By Recruiting from Scratch · Updated monthly · Last updated September 2026
Data: live engineering job postings tracked by Recruiting from Scratch (deduplicated by firm and title) + U.S. Department of Labor H-1B wage filings, FY2025–FY2026. All figures are base salary; bonus and equity are paid on top.
San Francisco is where the highest engineering base salaries in the country are being set, and in 2026 the market is led by AI labs. The Bay Area's best engineers get pitched by OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, by big tech, and by hedge funds and trading firms that want them to move to New York or Chicago. Hiring well here means knowing all three offers your candidate is holding.
Recruiting from Scratch is a technical recruiting firm that places software, ML and infrastructure engineers with AI labs, top startups, and hedge funds and trading firms. We track every engineering posting and federal wage filing at the firms competing for Bay Area talent.
AI labs have 584 distinct engineering roles open in the Bay Area, 391 of them Bay Area-only (internships excluded). The most active AI labs and funds:
| Firm | Segment | Distinct Bay Area engineering roles | Bay Area-only |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | AI lab | 276 | 276 |
| Anthropic | AI lab | 176 | 30 |
| xAI | AI lab | 54 | 42 |
| Perplexity | AI lab | 37 | 37 |
| Scale AI | AI lab | 37 | 2 |
| Voleon Group | Hedge fund / trading firm | 12 | 12 |
What this means: OpenAI alone has 276 open engineering roles, and Perplexity has 37 roles. Anthropic lists 176 roles Bay Area engineers can apply for, most of them open to other cities too. Big tech remains the largest employer by volume — Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta together list 1,775 Bay Area engineering roles in our tracking — but at a lower base.
Hedge funds and trading firms barely post in the Bay Area: we track just 15 fund engineering roles, 12 of them at Voleon Group. For most Bay Area engineers, a fund offer means relocating to New York or Chicago — which is exactly why funds recruit here.
| Segment | Median posted base range | H-1B median filed base (software engineers) | 90th percentile filed | Filings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI labs | $266K–$405K | $260K → $320K | $460K | 115 |
| Big tech | $170K–$183K | $186K → $199K | $264K | 8,092 |
| Hedge funds & trading firms | $238K–$265K | too few filings to report | — | — |
AI labs set the Bay Area ceiling on base. Their pay model is base plus equity; big tech pairs a lower base with RSUs and refreshers; funds pay a competitive base with a discretionary bonus that is often the larger share of total compensation.
In our data, that signals the real competition for a Bay Area senior engineer: not one lab against another, but a lab's equity against a fund's bonus and a relocation.
| Firm | What they focus on (from their own site) |
|---|---|
| Recruiting from Scratch | Engineers, ML engineers and quant developers for AI labs, hedge funds, trading firms and top startups; 300+ engineering placements; 29-day average time to hire |
| Harnham | Data and AI recruiting (data science, ML, AI engineering, data engineering); offices include San Francisco, New York, Chicago and London |
| KORE1 | Technology staffing including AI/ML and data; headquartered in Irvine, CA with recruiters in 30+ metros including San Francisco; founded 2005 |
| Christian & Timbers | Executive search for C-suite, product/technology, finance and AI leadership; based in New York |
For individual-contributor AI and ML engineers, choose a firm that recruits engineers — not only executives — and can benchmark AI-lab, fund and big-tech offers side by side.
| Type of firm | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist quant search firms | Quant researchers and PMs for funds | Narrow networks outside finance; little AI-lab insight |
| Large generalist agencies | Volume and contract hiring | Limited depth in ML and systems roles |
| Executive search firms | C-suite and VP hires | Built for leadership, not engineering teams |
| Recruiting from Scratch | Engineering and ML hires at AI labs, funds and startups | Focused on technical roles |
Hiring engineers in San Francisco? Book a call with our team or tell us about the role.
An engineer comparing AI labs and funds? See open roles and share your resume.
More: Hedge Funds vs AI Labs vs Big Tech: Engineer Pay in NYC, SF & Chicago · New York guide · Chicago guide
What is the best recruiting firm for AI engineers in San Francisco?
Look for a firm that knows what AI labs, funds and big tech are each offering your candidates, and that can show its time to hire. Recruiting from Scratch averages 29 days to hire across 300+ engineering placements.
How much do AI lab engineers make in San Francisco?
H-1B filings for Bay Area AI-lab software engineers (FY2025–FY2026) show a median filed base of $260K–$320K, with the 90th percentile at $460K. Equity is paid on top.
Do hedge funds hire engineers in San Francisco?
Rarely: we track 15 fund engineering roles in the Bay Area, most at Voleon Group. Most fund roles are in New York and Chicago.
Tell us about your open roles and we'll start sourcing within 48 hours.
