AI engineering comp data, sourced from offers.
5,800+ network-verified offers across 12 frontier labs and 40+ AI-native companies. By role, by level, by lab, by geography. Updated monthly. The most comprehensive AI engineering compensation dataset in 2026 -- and the only one built on offers we've actually seen.
Network-verified offers in the May 2026 dataset.
Companies tracked -- 12 frontier labs + 40 AI-native.
Specialized role tracks, across research, ML eng, and applied AI.
US, UK, EU, India, Singapore, Canada, MENA, LATAM cuts.
// The master table
Senior IC total comp by role -- May 2026.
Median total compensation (base + equity + bonus, annualized USD) for senior IC offers with 5–8 years of experience. US-based unless noted. Filter by track above.
Senior IC offers -- 24 role tracks
Click any role to see lab-by-lab breakdown in your account (login required).
| Role | Track | Range (USD) | Median | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-training research | Research | $700K–$1.4M | $960K | +14% |
| Post-training research | Research | $640K–$1.2M | $820K | +18% |
| Alignment & safety | Research | $680K–$1.1M | $790K | +22% |
| Interpretability | Research | $650K–$1.0M | $760K | +11% |
| Scaling research | Research | $720K–$1.3M | $910K | +9% |
| Agent / RL research | Research | $660K–$1.15M | $820K | +24% |
| Multimodal research | Research | $650K–$1.1M | $780K | +13% |
| Evals research | Research | $580K–$950K | $710K | +15% |
| Training platform engineering | ML eng | $700K–$1.35M | $920K | +12% |
| Inference engineering | ML eng | $680K–$1.2M | $870K | +26% |
| GPU scheduling / cluster ops | ML eng | $620K–$1.05M | $780K | +9% |
| Data pipeline engineering | ML eng | $640K–$1.0M | $760K | +8% |
| Eval infrastructure | ML eng | $640K–$1.05M | $790K | +19% |
| Model serving / quantization | ML eng | $650K–$1.05M | $800K | +15% |
| AI SRE / reliability | ML eng | $620K–$990K | $740K | +21% |
| RAG & retrieval engineering | Applied | $420K–$780K | $560K | +11% |
| Agent product engineering | Applied | $460K–$820K | $610K | +24% |
| Evals & quality engineering | Applied | $400K–$740K | $540K | +18% |
| Prompt / structured outputs | Applied | $380K–$700K | $500K | +8% |
| AI product engineering | Applied | $400K–$720K | $520K | +9% |
| Fine-tuning & adaptation | Applied | $440K–$800K | $580K | +14% |
| Document AI & extraction | Applied | $420K–$740K | $550K | +12% |
| Voice / multimodal applied | Applied | $440K–$780K | $570K | +21% |
| Frontier-lab new-grad MTS | Early-career | $320K–$520K | $420K | +10% |
// By geography
Senior IC offers across 8 geographies.
Median total comp for senior IC roles in each geo, normalized to local currency, then USD-equivalent for reference. European markets have closed roughly 60% of the historical gap to US comp over the past 18 months.
Senior IC — cross-track median by geo
Cross-track because per-geo per-track samples thin out — see the full data in your account.
| Geography | Local currency | USD-equiv | vs. US median | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States – SF Bay | $760K–$1.2M | $920K | 100% | +12% |
| United States – NYC / Seattle | $680K–$1.05M | $820K | 89% | +11% |
| United Kingdom – London | £500K–£780K | $680K | 74% | +18% |
| France – Paris | €460K–€720K | $620K | 67% | +22% |
| Canada – Toronto | CA$720K–CA$1.05M | $640K | 70% | +13% |
| Singapore | S$640K–S$980K | $580K | 63% | +15% |
| India – Bengaluru | ₹2.1Cr–₹3.8Cr | $310K | 34% | +34% |
| UAE / Saudi (MENA) | AED 1.8M–2.6M | $540K | 59% | +28% |
// What “total comp” actually means
The four-piece composition of a senior IC offer.
“Total compensation” hides important variation. Most senior IC offers we see break down across four buckets — and the mix matters more than the headline number.
Base salaryis the smallest part of senior IC frontier-lab offers — usually 25–35% of total. Equity and signing bonuses do the heavy lifting. The labs that pay highest-base tend to pay lowest-equity, and vice versa.
Equityat frontier labs is usually the largest single piece — 40–55% of total — and is paid as RSU-equivalents on a 4-year vesting schedule. At pre-IPO frontier labs (most of the ones we track), equity is the most volatile and the most consequential component to negotiate.
Performance bonusranges 10–20% of total and is targeted at 100% of base or lower. Some labs pay this as a quarterly bonus; others bundle it into equity refreshes.
Signing bonusappeared in 38% of senior IC offers in the May 2026 dataset, up from 21% the prior year. Where it appears, it's significant — median $250K, with notice-period buyout terms layered on top in roughly half of cases.
// SENIOR IC OFFER — MEDIAN COMPOSITION
Every other comp dataset I'd seen was self-reported and three months out of date. OpenTalent's data was the first one I trusted enough to bring to a negotiation. I cited a specific median, asked for the equity tier above what they offered, and walked away with $140K more.
Senior post-training engineer — negotiated a frontier-lab offer Q1 2026
// Related
Where this data lives next door.
Three other places the network publishes comp and market signal — each with its own angle.