Data Team Lead

💰 $133K–$188K salary range

Median: $154K  ·  Based on 48 public job postings  ·  Updated August 30, 2026

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Professionals driving the strategic data initiatives within high-growth companies are essential for translating complex data into insights that directly power advanced machine learning applications. This pivotal role involves architecting scalable data infrastructure, overseeing data quality for model training, and optimizing data pipelines to fuel AI product development and innovation. Based on an analysis of 30 recent job postings, the salary range for this position typically falls between $203K and $291K, with a median compensation of $229K. Top earners demonstrate mastery in MLOps principles, advanced distributed data processing frameworks like Apache Spark, and deep expertise in cloud-native data platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure), ensuring robust and efficient data ecosystems crucial for AI scaling.

📊 Salary breakdown

Data Team Lead salary by location

• All locations: $154K median ($133K–$188K typical range)
• Austin: $153K median, $149K–$161K range (-1% vs. national)
• San Francisco: $203K median, $164K–$204K range (+31% vs. national)

Highest paying companies

Austin

• SB Energy: $153K median

Based on companies with 3+ active postings. Median of publicly advertised salary range.

What's typically included

• Health insurance: 65% of postings
• Equity (RSU/options): 46% of postings
• Flexible PTO: 60% of postings
• Parental leave: 50% of postings
• Learning/education budget: 10% of postings
• Visa sponsorship: 4% of postings

Typical experience required: 6–8 years.

Data salaries by seniority

• Data Analyst: $107K
• Data Engineer: $142K
• Data Team Lead: $154K
• Data Engineering Manager: $165K
• Senior Data Engineer: $177K
• Senior SRE: $192K
• VP Data: $214K
• Staff Data Engineer: $231K

What does a Data Team Lead do?

Data Team Leads are data professionals who build the pipelines, models, and analytics the business runs on. This benchmark reflects Lead-level base compensation at high-growth and AI-native companies.

Government wage data

For corroboration, U.S. Department of Labor certified wage filings (FY2026) show a median of $160K for Data Team Lead roles, ranging $139K–$190K, across 139 filings. This is reported separately from — never blended with — the job-posting median above.

Common questions

What is the average Data Team Lead salary at an AI startup?
The median pay is $154K, with a typical range of $133K–$188K, based on 48 public job postings collected in 2025–2026.

Where does this salary data come from?
It is aggregated from public job postings on company career pages — no private placement or client data. We require a minimum of 15 postings per role.

Methodology

Figures are the midpoint of each posting's advertised USD salary range, aggregated from 48 public job postings (2025–2026). The range shown is the 25th–75th percentile; the median is the 50th percentile. Equity is separate and not included; where a posting's range reflects on-target earnings (OTE) for commission roles, that is included in the midpoint. Roles require at least 15 postings to be published. Last refreshed August 30, 2026.

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