Hiring an ai engineer in New York? Across 176 live ai engineer postings in New York, the market pays a $210K median salary (typically $175K–$235K). 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 New York means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 176 active ai engineer postings in New York:
| Percentile | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 25th | $175K |
| Median | $210K |
| 75th | $235K |
Based on 121 ai engineer postings in New York that disclose pay. Base only — equity is typically on top.
New York pays about 11% above the US median for this role ($190K).
The companies with the most live ai engineer openings in New York, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Express | 12 | — | Data Pipelines, Python, TypeScript |
| Genpact | 5 | — | — |
| Traversal | 5 | $225K | AWS, Kubernetes, Python |
| Decircletalentpartner | 4 | — | — |
| Edra | 4 | $235K | — |
| Ramp | 3 | — | TypeScript, React |
| Arize AI | 2 | — | Python, TypeScript, Java |
| Normal Computing | 2 | — | Python, PyTorch |
| Jerry | 2 | — | SQL, OpenAI, Product Roadmap |
| Sequence | 2 | — | TypeScript, Kotlin, React |
Where the ai engineer demand sits across funding stages, across the 120 companies with the most live openings in New York:
| Stage | Companies hiring | Open roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 17 | 20 | $200K | Headstart, Merciv, Junior |
| Series A | 14 | 23 | $235K | Edra, Ramp, Sequence |
| Series B | 5 | 7 | — | Normal Computing, Bluefish Labs, Doctronic |
| Series C | 4 | 6 | $180K | Arize AI, Jerry, AssemblyAI |
| Series D+ | 26 | 38 | $223K | Traversal, Percepta, Socure |
| Public | 22 | 42 | $213K | American Express, Genpact, Datadog |
A further 32 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 New York command in 2026?Across 176 live postings in New York, a $210K median salary (typically $175K–$235K) — 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, TypeScript, GCP, PyTorch, SQL, CI/CD, Azure), 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.
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