Machine Learning Engineer compensation
Machine Learning Engineer Salary at AI Startups (2026)
The Machine Learning Engineer salary range at AI startups runs from $114,400 to $400,000, with a median of $209,750 — based on 62 disclosed salaries from postings on Fast AI Jobs. These are aggregate figures only; we never publish an individual company's offer.
$114,400Minimum
$209,750Median
$400,000Maximum
Sample size: based on 62 disclosed salaries.
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Median Machine Learning Engineer salary by funding stage
| Funding stage | Median salary | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Seed | $242,500 | 6 |
| Series A | $225,000 | 7 |
| Series B | $215,000 | 9 |
| Series C | $200,000 | 16 |
| Series G+ | $190,000 | 9 |
| Series D | $187,500 | 8 |
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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 62 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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