Research Engineer compensation
Research Engineer Salary at AI Startups (2026)
The median Research Engineer salary at AI startups is $300,000, based on 76 disclosed job postings ($100,000–$500,000 range). Updated September 2026. These are aggregate figures only; we never publish an individual company's offer.
$100,000Minimum
$300,000Median
$500,000Maximum
Sample size: based on 76 disclosed salaries.
01
Median Research Engineer salary by funding stage
| Funding stage | Median salary | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Series G+ | $350,000 | 33 |
| Series D | $300,000 | 6 |
| Series B | $242,500 | 6 |
| Series A | $225,000 | 13 |
| Series C | $200,000 | 10 |
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 76 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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