Posted salary ranges · updated 2026-09-28
Research Engineer salary at AI companies, 2026
78 open Research Engineer roles at 5 AI companies publish a base-salary range. The median posted range is $284k to $448k; the 90th percentile of posted maximums is $850k. From the companies' own postings, refreshed every 6 hours.
By company
The companies posting this role most often first.
| Company | Roles | Median low | Median high | Median midpoint | 90th pct high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | 22 | $350k | $850k | $600k | $850k |
| OpenAI | 13 | $380k | $500k | $440k | $500k |
| Decagon | 6 | $200k | $400k | $300k | $400k |
| Thinking Machines Lab | 4 | $350k | $475k | $412k | $475k |
| Character.AI | 3 | $225k | $400k | $312k | $400k |
By level
| Level | Roles | Median low | Median high | Median midpoint | 90th pct high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff+ | 6 | $350k | $555k | $456k | $850k |
| Unspecified | 62 | $295k | $475k | $370k | $850k |
| Senior | 9 | $200k | $350k | $300k | $400k |
By region
| Region | Roles | Median low | Median high | Median midpoint | 90th pct high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | 54 | $284k | $450k | $344k | $850k |
| Remote | 24 | $282k | $422k | $341k | $850k |
Highest posted Research Engineer ranges
One row per company.
| Company | Role | Range | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform | $500k to $850k | San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY |
| Inflection AI | Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training | $400k to $550k | Palo Alto, California, United States |
| OpenAI | Research Engineer, AI for Chip Design | $380k to $500k | San Francisco |
Titles are normalised (seniority words and team suffixes removed) so postings for the same role group together. All functions and companies. Open roles: Research Engineer jobs at AI companies.
New research roles at AI companies, every Monday. The week's openings in this function across 286 companies, plus the weekly index. Free.