Zelcast Pay Index · Q4 2026 edition
What engineers are paid
Base salary for the roles startups and AI labs hire for, from 467,086 certified US wage filings in the twelve months to June 2026 and 5,785 open job postings
A Member of Technical Staff at one of six AI labs had a median base salary of $309,256 in the twelve months to June 2026, 44% more than the same title elsewhere. Founding engineers came in at $189,000 and forward deployed engineers at $180,000, against $162,000 for a software engineer. Filings for forward deployed engineers grew fivefold on the year before, faster than any other title in the index.
- Member of Technical Staff, AI labs $309,256
- Staff software engineer $215,640
- Member of Technical Staff, everyone else $214,230
- Research engineer $200,000
- Founding engineer $189,000
- Machine learning engineer $187,870
- Forward deployed engineer $180,000
- Software engineer $162,000
- Senior software engineer $161,200
- AI engineer $130,354
| Title | Median base | Middle half | Filings | Median, change on a year | Filings, change on a year | Advertised, middle of the posted range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member of Technical Staff, AI labs | $309,256 | $255,818 to $350,000 | 441 | see note | +167% | too few postings |
| Staff software engineer | $215,640 | $177,028 to $244,724 | 1,762 | +7.6% | −8% | $238,425 |
| Member of Technical Staff, everyone else | $214,230 | $185,000 to $260,000 | 1,068 | +10.2% | +30% | $252,500 |
| Research engineer | $200,000 | $160,000 to $240,000 | 345 | +14.3% | +24% | $275,000 |
| Founding engineer | $189,000 | $158,626 to $215,000 | 255 | +14.9% | +145% | too few postings |
| Machine learning engineer | $187,870 | $149,365 to $231,500 | 925 | +2.3% | −6% | $243,750 |
| Forward deployed engineer | $180,000 | $154,375 to $210,000 | 268 | +16.9% | +415% | $211,570 |
| Software engineer | $162,000 | $114,757 to $200,000 | 23,811 | +8.0% | −14% | $182,500 |
| Senior software engineer | $161,200 | $138,135 to $200,543 | 8,323 | +3.3% | −12% | $198,500 |
| AI engineer | $130,354 | $105,804 to $162,500 | 406 | +8.3% | +154% | $220,750 |
Member of Technical Staff, AI labs: no change in pay is shown. 65% of these filings give a pay range rather than one figure, against 15% a year earlier, so the two years are not measured the same way.
What companies advertise
We also read the pay ranges on 5,785 job postings open at 338 technology companies on October 20, 2026, from their public job boards. A posting is an ask rather than an offer, and its range usually spans more than one level, so the table gives the middle of the posted range beside the filed salary instead of mixing the two. Each company counts once in a row, so no single large employer sets it.
Where the same company appears in both, under the same name, the two sources mostly agree. Across 31 such companies, the middle of the advertised range for engineering roles sits a median 5% above what they file, from 22% below to 36% above. The rows that differ most are the ones where the two sources describe different employers. AI engineer filings, from 272 employers, have a median of $130,354, while the 39 companies posting the title advertise $220,750 at the middle of the range.
The titles growing fastest
Filings for forward deployed engineers went from 52 to 268 in a year, from 99 employers. Palantir, which created the role, filed 56% of them a year ago and 18% now. Salesforce and Boston Consulting Group, which filed none a year earlier, filed 34 and 15.
Founding engineer filings rose from 104 to 255, spread across 193 companies, none of which filed more than 6. AI engineer filings rose from 160 to 406. Over the same twelve months, filings for software engineers fell 14% and all filings fell 8%, to 467,086.
The AI labs
Six labs filed 441 Member of Technical Staff applications in the twelve months, against 165 a year earlier. At most of them it is the main title for engineers and researchers, so it spans a wide range of seniority.
| Lab | Member of Technical Staff | Every filing |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | $325,000140 filings | $310,000261 filings |
| Anthropic | $281,756193 filings | $281,756295 filings |
| xAI | $350,00041 filings | $300,00059 filings |
| Thinking Machines Lab | $315,61630 filings | $315,61630 filings |
| Reflection AI | fewer than 30 filings | $243,55934 filings |
| Cohere | fewer than 30 filings | fewer than 30 filings |
Since August 2025 most lab filings give a pay range instead of one figure, and in 51% of those ranges the low end is exactly the prevailing wage, the legal minimum for the role. We use the middle of each range. Using the low end alone would show lab pay falling by about a third this year. That would be a change in how the labs file, not in what they pay.
