Hardware & Physical Engineer compensation
Hardware & Physical Engineer Salary at AI Startups (2026)
The median Hardware & Physical Engineer salary at AI startups is $150,670, based on 498 disclosed job postings ($38,999–$320,000 range). Updated September 2026. These are aggregate figures only; we never publish an individual company's offer.
$38,999Minimum
$150,670Median
$320,000Maximum
Sample size: based on 498 disclosed salaries.
01
Median Hardware & Physical Engineer salary by funding stage
| Funding stage | Median salary | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | $206,000 | 14 |
| Series F | $193,500 | 11 |
| Series D | $175,000 | 102 |
| Debt | $159,000 | 22 |
| Series B | $153,000 | 49 |
| Series C | $148,750 | 38 |
| Series G+ | $146,000 | 142 |
| Series A | $138,100 | 107 |
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 498 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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