Senior Data Engineer

💰 $148K–$215K salary range

Median: $177K  ·  Based on 229 public job postings  ·  Updated August 30, 2026

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Driving the robust data pipelines essential for machine learning model training and deployment, Senior Data Engineers at high-growth companies architect and optimize scalable data infrastructure. They ensure high-quality, real-time data flows critical for AI model development, feature engineering, and inference pipelines. Compensation for this pivotal role ranges from $153K to $230K, with a median salary of $190K, derived from an analysis of 73 recent job postings. Professionals commanding top pay frequently possess deep expertise in MLOps platforms, vector databases, and advanced distributed stream processing technologies such as Kafka or Flink. Their ability to build and maintain high-performance, fault-tolerant data systems directly impacts the efficiency and success of AI product delivery.

📊 Salary breakdown

Senior Data Engineer salary by location

• All locations: $177K median ($148K–$215K typical range)
• New York: $181K median, $150K–$201K range (+2% vs. national)
• San Francisco: $275K median, $206K–$331K range (+56% vs. national)
• Los Angeles: $158K median, $148K–$197K range (-11% vs. national)
• Raleigh: $150K median, $150K–$161K range (-15% vs. national)
• Boston: $122K median, $112K–$146K range (-31% vs. national)

Highest paying companies

San Francisco

• Lambda: $331K median
• Chime Financial, Inc: $133K median

New York

• Faire: $251K median
• Justworkslabs: $190K median
• Fanatics Collectibles: $180K median
• Brigit: $180K median

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

What's typically included

• Health insurance: 74% of postings
• Equity (RSU/options): 67% of postings
• Flexible PTO: 65% of postings
• Parental leave: 33% of postings
• Learning/education budget: 12% of postings
• Visa sponsorship: 2% of postings

Typical experience required: 6–7 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 Senior Data Engineer do?

Senior Data Engineers are data professionals who build the pipelines, models, and analytics the business runs on. This benchmark reflects Senior-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 $155K for Senior Data Engineer roles, ranging $130K–$185K, across 839 filings. This is reported separately from — never blended with — the job-posting median above.

Common questions

What is the average Senior Data Engineer salary at an AI startup?
The median pay is $177K, with a typical range of $148K–$215K, based on 229 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 229 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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