Generative AI salary: $202K median
The median advertised Generative AI salary is $202K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $162K to $243K: counted from 1,090 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $97 an hour or $16,875 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $285K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Generative AI jobs
$202Kmedian advertised salary
$162K – $243Kmiddle half of roles
$206Kaverage advertised salary
1,090roles counted
Generative AI salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $237K, 21% more than senior roles ($196K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $196K | $160K–$215K | 293 |
| Lead and above | $237K | $188K–$274K | 350 |
| No level in the title | $185K | $147K–$238K | 443 |
Generative AI salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $225K | 350 |
| 🇺🇸California | $225K | 361 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $205K | 223 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $203K | 44 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $202K | 1,038 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $195K | 24 |
| 🇺🇸Denver, CO | $188K | 15 |
| 🇺🇸Washington, DC | $182K | 53 |
| 🇺🇸Boston, MA | $174K | 22 |
| 🇺🇸Chicago, IL | $158K | 80 |
Skills that pay more for Generative AI roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Learning | $228K | +$25K | 253 |
| Kubernetes | $225K | +$22K | 131 |
| AI | $222K | +$20K | 238 |
| LLM | $220K | +$18K | 382 |
| Python | $208K | +$5K | 363 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Suno | $320K | 5 |
| Roblox | $320K | 13 |
| Anthropic | $308K | 19 |
| $298K | 14 | |
| Suki | $294K | 4 |
| Glean | $290K | 3 |
| LangChain | $288K | 13 |
| Observe.AI | $285K | 3 |
| $276K | 11 | |
| Harvey | $275K | 18 |
| Wayve | $274K | 3 |
| Rubrik | $266K | 3 |
| OpenAI | $265K | 18 |
| Figma | $264K | 5 |
| Unstructured | $262K | 4 |
| Snorkel AI | $256K | 8 |
| Zoox | $254K | 11 |
| Nightfall Ai | $250K | 8 |
| Samsung Research America | $245K | 4 |
| Together AI | $242K | 8 |
| Braze | $242K | 12 |
| Strava | $240K | 3 |
| Decagon | $240K | 3 |
| Neo4j | $232K | 4 |
| Black Forest Labs | $232K | 5 |
Highest-paying open Generative AI roles
All Generative AI jobs- Manager, Enterprise Sales - Asset & Wealth ManagementAnthropic · 🇺🇸New York City, NY$450K - $700KGCPMachine LearningLLM
- Manager, Enterprise Sales - Hedge FundsAnthropic · 🇺🇸New York City, NY$450K - $700KMachine LearningLLMGenerative AI
- Senior Director of Engineering, Generative AIRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$526K - $574KLead and aboveMachine LearningLLMAI
- Enterprise Sales Leader - Technology and TelecommunicationsQualtrics · 🇺🇸United States (Remote)$330K - $543KRemoteGenerative AIPipeline managementSolution selling
- Product Data Scientist - Youth, Families and LearningOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$401K - $510KHybridPythonSQLGenerative AI
- Principal Engineer, AI PlatformPinterest · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA, US; Remote, US$243K - $500KRemoteLead and aboveRustJavaC++
- VP, ResearchScale AI · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA; New York, NY$397K - $496KLead and aboveLLMAI agentsGenerative AI
- Sr. Manager, Machine Learning Engineering-Applied ResearchPinterest · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA, US; Remote, US$228K - $469KRemoteSeniorMachine LearningLLMAI
- Distinguished Engineer, Machine Learning - DiscoveryRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$419K - $458KMachine LearningLLMAI
- Software Engineer, Youth Well-BeingOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$266K - $445KGenerative AIRegulatory compliance
- Head of Vision IntelligenceSamsung Research America · 🇺🇸665 Clyde Avenue, Mountain View, CA, USA$345K - $440KLead and aboveComputer VisionGenerative AIDeep learning
- Sr. Staff Threat Intelligence EngineerSuno · 🇺🇸Boston$316K - $415KLead and abovePythonSQLGenerative AI
- Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, GenAI PlatformReddit · 🇺🇸Remote - United States$292K - $410KRemoteLead and aboveGoPythonTerraform
- Director, AV Product EngineeringWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$348K - $403KHybridLead and aboveGenerative AISCADA
- Member of Technical StaffAdyen · 🇺🇸San Francisco$228K - $401KMachine LearningLLMGenerative AI
- AI Research Scientist - Datadog AI Research (DAIR)Datadog · 🇺🇸New York, New York, USA; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA$320K - $400KMachine LearningLLMPyTorch
- Research ScientistDyna Robotics · 🇺🇸Redwood City, CA$200K - $400KPythonPyTorchGenerative AI
- Software Engineer, Applied AIShepherd · 🇺🇸San Francisco$170K - $400KTypeScriptReactNode.js
- Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer - PerceptionZoox · 🇺🇸Boston, MA$277K - $389KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Strategic Account Executive - United StatesAviatrix · 🇺🇸United States$321K - $378KKubernetesGenerative AIServerless
Questions about Generative AI pay
- What is the average Generative AI salary?
- $206K a year on average and $202K at the median, across 1,090 open Generative AI postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $162K to $243K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Generative AI pay?
- Suno ($320K), Roblox ($320K), Anthropic ($308K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a generative ai a high-paying job?
- The median Generative AI posting advertises $202K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 16% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a generative ai?
- A tenth of the postings offer $285K a year or more; the highest open Generative AI role advertises up to $700K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Generative AI salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $202K a year is about $97 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $16,875 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $78 to $117 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Generative AI roles?
- Postings that ask for Machine Learning (+$25K, 253 postings), Kubernetes (+$22K, 131 postings), AI (+$20K, 238 postings) advertise more than the $202K median of all Generative AI postings with pay.
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Generative AI roles at companies is $202K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $162K to $243K. Counted from 1,090 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/generative-ai/
Free to use with the link.