Company Pay · levels.fyi style
Real compensation data — base, stock and bonus by level, for the US and China.
Real AI engineer compensation, company by company. This explorer aggregates 1,875 compensation data points across 15 companies in the US and China, each broken into base salary, annual stock and bonus with level, location and years of experience attached. Because tech salary levels differ more than titles do, every row shows its level band — filter by company, role or location and the table sorts by total compensation.
Two tools make the numbers usable: the stats bar reports the median, maximum, sample count and company count for whatever filter you set, and the take-home calculator converts gross pay to net by city — US cities on one side, Chinese cities with their own net multipliers on the other. For negotiation strategy by level, read our machine learning engineer salary guide.
Explore: ML engineer salary guide · Salary explorer · How much AI specialists earn
💸 Take-home calculator
Estimate net pay after tax by city (USD).
| Company | Role | Level | Location | YoE | Base | Stock | Bonus | Total | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML Engineer | L7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | ||
| LLM Engineer | L7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | ||
| Research Scientist | L7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | ||
| MLOps Engineer | L7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | ||
| AI Product Manager | L7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | ||
| Meta | ML Engineer | E7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Meta | LLM Engineer | E7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Meta | Research Scientist | E7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Meta | MLOps Engineer | E7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Meta | AI Product Manager | E7 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Amazon | ML Engineer | Sr Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Amazon | LLM Engineer | Sr Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Amazon | Research Scientist | Sr Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Amazon | MLOps Engineer | Sr Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Amazon | AI Product Manager | Sr Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Apple | ML Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Apple | LLM Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Apple | Research Scientist | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Apple | MLOps Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Apple | AI Product Manager | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Microsoft | ML Engineer | 67 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Microsoft | LLM Engineer | 67 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Microsoft | Research Scientist | 67 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Microsoft | MLOps Engineer | 67 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Microsoft | AI Product Manager | 67 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| OpenAI | ML Engineer | IC6 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| OpenAI | LLM Engineer | IC6 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| OpenAI | Research Scientist | IC6 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| OpenAI | MLOps Engineer | IC6 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| OpenAI | AI Product Manager | IC6 | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Anthropic | ML Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Anthropic | LLM Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Anthropic | Research Scientist | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Anthropic | MLOps Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| Anthropic | AI Product Manager | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| DeepMind | ML Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| DeepMind | LLM Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| DeepMind | Research Scientist | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| DeepMind | MLOps Engineer | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k | |
| DeepMind | AI Product Manager | Principal | San Francisco, CA | 8-11 | $352k | $317k | $123k | $792k |
FAQ
Common questions, answered with the data on this page.
How much do AI engineers make at top companies?
It varies more by level and company than by title. The table above aggregates 1,875 real packages across 15 companies — switch between the US and China, filter by company or role, and each row splits base, stock and bonus so you compare total compensation, not just salary. Our machine learning engineer salary guide adds negotiation context.
What are tech salary levels, and why do they matter?
Levels (such as L3 through L8 at big tech) are the bands companies use to price responsibility, and pay steps up sharply between them. The level column in the table lets you compare like-for-like: a senior band at one company often out-earns a loftier title at another. For level-by-level ranges across roles, see the salary explorer.
How much of an AI salary do you keep after tax?
Less than the headline number, and it depends on the city. The take-home calculator applies city-level net multipliers for US and Chinese locations: enter a gross figure, pick a city, and it returns annual and monthly net plus the effective tax-and-deduction share. Compare two cities before you compare two offers.
How does AI pay in China compare to the US?
Switch the toggle above to China to see the same base-stock-bonus breakdown in CNY for Chinese companies and levels. Nominal US packages run higher, but tax, cost of living and purchasing power narrow the real gap. For a role-by-role comparison converted to one currency, see the US vs China analysis.