Data Engineer compensation
Data Engineer Salary at AI Startups (2026)
The median Data Engineer salary at AI startups is $175,000, based on 42 disclosed job postings ($120,000–$320,000 range). Updated July 2026. These are aggregate figures only; we never publish an individual company's offer.
$120,000Minimum
$175,000Median
$320,000Maximum
Sample size: based on 42 disclosed salaries.
01
Median Data Engineer salary by funding stage
| Funding stage | Median salary | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Series B | $194,000 | 9 |
| Series C | $175,875 | 10 |
| Series D | $157,500 | 5 |
| Series G+ | $148,200 | 8 |
02
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 42 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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