How Much Do OpenAI Employees Make? Salaries Revealed

Federal filings reveal that OpenAI pays prime greenback for expertise. The AI large compensates analysis scientists on its technical employees by over half 1,000,000 {dollars} in base wage, not together with inventory awards or bonuses. 

The ChatGPT-maker doesn’t publicly disclose wage information, however it’s required to submit federal filings with wage figures when hiring overseas staff. The ensuing information, seen by Enterprise Insider, reveals that OpenAI pays engineering roles within the mid-six figures, whereas analysis scientists command salaries from $245,000 to $685,000.

The federal filings end result from OpenAI hiring workers on H-1B visas, or visas for overseas staff with specialised abilities. In September, the Trump administration imposed a $100,000 price for each new H-1B visa utility filed within the U.S.

Regardless of this new price, BI reported that OpenAI onboarded over 60 new H-1B staff from October to December 2025. Final yr, as a complete, the AI firm filed over 160 new H-1B purposes, per BI. 

The pay information reveals that OpenAI workers are among the many best-compensated staff in Silicon Valley — maybe attributable to aggressive pressures. Final yr, the corporate mentioned it was “recalibrating” pay in response to Meta poaching expertise from their firm. 

Right here’s a snapshot of the bottom wage obtained by H-1B staff at OpenAI, not together with inventory awards or bonuses:

Member of Intelligence & Investigations Employees: $320,000 to $382,500​

Member of Technical Employees (AI Techniques Engineer): $245,000 to $460,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Analysis & AI Techniques): $310,000 to $460,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Analysis Engineer): $210,000 to $460,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Analysis Scientist): $245,000 to $685,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Information Science): $255,000 to $490,000​

Member of Technical Employees ({Hardware} Engineer): $250,000 to $555,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Safety Engineer): $310,000 to $325,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Software program Developer): $325,000​

Member of Technical Employees (Software program Engineer): $170,000 to $490,000

Member of Design Employees: $245,000 to $310,000​

Member of Product Employees (Product Administration): $210,000 to $325,000​

Member of Program Employees: $150,000 to $355,000​

Member of Finance Employees: $240,000 to $260,000​

Member of Help and Neighborhood Employees: $180,000 to $235,000

OpenAI’s excessive stage of pay displays how aggressively the corporate remains to be competing for AI expertise, even because it talks publicly about mitigating headcount development. Earlier this yr, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mentioned in a city corridor occasion that the startup would decelerate its hiring tempo as a result of he believed AI would permit the corporate “to take action far more with fewer folks.” 

OpenAI is, nonetheless, nonetheless increasing its workforce — and paying its 4,000 staff properly. The Wall Road Journal reported final yr that OpenAI workers obtain a mean of $1.5 million in inventory awards every year, greater than any tech startup in latest historical past. 

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