The median machine learning engineer posting in Mountain View at a tech startup offers $238K base, with the middle half between $238K and $281K — from 37 live pay ranges at 3 companies.
| Level | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level not stated | 8 | $199K | $195K–$238K |
| Senior | 12 | $238K | $236K–$238K |
| Staff+ | 16 | $281K | $281K–$282K |
| Company | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waymo | 35 | $238K | $238K–$281K |
| Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, LLM/VLM Model Architecture & Optimization Waymo |
$298K–$368K |
| Senior Staff ML Engineer, Driver Understanding and Evaluation Waymo |
$281K–$356K |
| Senior Staff Applied AI Engineer - Context Retrieval Databricks |
$229K–$343K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Data Flywheel Waymo |
$250K–$335K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Infrastructure Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Maneuvering Tech Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Mapping Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
| Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Simulation Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
Figures are the midpoint of each pay range published in a job posting (US$, 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 25, 2026.