Hiring an ai engineer in San Francisco? Across 362 live ai engineer postings in San Francisco, the market pays a $207K median salary (typically $187K–$240K). 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 San Francisco means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 362 active ai engineer postings in San Francisco:
| Percentile | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 25th | $187K |
| Median | $207K |
| 75th | $240K |
Based on 226 ai engineer postings in San Francisco that disclose pay. Base only — equity is typically on top.
San Francisco pays about 9% above the US median for this role ($190K).
Across the 227 ai engineer postings in San Francisco that spell out responsibilities:
The companies with the most live ai engineer openings in San Francisco, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla | 19 | — | — |
| Sonatus | 10 | $244K | Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow |
| American Express | 8 | — | Data Pipelines, Python, TypeScript |
| Fieldguide | 8 | $225K | Python, TypeScript, PostgreSQL |
| SpaceX | 7 | $285K | Python, Kubernetes, AWS |
| Clera | 6 | $198K | TypeScript, React, Python |
| Hippocratic AI | 5 | — | Python, AWS, GCP |
| Apple | 4 | — | Python, Java, Data Pipelines |
| Initialized Capital | 4 | $150K | — |
| Scout AI | 4 | $300K | Python, PyTorch |
Where the ai engineer demand sits across funding stages, across the 150 companies with the most live openings in San Francisco:
| Stage | Companies hiring | Open roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 21 | 41 | $205K | Clera, Eloquent AI, AIFund |
| Series A | 17 | 24 | $215K | Eudia, Faros AI, BrightAI |
| Series B | 15 | 25 | $215K | Distyl AI, Streamlit, Reducto |
| Series C | 13 | 29 | $223K | Fieldguide, Hippocratic AI, You.com |
| Series D+ | 23 | 49 | $244K | Sonatus, SpaceX, Scout AI |
| Public | 22 | 57 | $215K | Tesla, American Express, Apple |
A further 39 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 San Francisco command in 2026?Across 362 live postings in San Francisco, a $207K median salary (typically $187K–$240K) — 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, Azure, PyTorch, TensorFlow, CI/CD), 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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