AI Engineer Salary Negotiation: How to Negotiate an Artificial Intelligence Engineer Salary
AI is an exciting new field that’s growing and advancing at a rapid rate. So if you’ve been fortunate enough to receive a job offer in artificial intelligence engineering, you’re probably eager to accept it. But before you do, don’t forget one of the most critical elements of the job search and interview process: salary negotiations.
AI engineering is a relatively new industry—meaning there’s currently a high demand for someone with your unique skill set. Negotiating your artificial intelligence engineer salary when you receive a job offer is a great way to both maximize your career earnings and ensure that you are being adequately compensated for your role.
At the end of the day, your efforts as an AI engineer will help improve business processes and performance at whatever company you work for. Negotiating your job offer gives you the perfect opportunity to highlight your business intelligence and problem-solving abilities.
Even if you’ve never negotiated before, a successful job offer negotiation is not far out of reach. In this article, we will share with you our salary negotiation strategies that have helped different types of specialized software engineers all over the world negotiate for better compensation. With our proven step-by-step guide and key insights, you will be prepared to face your artificial intelligence engineering salary negotiation with confidence and success.
Don’t want to go through the artificial intelligence engineer salary negotiation process alone? We have additional resources to help you navigate your AI engineering salary negotiation.
If you’re looking for specific advice from a salary negotiation professional on your artificial intelligence engineering salary negotiation, connect with a Salary Negotiation Coach.
Take our Salary Negotiation Courses or download our Salary Negotiation Templates to receive our strategies, preparing you for all aspects of an AI engineering salary negotiation.
Understanding the Compensation Components of an Artificial Intelligence Engineer Salary
A successful negotiation starts with a thorough understanding of what’s exactly included in your artificial intelligence engineer salary package. Even if your offer seems great, you can’t really know how competitive it is until you dig into each of its various elements.
A job offer in AI will include various compensation components that’ll make up your total yearly compensation. Too often tech professionals only focus on or weigh the base salary of their offers. However, your base salary is almost always just one single part of your overall compensation package in an artificial intelligence engineering role.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for AI engineers to also be offered an annual performance bonus, initial equity package, sign-on bonus, and other benefits like remote work flexibility. When approaching a negotiation, only focusing on the base salary of your job offer would be a huge mistake. It’s critical to consider all the compensation components carefully so that you can evaluate your offer accurately.
For example, here is what a Google AI engineer salary may look like in their initial offer:
In the following section, we will go over some of the most common artificial Intelligence jobs salary components in more detail.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER SALARY
The first component of your AI job offer is your artificial intelligence engineer base salary. As you probably know, your base salary is the fixed guaranteed pay that you receive in exchange for the work you do.
What you might not know, however, is that the different levels of AI engineering at your future company will each have different base pay ranges associated with them. These ranges will each have set minimum and maximum amounts that dictate what the base pay for your specific role can be.
For example, the pay range for an entry level AI engineer salary would be different from the range for a senior AI engineer salary or AI manager salary at the same company, and same role different across companies (i.e., a Google artificial intelligence engineer salary will differ from an Facebook AI engineer salary).
So why do these pay ranges matter? Because initial offers rarely come in at the top of their pay bands; so knowing the pay range for your specific role type will allow you to successfully negotiate your artificial intelligence engineer salary to the top end of that range.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER PERFORMANCE BONUS
Most compensation packages in the tech industry also include an annual performance bonus. An annual artificial intelligence engineer performance bonus is typically a percentage of your base salary that’s dependent on both company and personal performance. This means that your bonus could go up or down depending on the targets you or your company hit.
While it’s possible that you or your company could outperform your goals and exceed the target percentages of your annual performance bonus, it’s not very likely. Instead, it’s best to assume the average bonus payout when evaluating and negotiating this component of your compensation package.
