

$118K - $163K

$114K - $185K

$137K - $201K

$130K

$200K

$140K

$190K

$118K

$163K

$114K

$185K

$137K

$201K

Senior AI Engineer(5-9 years; leads complex delivery across architecture, reliability, evaluation, safety, and operating cost.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$155K - $280K

$190K - $250K

$134K - $200K

$136K - $185K

$156K - $232K

$155K

$280K

$190K

$250K

$134K

$200K

$136K

$185K

$156K

$232K

Lead AI Engineer(8-12 years; sets cross-team technical direction, mentors engineers, and owns major production outcomes.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$173K - $310K

$230K - $286K

$150K - $232K

$150K - $214K

$164K - $232K

$173K

$310K

$230K

$286K

$150K

$232K

$150K

$214K

$164K

$232K

Principal or AI Architect(10+ years; principal individual-contributor ownership of enterprise AI architecture, platforms, standards, and high-risk technical decisions.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$214K - $325K

$217K - $350K

$171K - $239K

$170K - $256K

$164K - $239K

$214K

$325K

$217K

$350K

$171K

$239K

$170K

$256K

$164K

$239K

VP of AI Engineering(12+ years; executive ownership of the AI engineering organization, budget, portfolio, governance, staffing, and business-level production outcomes.)

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

$220K - $340K

$204K - $370K

$196K - $284K

$181K - $271K

$174K - $280K

$220K

$340K