OpenAI Salary

💰 $251K–$339K salary range

Median: $308K  ·  Based on 582 public OpenAI job postings  ·  Updated June 15, 2026

This OpenAI salary benchmark is built from public job postings — no private placement data. Figures reflect the posted-range midpoint (equity is separate) and are refreshed as new postings are collected.

📊 Salary breakdown

Highest-paying open roles at OpenAI

• Research Engineer, Retrieval & Search, Applied Engineering — $293K–$585K · Applied AI
• RE / RS - Foundations, Search — $445K–$555K · Research
• Software Engineer, Model Inference — $295K–$555K · Scaling
• Software Engineer, Inference - Multi Modal — $295K–$555K · Scaling
• Technical Lead, Safety Research — $460K–$555K · Safety Systems
• Software Engineer, Foundations Search — $380K–$555K · Research
• TL, Research Inference — $380K–$555K · Research
• RE/RS, Data Understanding (MM) — $445K–$555K · Research
• Software Engineer, Inference - Performance Optimization — $295K–$555K · Scaling
• Hardware / Software CoDesign Engineer - 3P — $342K–$555K · Scaling

OpenAI salary by department

• Safety Systems: $370K median · $555K top base — Technical Lead, Safety Research (view JD) (21 roles)
• Research: $339K median · $555K top base — RE / RS - Foundations, Search (view JD) (55 roles)
• Core Product & Platform: $339K median · $385K top base — Software Engineer, API Multicloud (view JD) (3 roles)
• Product Management: $338K median · $490K top base — Product Manager, ChatGPT Healthcare (view JD) (12 roles)
• Scaling: $335K median · $555K top base — Software Engineer, Model Inference (view JD) (91 roles)
• Product Partnerships: $318K median · $445K top base — Strategic Hardware Partnerships (view JD) (5 roles)
• Legal: $314K median · $385K top base — Associate General Counsel, Hardware IP (view JD) (15 roles)
• Security: $310K median · $490K top base — Global Detection and Response Lead (view JD) (24 roles)

OpenAI salary by seniority

• Mid: $308K median · $445K top base — Training: ML Framework Engineer (view JD) (129)
• Senior: $308K median · $490K top base — Software Engineer, Developer Productivity (view JD) (171)
• Staff: $370K median · $585K top base — Research Engineer, Retrieval & Search, Applied Engineering (view JD) (110)
• Lead: $281K median · $555K top base — Technical Lead, Safety Research (view JD) (44)
• Manager: $271K median · $490K top base — Data Science Manager, Integrity (view JD) (101)
• Director: $291K median · $500K top base — Head of Growth GSIs - Cognizant Infosys & Wipro (view JD) (26)

OpenAI salary by location

• San Francisco: $308K median · $585K top base — Research Engineer, Retrieval & Search, Applied Engineering (view JD) (287 roles)
• Remote: $286K median · $555K top base — RE/RS, Data Understanding (MM) (view JD) (284 roles)
• Seattle: $308K median · $385K top base — Security Engineer, Application Security (view JD) (6 roles)

Remote work at OpenAI

72% of OpenAI's disclosed-pay roles are remote-friendly. Remote roles run a $286K median vs $308K onsite.

What OpenAI looks for

Most-required skills across these postings: OpenAI (287) · Python (146) · Go (39) · Kubernetes (35) · Rust (27) · Azure (26) · CI/CD (24) · JavaScript (23) · AWS (23) · SQL (23).

Benefits & perks at OpenAI

Commonly listed: relocation (245) · mental-health (3) · medical (1).

About OpenAI

OpenAI is Late Stage stage · 1,001–5,000 employees · founded 2015 · HQ San Francisco, California. This context shapes pay: later-stage, well-funded companies tend to anchor base salary higher.

Experience & background at OpenAI

Roles typically ask for around 7 years of experience (up to 20+ for the most senior). Most postings don't state a degree requirement; of the 43 that do, Bachelor's and PhD and Master's and Associate's are most common.

Posted pay vs. total compensation

The figures on this page are the midpoint of each posting's advertised salary range (which, for commission roles, includes on-target earnings). Equity is a separate — and often large — component of total compensation, especially at high-growth and AI-native companies; 97% of these postings reference equity. Equity is not included in the medians above.

OpenAI total compensation signals

Beyond the posted-range midpoint, postings indicate: common structures: hourly. Bonus, commission, and equity vary by role and are not included in the base medians above.

OpenAI hiring activity

OpenAI has 582 open roles right now, and this benchmark draws on 582 public job postings with disclosed pay. 412 of these roles were first seen in the last 30 days (412 in the last 90).

💼 Similar companies hiring

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📚 Salary guides & rankings

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Explore more salary data

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Common questions

What does OpenAI pay?
The median pay is $308K, with a typical range of $251K–$339K, based on 582 public job postings (2025–2026). Base only — equity is separate.

What is the highest-paying job at OpenAI?
One of the highest-paying open roles is Research Engineer, Retrieval & Search, Applied Engineering, at $293K–$585K base.

Which team pays the most at OpenAI?
The Safety Systems team, at a $370K median.

Where does this data come from?
Public job postings on company career pages and public job boards — no private placement or client data.

Methodology

Posted-range midpoints (USD) aggregated from 582 public OpenAI job postings (2025–2026). Range = 25th–75th percentile; median = 50th percentile. Roles, departments, skills, and experience are parsed from the postings. Base salary only — equity excluded. Last refreshed June 15, 2026.

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