The New Economics of AI Engineering Pay
Learn how mega offers, shrinking equity, and cash premiums are changing AI compensation.
Insights from 30,000 AI job offers from Fortune 100 companies in 2025 reveal shifts in hiring for AI talent.
Why it matters:
The AI talent boom isn’t just making headlines, it’s redefining what “top of market” means. Elite engineers aren’t inching ahead, they’re pulling away at warp speed and exposing the limits of legacy pay models.
Key takeaways:
- AI / ML Engineering hiring volume grew by 115% over the last two years, doubling the growth rate for Software Engineering
- AI / ML pay increases skewed toward bonuses, with target bonuses up 52% versus an 11% rise in base pay
- Average new-hire equity grants declined, but outsized “mega offers” became more common in competitive AI hires like Machine Learning Engineers
To download this brief, please complete the form below
Your privacy is important to us and your information will be kept confidential. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
Trusted By Top Brands in Compensation
What your peers say
“We believe Compa is one of those tools that will enable us to make multi-billion dollar business decisions with the highest degree of confidence.”
“Compa has built something mind-blowing. Analyst Agent feels effortless; drop in a prompt, get a sharp starting point, and refine from there. The speed and clarity Compa delivers is incredible to watch.”
“Compa is the best and most effective way to obtain real-time market data. Micron is on board -- what's keeping the rest of you from ensuring you have a solid understanding of offers being given today, as opposed to a guesstimate of what's competitive based on aged survey data?”
“Analyst Agent is groundbreaking in the compensation industry, I’m amazed.”
“I use Compa more than survey data.”
“We all need a supplement to our Radford data. Even better, one that is real-time - not dated 6-12 months. And one that is not reliant on the rigorous submission exercise to a survey vendor.”
“Charlie's experience and knowledge as a compensation leader gives me confidence in Compa's ability to build a product that will be valuable as an input into our compensation processes.”
“We are thrilled to be a launch partner on what is sure to be a game-changer for tech benchmarking. Fellow comp geeks, unite!”