The median research scientist posting in Mountain View at a tech startup offers $238K base, with the middle half between $233K and $274K — from 10 live pay ranges at 4 companies.
| Level | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level not stated | 4 | $235K | $222K–$238K |
| Staff+ | 4 | $281K | $274K–$287K |
| Company | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waymo | 7 | $238K | $235K–$259K |
| Principal AI Research Scientist, Research Director - AI Scaling Databricks |
$270K–$340K |
| Senior/Staff Applied Scientist Glean |
$180K–$330K |
| Staff Research Scientist, Foundation Models Recipes Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
| Staff Research Scientist, Perception Waymo |
$251K–$310K |
| Research Scientist, Map Scalability Waymo |
$213K–$263K |
| Research Scientist, World Model Post-Training Waymo |
$213K–$263K |
| Senior Research Scientist, Perception Waymo |
$213K–$263K |
| Research Scientist, RL for Autonomous Planning & World Modeling Waymo |
$204K–$259K |
Figures are the midpoint of each pay range published in a job posting (US$, 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 16, 2026.