AI and machine learning salary in the San Francisco Bay Area
124 AI and machine learning roles in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 74 employers and posted Oct 20–27, 2026, list a yearly salary range. The median bottom of those ranges is $185K and the median top is $261K. The middle half of the bottoms runs from $143K to $227K, and the middle half of the tops from $225K to $322K.
These are the ranges employers published in their own postings. They are not offers, not what people are paid and not a market average. Of the 159 AI and machine learning roles in the San Francisco Bay Area RoleWeek lists, 124 are counted here. Roles of every level are counted together and shown apart under By level. Data as of .
How the posted ranges spread
| Measure | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom of the posted range | $143K | $185K | $227K |
| Top of the posted range | $225K | $261K | $322K |
Not counted: 19 roles list no salary and 16 list pay by the hour. Pay by the hour, week or month is never converted or mixed with yearly ranges, and each page uses one currency.
By level
| Level | Roles | Bottom of range median, middle half | Top of range median, middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid level | 28 | $173K $138K–$200K | $240K $216K–$286K |
| Senior | 38 | $180K $150K–$197K | $246K $229K–$270K |
| Staff+ | 34 | $210K $180K–$240K | $300K $253K–$360K |
| Director+ | 10 | $247K $225K–$266K | $374K $328K–$405K |
Level is RoleWeek’s reading of each posting. A level with fewer than 10 roles that list a yearly range is left out.
Roles that list a yearly salary
Showing 24 of 124, newest first. Show all AI and machine learning roles in the San Francisco Bay Area that list a salary
Senior Manager, AI and HPC Cluster Engineering Enablement
NVIDIASanta Clara, CARemote$272K–$488.8K/yrLinux8+ yrsForward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - AI Infra - SF
OpenAISan FranciscoHybrid$185K–$300K/yrLLMs5+ yrsBacked by a16zStaff Machine Learning Engineer
PinterestSan Francisco, CARemote$189.3K–$389.8K/yrLLMs8+ yrsAssociate Director/Director, Inference Engineering
Lila SciencesSan Francisco, Cambridge$204K–$348K/yrLLMsvLLMNo account neededBacked by General CatalystSenior Software Engineer - AI Platform
Hinge HealthSan FranciscoHybrid$187.8K–$257.4K/yrTypeScriptAWS5+ yrsSenior Lead AI Engineer - G&A Systems
KlaviyoSan Francisco, Boston$180K–$270K/yrLLMsReact5+ yrsRobotics Applied Scientist
AmazonSunnyvale, CA$171.6K–$222.2K/yrJavaC++Member of Technical Staff (AI Software Engineer, Agent Engine)
PerplexitySan Francisco$250K–$405K/yrPythonTypeScriptBacked by Accel(USA) Senior, Machine Learning Engineer
WalmartSan Francisco Bay Area$143K–$286K/yrTensorFlowPyTorch3+ yrsAI Engineer 4 (Gen AI Platform Services: Agentic AI)
Capital OneSan Francisco, San Jose +3$197.3K–$245.6K/yrLLMsAWSSeniorDirector of AI Research
Otter.aiMountain View, CA$244K–$313K/yrLLMsPython10+ yrsSr. Software Development Engineer, ML Infrastructure Team
AmazonCupertino, CA$193.3K–$261.5K/yrAWSLinux5+ yrsFull-Stack Robotics & AI Engineer
Astera InstituteEmeryville$180K–$280K/yrPythonPyTorchMachine Learning Engineer
UCSFSan Francisco, CA$101K–$216K/yrLLMsPythonNo account needed6+ yrsPhysical and Spatial AI Engineer III
DeloitteSan Francisco, Bellevue +39$116.2K–$229.1K/yrAnsibleLangChainSeniorProduct Cost Management Lead - AI Infrastructure
OpenAISan FranciscoHybrid$226K–$300K/yrBacked by a16zAI Researcher, 2027 Graduate U.S.
AtlassianSan Francisco, CARemote$147.9K–$232.7K/yrLLMsPythonSenior Principal Architect, AI Platform
WorkdayPleasanton, CA$242.4K–$363.6K/yrAWSGCP15+ yrsSenior Salesforce AI Developer
NVIDIASanta Clara, CA$176K–$276K/yrPythonJavaScript12+ yrsSenior Staff Machine Learning Performance Engineer
XPENGSanta Clara, CA$244.1K/yrPyTorchC++No account needed8+ yrsSenior/Staff AI/ML Engineer, Plant Intelligence
1 Arc PowerMountain View, CA$237K–$257.5K/yrPythonSQLNo account needed6+ yrsSr. Staff Applied AI Engineer, GTM
ZscalerSanta Clara, CARemote$180K–$225K/yrZero TrustRAGNo account needed5+ yrsStaff Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer
CognizantSan Francisco, CAHybrid$130K–$145K/yrSparkApache Beam10+ yrs
How these numbers are made
- Source: the yearly salary ranges employers publish in their own job postings, for roles RoleWeek lists as posted in the last 7 days. They are what employers advertise, not offers, not what people are paid, and not a market average. RoleWeek lists a share of all developer roles, and an employer decides whether to post a range at all.
- One role is one card: an opening listed for several places counts once on a page. A role listed in several cities counts on each city’s page.
- Bottom and top of each posted range are summarised separately: the median, and the 25th and 75th percentiles (half of the roles fall between them). A role that posts a single figure counts as both its bottom and its top.
- Yearly ranges only, in one currency per page: CA$ for the Canadian cities, $ for US cities and remote roles. Pay by the hour, day, week or month is never converted or mixed in.
- A page exists only when 15 or more roles list a yearly range; a level gets a row at 10. The numbers are rebuilt every day from the roles posted in the last 7 days.
The roles themselves: AI and machine learning jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area (159 posted in the last 7 days). Every city and role type: developer salary ranges by city.