The lottery changed the mix
Filings for people picked in the H-1B lottery mostly come between April and June, after the March registration. This year’s lottery was the first to give higher wage levels more chances of selection, under a rule published in December 2025. In those three months the share of filings at the top wage level rose from 13% to 18%, and the share at the entry level fell from 24% to 19%. The median filing for a software engineer in the season rose from $123,656 to $164,654.
That lifts many of the medians in this edition. A median moves when pay moves and when the mix of people being filed for moves, so read each change on a year as some of both.
What the titles mean
Google and Meta file most of their engineers as plain Software Engineer, senior ones included, and together they made up 32% of those filings. That is why the plain title pays slightly more than Senior software engineer here. Founding engineer, forward deployed engineer and Member of Technical Staff are spread across many employers, so their medians describe a market more than any one company’s pay bands.
By state
| State | Software engineer | Machine learning engineer |
|---|---|---|
| California | $196,0009,347 filings | $205,818513 filings |
| Washington | $181,0002,431 filings | $197,238118 filings |
| New York | $190,0001,827 filings | $193,05080 filings |
| Texas | $112,9623,006 filings | $134,97836 filings |
How the index is built
- Source. The Labor Condition Applications employers file with the Department of Labor for H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 workers, published each quarter by its Office of Foreign Labor Certification.
- Window. Certified filings decided from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, compared with the twelve months to June 30, 2025.
- Filings counted. Certified, full time, salary stated per year, between $40,000 and $1,200,000, with duplicates removed by case number.
- Salary. The base salary on the filing, or the middle of the range where an employer files a range. 31% of the filings in this edition are ranges.
- Titles. Matched on the title as filed. Software engineer, senior software engineer, staff software engineer, machine learning engineer and research engineer are those exact titles. Founding engineer is any engineering title containing “founding”, and forward deployed engineer any containing “forward deployed”. AI engineer covers AI engineer, artificial intelligence engineer and generative AI engineer.
- AI labs. OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Thinking Machines Lab, Reflection AI and Cohere (Cohere US, not the unrelated Cohere Health).
- Advertised. The middle of the pay range on job postings open on October 20, 2026 at 338 technology companies, read from their public Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever boards. Matched to the same titles, and software engineer postings by level. Each company’s postings are reduced to their median first, and the row gives the median across companies. Shown where at least 30 postings from 10 or more companies match, or 3 or more of the labs for the lab row. Postings and filings are reported side by side and never combined.
- What it leaves out. Equity, bonuses and benefits. A filing commits an employer to a minimum salary for a role, it is not a record of a hire, and it covers only workers on these visas, so treat each median as a floor for its market. Rows with fewer than 30 filings show no change figures.
Cite as: Zelcast Pay Index, Q4 2026 edition, zelcast.com/pay-index. The next edition follows the Department of Labor’s next release.
Common questions
- How much does a founding engineer make in 2026?
- The median base salary on certified US wage filings for founding engineer titles was $189,000 in the twelve months to June 2026, with the middle half between $158,626 and $215,000, across 255 filings from 193 employers.
- What do AI labs pay a Member of Technical Staff?
- A median base salary of $309,256 across OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Thinking Machines Lab, Reflection AI and Cohere, against $214,230 for the same title at other employers. Equity and bonuses come on top.
- How much does a forward deployed engineer make?
- A median base salary of $180,000, with the middle half between $154,375 and $210,000, across 268 filings. Filings for the title went from 52 to 268 in a year.
- How do advertised salary ranges compare with what companies actually pay?
- They mostly agree. At the 31 companies that appear in both under the same name, the middle of the advertised range for engineering roles sits a median 5% above the salaries the same companies file with the Department of Labor. A posting is an ask and usually spans more than one level, while a filing commits the employer to a salary for one person.
- Where does the Zelcast Pay Index data come from?
- From the Labor Condition Applications employers file with the US Department of Labor for H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 workers, and from the pay ranges on open job postings at technology companies. Zelcast takes every certified, full-time filing with a yearly salary, removes duplicates and reports the median base salary by job title for the latest twelve months, with the middle of the advertised range beside it.