Research scientist salary, read from the ranges employers publish rather than from a survey: research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings show a median maximum of $392,500 and a median floor of $232,650, on 168 USD ranges. That sits above the market-wide median maximum of $240,000. Measured September 2026.
The number this article rests on: 168 of 282 live research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings publish a USD salary range, and 236 of the 282 score Level 4. Measured September 2026.
Searches for AI researcher salary and AI research scientist salary land on the same postings. In this catalogue 87% of research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings score above Level 1 and 84% score Level 4, the band where building AI is the job, so research here mostly means AI research. UX researchers and security researchers are filed in their own categories and do not count. The Research hub lists every posting in the slice.
Every salary on this page is the base range printed in a posting, in USD, with both bounds stated. Equity, signing bonuses and the total compensation figures that outside reporting often quotes are not in postings and are not estimated. A median is only quoted once at least ten USD ranges back it.
How much does an AI research scientist make?
Research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings show a median maximum of $392,500 and a median floor of $232,650, on 168 USD ranges. Level 4 postings across every function, where building AI is the whole job, show a median maximum of $315,360 on 827 USD ranges. Measured September 2026.
The floor matters as much as the ceiling: the median floor of $232,650 is what the typical posting commits to at the bottom of its band. The gap between the two medians shows how wide a typical published band is, and this page reports both rather than a single midpoint. The AI engineer salary guide ranks every category on the same rules, which makes the two pages directly comparable.
Which AI labs publish the highest research salaries?
Of the two AI labs tracked by name, Anthropic research postings show a median maximum of $705,000 on 38 USD ranges and OpenAI research postings show a median maximum of $500,000 on 42 USD ranges. A lab median is quoted only from ten ranges up. Smaller samples move more between snapshots. Measured September 2026.
Lab pages list every open role with its published range: Anthropic and OpenAI. The Anthropic salary guide breaks that employer down by team, research included.
Do research engineers earn less than research scientists?
Postings titled research engineer show a median maximum of $423,000 and a median floor of $270,000, on 86 USD ranges. The whole research family, scientists and researchers included, sits at $392,500 on 168 ranges, so the engineer track pays above it on this sample. Measured September 2026.
The two titles often sit on the same teams, and a posting's title is the employer's choice, not a job-content test, so the gap is best read as a tendency. Research engineers are also counted inside the research family figure, so the comparison sets a part against its whole. Engineers who lean towards running models in production can compare the MLOps engineer market on the same basis.
Are AI research jobs remote?
Some are, and the share is measured. 87 of 282 research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings, or 31%, are listed as remote, against 48.8% across all 26,799 live postings in the catalogue. A role counts as remote only when the posting says so; hybrid arrangements it does not state as remote are not counted. Measured September 2026.
A remote flag says where the work can be done, not how often a team meets, so the location details of a posting are worth reading before applying. The research hub linked above lists every posting in this slice, remote or not.
Do you need a PhD to be a research scientist?
Not always. 102 of 282 research scientist, researcher and research engineer postings, or 36%, mention a PhD in the text, whether as a requirement or as a preference. Only 12 are tagged intern or junior, so most openings expect prior experience as well. Measured September 2026.
Postings that name tools lean on the training stack: PyTorch appears in 530 live postings across the catalogue. That count covers every function, not research alone, and it measures what postings name, not what a hiring panel weighs.
The jobs right now
Research postings at Level 3 or 4, newest first. Generated from the catalogue, not written by hand.
