A growing number of jobs in artificial intelligence (AI) offer a lucrative career opportunity for those with the necessary skills, according to a new report from Glassdoor.
Estimating pay for AI jobs is difficult, because compensation for these roles is often complex, with a significant share of pay in stock options or restricted stock units that are hard to value, Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at Glassdoor, wrote in the report.
Base pay is the most accurately reported portion of pay, and though it doesn’t included bonuses or stock-related payments, it’s a useful benchmark and was used for this report, Chamberlain noted. And even without counting for those additional compensations, the highest-paying AI jobs studied here already rank among the top-earning jobs in America today.
The overall average base pay for AI jobs in this sample was $111,118 per year–more than twice the US median base pay for full-time workers of $51,220 per year. However, the range is wide in both pay and type of positions, including roles in tech, sales, marketing, and research.
SEE: Special report: How to implement AI and machine learning (free PDF)
Here are the top 10 highest paying AI job openings as of October 2017, along with the metro area and industry they are found in:
1. Director of AI
City: San Francisco
Pay: $257,269
Industry: Internet & tech
2. Vice president of AI product management
City: San Jose
Pay: $249,500
Industry: Marketing & advertising
3. Data engineer for deep learning
City: San Jose
Pay: $243,623
Industry: Computer software & hardware
4. Attorney for AI division
City: Los Angeles
Pay: $203,710
Industry: Internet & tech
5. Deep learning engineer for self-driving cars
City: San Francisco
Pay: $203,450
Industry: Consulting
6. Director of marketing for AI
City: San Jose
Pay: $202,876
Industry: Manufacturing
7. Director of machine learning and AI
City: San Jose
Pay: $200,627
Industry: Computer software & hardware
8. Director of technical sales for AI
City: San Francisco
Pay: $190,098
Industry: Computer software & hardware
9. Director of research for AI
City: Seattle
Pay: $188,966
Industry: Computer software & hardware
10. Software engineering lead for AI
City: Seattle
Pay: $188,966
Industry: Retail
In terms of companies hiring AI talent today, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Microsoft lead the pack, Glassdoor found. However, as you can see on this list, a growing number of employers in the financial services, consulting and government sectors are also emerging as major employers of AI talent.
And while the list of industries using AI is growing, most open AI jobs today are still located in a few metro areas: Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City, Glassdoor found.
