# Machine learning engineer salary: $197,300–$290,000 a year

Every number below comes from 296 tracked live postings whose title matches "machine learning engineer". No surveys, no self-reports — listed salaries only, in US dollars.

Measured September 2026 · n=133 US postings with salary.

## Findings

- The median machine learning engineer posting offers $197,300–$290,000 a year (n=133).
- 45.6% of the 296 live postings matching "machine learning engineer" are remote.
- Level 4 machine learning engineers (building AI systems) list $196,000–$300,000, vs $240,000–$270,000 at Level 1.

## Median salary by seniority (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Intern | 0 | not enough data |
| Junior | 0 | not enough data |
| Mid-level | 15 | $151,800–$234,150 |
| Senior | 69 | $190,000–$270,000 |
| Lead | 31 | $220,700–$330,000 |

## Remote vs on-site (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remote | 45 | $216,700–$300,000 |
| On-site / hybrid | 88 | $190,000–$280,000 |

## Companies hiring machine learning engineers

- [Adobe](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/adobe) (34)
- [Wayve](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/wayve) (24)
- [Faculty](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/faculty) (16)
- [Reddit](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/reddit) (14)
- [Spotify](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/spotify) (9)
- [Jumio](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/jumio) (8)
- [Coinbase](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/coinbase) (7)
- [NVIDIA](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/nvidia) (6)

## Method

US-dollar postings whose title contains "machine learning engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 133 such postings clear the 50-posting floor Level requires before publishing a dedicated salary page — below that, the median moves too much between ingestion cycles to be a citable number.

Sample: postings at tech companies tracked by Level. Not the whole labor market — do not cite as a national average.

Refreshed automatically; this edition is measured September 2026. Small-n slices move a lot — read the n column first.

## Machine learning engineer salary questions, answered from the data

**What is the median machine learning engineer salary?**

Across 133 live US postings for machine learning engineers with a listed USD salary, measured September 2026, the median offer is $197,300–$290,000 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.

**How many machine learning engineers jobs are remote?**

45.6% of the 133 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured September 2026.

**Does the AI level of the job change the pay?**

In this sample, 255 postings are Level 4 (building AI systems) and 33 are Level 1 (AI is not the work). See the AI level breakdown below for the median in each band. Measured September 2026.

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/machine-learning-engineer