An AI Safety Engineer with 3 years of experience just got offered $280K in the US.
Three years ago, that role didn't exist.
The salary landscape in AI has fractured into tiers that barely resemble each other:
Tier 1 — Frontier Model Companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, Google Brain): $250K-$500K+ total comp. They're competing for a tiny pool of people who understand training at scale.
Tier 2 — AI-Native Companies (startups building with AI at the core): $150K-$300K. They need people who can ship production AI systems fast.
Tier 3 — Traditional Companies Adding AI: $100K-$200K. Largest volume of jobs but lower ceiling.
Tier 4 — AI Consulting & Freelancing: Variable but top consultants clear $300-500/hr for specialized work.
In India, the premium is equally dramatic. AI engineers at top startups are getting 2-3x what equivalent software engineers earn. Senior AI roles at global companies paying $80K-$150K remote from India — unthinkable five years ago.
The specializations commanding the highest premiums right now: LLM evaluation and safety, AI infrastructure at scale, multimodal AI systems, and autonomous agent development.
Salary follows scarcity. These skills are scarce. The window to develop them while demand outpaces supply won't last forever.