Key Takeaways
- The AI job market currently has 11,520 tracked postings across 4,990 companies.
- AI/ML Engineer is the most common role at 8,769 postings (76%).
- The median max posted salary is $214K, with significant variation by role and seniority.
- 6% of AI roles are posted as remote.
Key Numbers
A snapshot of the AI job market based on our tracking of active job postings.
Role Distribution
How AI job postings distribute across role categories.
Salary by Role
Median max salary by role category. Premium is vs the overall median of $214K.
| Role | Median Salary | vs Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Safety | $274K | +28% | 14 |
| Research Engineer | $232K | +8% | 72 |
| AI Software Engineer | $230K | +7% | 269 |
| Research Scientist | $228K | +6% | 100 |
| AI Agent Developer | $224K | +5% | 36 |
| AI Product Manager | $223K | +4% | 155 |
| AI Architect | $214K | +0% | 44 |
| AI/ML Engineer | $212K | -1% | 2239 |
| MLOps Engineer | $207K | -3% | 22 |
| Data Scientist | $190K | -11% | 195 |
| Data Engineer | $175K | -18% | 47 |
Top Hiring Companies
The companies with the most active AI job postings.
Top Locations
Where AI jobs are concentrated geographically (by metro area).
What This Means for Your Career
The data in this report points to actionable steps for AI professionals at every level. If you are entering the field, focus on the skills and role types showing the strongest demand growth. For mid-career engineers, the salary premiums and skill clusters above highlight where specialization pays off most. Senior practitioners should watch the company-level trends to identify where AI investment is accelerating and position themselves accordingly.
Methodology: This analysis is based on 11,520 AI job postings collected by AI Pulse in October 2026. Data is sourced from Indeed and company career pages. Only postings with disclosed salary information are included in compensation analyses.
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Rome Thorndike
Rome Thorndike is the CEO & Founder of Provyx, which provides GTM intelligence and data validation for healthcare companies, including EngagedMD and BTL Industries. He writes The AI News Digest for over 3,000 subscribers and previously led revenue at AI data company Firmograph.
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