By demand, AI engineer: 621 live postings against 634 for machine learning engineer. By pay, the median maximum is $250,000 on 169 USD AI engineer postings and $265,160 on 274 machine learning engineer postings. Both titles are read from the posting itself, never inferred. Measured October 2026.
Also asked as: Which is better, AI Engineer or machine learning engineer? · Who gets paid more, AI Engineer or ML engineer?
Every figure above is computed from the live postings on Level at the time of measurement, October 2026. Each posting is read for how much of the daily work is AI, then rated from Little AI to Builds AI. Salaries use the posting's own range, in US dollars only. Numbers are recomputed monthly and the page is updated when they move by more than 10 percent.
The live figures on this page count postings whose title contains “AI engineer”, compared with postings whose title contains “machine learning engineer” or “ML engineer”. They were read from the database on October 2026 and are refreshed every ten minutes. A posting that describes the work under another title is not counted. Pay figures appear only above ten postings, with hourly rates and annual salaries kept apart. These counts describe postings, not the companies behind them.
Most requested skills: AI agents (320), machine learning (256), RAG (241), AI safety (181), AI research (166)
Most named tools: Python (257), PyTorch (161), LangChain (141), Hugging Face (102), AWS (100)
Top employers: Capital One (76), OpenAI (42), PwC (40), SpaceX (18), Anthropic (13)
Most requested skills: machine learning (433), mlops (165), fine tuning (135), MLOps (122), NLP (99)
Most named tools: PyTorch (403), Python (348), TensorFlow (261), scikit-learn (104), JAX (75)
Top employers: Waymo (44), Capital One (31), Faculty (25), Pinterest (22), Amazon (20)
| Pay type | Median | Range | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual salary | $217k | $183k to $265k (p25 to p75) | 158 |
Measured on October 24, 2026. Method: live ai engineer postings that publish a pay range, using the midpoint of each range and the most common currency, with no conversion. Hourly rates and annual salaries are counted separately; amounts whose period is unclear are excluded. No figure is shown below 10 postings. How we measure.
| Pay type | Median | Range | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual salary | $238k | $198k to $276k (p25 to p75) | 270 |
Measured on October 24, 2026. Method: live machine learning engineer postings that publish a pay range, using the midpoint of each range and the most common currency, with no conversion. Hourly rates and annual salaries are counted separately; amounts whose period is unclear are excluded. No figure is shown below 10 postings. How we measure.
