AI Hiring Index
Who is hiring, for what, and how fast, across 286 AI labs, startups and infrastructure companies. Computed from their own careers feeds, updated every 6 hours. Week of 2026-09-28.
Table view
| week | new roles |
|---|---|
| Jul 13 | 668 |
| Jul 20 | 686 |
| Jul 27 | 655 |
| Aug 03 | 845 |
| Aug 10 | 823 |
| Aug 17 | 982 |
| Aug 24 | 1,035 |
| Aug 31 | 1,027 |
| Sep 07 | 821 |
| Sep 14 | 915 |
| Sep 21 | 1,081 |
| Sep 28 | 136 |
Salary index
Posted base-salary ranges, USD only, midpoint medians. 8,951 of 14,948 open roles list a range (59%).
| Function | Roles | Median low | Median high | Median midpoint | 90th pct high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data | 191 | $188k | $260k | $226k | $385k |
| Engineering | 2530 | $185k | $263k | $226k | $400k |
| Go-to-market | 1243 | $167k | $220k | $195k | $337k |
| Infrastructure | 1484 | $180k | $254k | $219k | $400k |
| Operations | 1406 | $159k | $210k | $184k | $311k |
| Other | 146 | $181k | $245k | $216k | $370k |
| Product & Design | 470 | $180k | $254k | $222k | $370k |
| Research | 530 | $200k | $320k | $265k | $500k |
| Level | Roles | Median low | Median high | Median midpoint | 90th pct high |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New grad | 129 | $135k | $155k | $145k | $250k |
| Unspecified | 2463 | $165k | $241k | $205k | $400k |
| Senior | 2136 | $175k | $238k | $205k | $330k |
| Staff+ | 1367 | $204k | $282k | $244k | $430k |
| Lead / Manager | 1902 | $198k | $260k | $228k | $383k |
Salary medians for every company, every function-by-level segment, and the 25 highest posted ranges are in Signals Pro.
Hiring velocity
New roles in the last 7 days against each company's prior 4-week weekly average.
| Company | New (7d) | Prior weekly avg | Open | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shield AI | 102 | 44.5 | 590 | accelerating |
| OpenAI | 90 | 64.5 | 832 | steady |
| Anthropic | 60 | 48.8 | 625 | steady |
| Writer | 50 | 3.0 | 51 | accelerating |
| Crusoe | 41 | 31.2 | 344 | steady |
| Harvey | 40 | 23.2 | 292 | accelerating |
| Databricks | 38 | 47.5 | 870 | steady |
| Waymo | 37 | 21.0 | 359 | accelerating |
| CoreWeave | 36 | 19.8 | 309 | accelerating |
| Legora | 36 | 19.8 | 273 | accelerating |
236 more companies in Signals Pro.
Leadership openings 73
Head of, Director, VP and C-level roles opened this week. Each one is a team being built or a seat being backfilled.
| Company | Role | Function | Posted range | Location | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generate Biomedicines | Director, Clinical Scientist (Respiratory indications) | Research | $186k–270k | Remote | 2026-09-28 |
| Recursion | Executive Director, Clinical Pharmacology/Pharmacometrics | Research | £136k–167k | Remote Opportunity - United Kingdom; Remote Opportunity - United States | 2026-09-25 |
| Enveda | Clinical Development Director | Research | $330k–370k | Remote, United States | 2026-09-25 |
| Cursor | Regional Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - India | Engineering | – | Bengaluru; New Delhi; Mumbai | 2026-09-28 |
| Shield AI | Deputy Chief Engineer, X-BAT | Engineering | $250k–350k | Seattle, Washington | 2026-09-25 |
68 more leadership openings in Signals Pro.
Geographic expansion 5
First opening in a region since tracking began (4 days of history so far; a first in 90 days once the archive is that old). Companies with 10 or more live roles only.
| Company | Region | First role | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enveda | US | Clinical Development Director | Remote, United States |
| AirOps | UK & Ireland | Sales Development Representative - EMEA | London, UK |
New functions 13
First opening in a function since tracking began (4 days of history so far; a first in 90 days once the archive is that old). A lab's first sales hire, an app company's first infra hire.
| Company | Function | First role | Posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennr | Data | Data Engineer | 2026-09-28 |
| Dropzone AI | Product & Design | Senior Technical Writer | 2026-09-28 |
Contraction 59
Companies closing roles faster than they open them, or with many open roles and nothing new in 30 days.
| Company | Open | New 7d | Closed 7d | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Databricks | 870 | 38 | 121 | closing faster than opening |
| Crusoe | 344 | 41 | 103 | closing faster than opening |
| Harvey | 292 | 40 | 88 | closing faster than opening |
56 more in Signals Pro.
Signals are computed from public job postings and describe hiring activity only. They are not investment, employment or legal advice. Method: roles are pulled from Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby public APIs; "new" uses each posting's own published date; velocity compares the last 7 days to the prior 4-week weekly average; expansions and new functions are the first posting in a region or function in 90 days of tracked history. Cite as AI Hiring Index AI Hiring Index with a link.