Hiring an ai engineer in the US? Across 3,828 live ai engineer postings in the US, the market pays a $190K median salary (typically $160K–$225K). Recruiting from Scratch is the contingency technical recruiting firm for these hires — a 29-day average time to hire, 300+ placements, and a 2M+ candidate network.
An ai engineer builds AI-powered product features — LLM applications, retrieval, agents, and the systems around them. Hiring one in the US means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 3,828 active ai engineer postings in the US:
| Percentile | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 25th | $160K |
| Median | $190K |
| 75th | $225K |
Based on 1,118 ai engineer postings in the US that disclose pay. Base only — equity is typically on top.
Across the 1,845 ai engineer postings in the US that spell out responsibilities:
The companies with the most live ai engineer openings in the US, with what each pays and screens for (medians shown only where at least 3 postings disclose pay):
| Company | Open ai engineer roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Top skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One | 84 | $269K | Scala, PyTorch, Hugging Face |
| BJAK | 60 | — | Python, TypeScript, JavaScript |
| Hyphenconnect | 37 | — | Python, Java, PyTorch |
| Sezzle | 33 | $85K | Python, React, SQL |
| Capco | 25 | — | Python, React, Angular |
| Boston Consulting Group | 23 | — | — |
| Tesla | 22 | — | TypeScript, React, Node.js |
| MyNextHire | 20 | — | — |
| American Express | 19 | — | Data Pipelines, Python, TypeScript |
| ExlService Holdings | 18 | — | LangChain, Python, GCP |
Where the ai engineer demand sits across funding stages, across the 150 companies with the most live openings in the US:
| Stage | Companies hiring | Open roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 14 | 93 | $198K | Jobgether, Huzzle, Suffolk Construction |
| Series A | 7 | 41 | $230K | Edra, Trendmicro, Guild.ai |
| Series B | 4 | 19 | $225K | Bluefish Labs, Distyl AI, Appliedai |
| Series C | 12 | 71 | $225K | Fieldguide, ClickUp, TRM Labs |
| Series D+ | 24 | 239 | $210K | BJAK, Sonatus, SpaceX |
| Public | 49 | 529 | $186K | Capital One, Sezzle, Tesla |
A further 40 of those companies have no funding stage on file and are not shown above.
Recruiting from Scratch is a contingency technical recruiting firm — no retainer and no upfront cost, so you pay only when you make a hire. The process: align on the role and must-haves → a curated shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified AI engineers (not resume volume) → a 29-day average time to hire versus the 49-day industry average → a 90-day replacement guarantee. Backed by 300+ placements, a 2M+ candidate network, and named hires at companies like Decagon and Mercor.
An ai engineer builds AI-powered product features — LLM applications, retrieval, agents, and the systems around them.
What salary does an ai engineer in the US command in 2026?Across 3,828 live postings in the US, a $190K median salary (typically $160K–$225K) — base only; equity is typically on top. Most postings expect 5+ years of experience.
What should you look for when hiring an ai engineer?Depth in the skills these postings require (Python, AWS, Azure, GCP, CI/CD, PyTorch, TypeScript, Docker), plus applied LLM/ML experience paired with strong software engineering. Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified candidates, not resume volume.
Tell us about your open roles and we'll start sourcing within 48 hours.
