Data Engineer compensation
Data Engineer Salary at AI Startups (2026)
The median Data Engineer salary at AI startups is $177,000, based on 67 disclosed job postings ($95,000–$320,000 range). Updated September 2026. These are aggregate figures only; we never publish an individual company's offer.
$95,000Minimum
$177,000Median
$320,000Maximum
Sample size: based on 67 disclosed salaries.
01
Median Data Engineer salary by funding stage
| Funding stage | Median salary | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Series G+ | $195,000 | 9 |
| Series C | $187,500 | 11 |
| Series B | $185,000 | 13 |
| Series A | $172,313 | 6 |
| Series D | $165,000 | 13 |
| Series E | $160,000 | 5 |
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How we calculate this
Roughly a quarter of AI-startup postings disclose pay. We extract the USD range from those that do, normalize each to a midpoint, and aggregate across distinct postings (deduplicated by posting ID). The minimum, median, and maximum above are based on 67 disclosed salaries. We publish aggregate ranges only, never a single company's salary, so the numbers stay representative rather than anecdotal.
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