The median machine learning engineer posting at a tech startup offers $239K base, with the middle half between $198K and $281K — from 233 live pay ranges at 77 companies.
| Level | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level not stated | 115 | $238K | $195K–$270K |
| Senior | 59 | $230K | $195K–$247K |
| Staff+ | 58 | $281K | $250K–$295K |
| City | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 80 | $240K | $223K–$282K |
| Mountain View | 37 | $238K | $238K–$281K |
| New York | 18 | $268K | $239K–$280K |
| Sunnyvale | 15 | $331K | $220K–$351K |
| Foster City | 10 | $280K | $243K–$300K |
| San Jose | 9 | $300K | $300K–$300K |
| Washington DC | 7 | $257K | $245K–$278K |
| Palo Alto | 6 | $188K | $183K–$281K |
| San Francisco Bay Area | 6 | $233K | $204K–$240K |
| Denver | 5 | $245K | $173K–$245K |
| Company | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayve | 8 | $351K | $331K–$395K |
| xAI | 2 | $310K | $310K–$310K |
| Wispr Flow | 2 | $305K | $295K–$315K |
| Suno | 2 | $304K | $300K–$308K |
| Figure | 8 | $300K | $300K–$300K |
| Anthropic | 5 | $300K | $300K–$300K |
| Zoox | 11 | $295K | $251K–$306K |
| Ramp | 3 | $278K | $272K–$278K |
| Plaid | 3 | $272K | $272K–$272K |
| OpenAI | 17 | $265K | $245K–$371K |
| Anduril | 2 | $256K | $256K–$256K |
| Ambience Healthcare | 2 | $252K | $241K–$263K |
| Together AI | 3 | $250K | $240K–$250K |
| Confido | 2 | $250K | $238K–$263K |
| Scale AI | 3 | $245K | $245K–$277K |
| Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization AI/ML OpenAI |
$381K–$555K |
| Machine Learning Engineer, Implicit Signals OpenAI |
$381K–$510K |
| Machine Learning Engineer, Frontier Data Products Mercor |
$180K–$500K |
| Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer - Autonomy Behaviors Zoox |
$340K–$492K |
| Machine Learning Engineer, Core Experimentation OpenAI |
$437K–$485K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Data Curation & Dataset Strategy Wayve |
$390K–$460K |
| Machine Learning Engineer - Ads xAI |
$180K–$440K |
| Machine Learning Engineer - Recommendation Systems xAI |
$180K–$440K |
Figures are the midpoint of each pay range published in a job posting (US$, base salary as posted), across open roles at the startups we track, recalculated daily. Postings without a range, interns and contractors are excluded. Updated Oct 27, 2026.