The good news is that an artificial intelligence engineer performance bonus can make a huge difference in your total yearly compensation. Unfortunately, these bonuses are typically non-negotiable at most companies since there is often a set target percentage for each role type and level that cannot be changed. However, don’t forget that your bonus is usually a percentage of your base salary—meaning the higher you negotiate your AI engineer salary, the higher your bonus could be.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER EQUITY PACKAGES
Another element of your AI engineering job offer to look into is your equity package. Artificial intelligence engineer equity is a highly sought-after compensation component in these types of roles.
As an AI engineer, you might receive an initial equity grant in your job offer. This equity could be offered either as RSUs (restricted stock units or restricted stock awards) or stock options. This grant will include a bundle of shares or options that vest over a defined timeframe (i.e., four years), called a vesting schedule.
While it's true that artificial intelligence engineer equity can make a huge difference in your total compensation, always take into account that the value of your equity does fluctuate based on the market value of the company you work for. For example, say you secure a Google AI engineer salary offer—you’ll benefit if Google’s share value goes up, but you’ll take a loss if Google’s share value goes down. So when evaluating this aspect of your compensation package, don’t forget that you can’t control these fluctuations and that if you leave the company before the equity vests, you risk forgoing it all together.
On the bright side, we’ve found that equity is usually negotiable for AI engineers which is why you should almost always push more equity in your negotiation.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER SIGN-ON BONUS
Most AI engineers will also receive a sign-on bonus in their job offers—it just might take some negotiating first. An artificial intelligence engineer sign-on bonus is a one-time bonus that works as an incentive to join the company or to cover any lost bonuses or unvested equity at your current job.
It’s so important to understand how to negotiate for a sign-on bonus since not all companies will provide them in their initial offers. Fortunately, we’ve had countless successes securing large artificial intelligence engineer signing bonuses—even when the job seeker wasn’t walking away from money at their current company.
Most artificial intelligence engineering signing bonuses are paid in one lump sum within the first 30 days of employment. However, you’ll typically need to pay the bonus back if you leave the company within your first year (or other designated timeframe). Other companies might approach sign-on bonuses differently. For example, the Amazon AI engineer salary will include sign-on bonuses in year one and year two—which can be paid out monthly instead of in one lump sum payment.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER EQUITY REFRESHER
Another element of your compensation package to consider is your artificial intelligence engineer equity refresher. While it’s possible to receive an equity refresher (more stock) in the initial offer for an AI engineering role, you’ll find that most recruiters withhold the stock refresher details. This practice is common for Meta AI engineer salary offers and other industries that offer this annual equity perk.
When negotiating, we recommend you ask the hiring team to provide more details about the amount and timeline of the stock refresher. However, don’t be surprised if the hiring team withholds sharing these specific details. Since it’s often challenging to compare this benefit across different artificial intelligence engineer job offers, we don’t include this component in our total compensation calculation.
BENEFITS AND PERKS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEERS
Benefits can look very different for artificial intelligence engineers depending on the company they work for. Some of the most common benefits that might be included in your compensation package are unlimited vacation, parental leave, or even fitness memberships.
One of the top perks of many AI engineering roles is the ability to work remotely (which we recommend bringing up during the interview process). Unfortunately, most other benefits and perks for artificial intelligence engineers are usually non-negotiable. However, it’s possible to sometimes get changes approved via an under-the-table agreement with your future hiring manager (i.e., your manager will be more flexible with your PTO).
Five Key Steps to Negotiate an AI Engineer Salary
Now that we’ve explained the different compensation components of an AI engineer salary, it’s time to outline the steps that you can use to negotiate for an improved job offer.
Based on years of experience helping hundreds of career professionals successfully negotiate their job offers, we’ve found that you should almost always wait to begin negotiations until you have an offer in hand. Having an actual offer will give you more leverage to negotiate and you’ll be less likely to make mistakes like disclosing your salary expectations to the recruiter too early.
The steps listed below will guide you through our proven strategies for negotiating an AI engineer salary. If you’re looking for more personalized help negotiating, you can also reach out to our team for a Free Consultation.
1) UNDERSTAND THE COMPONENTS OF YOUR AI ENGINEER Salary
The first step in our strategy should be easy since we’ve already completed it. As a reminder, make sure to review your AI engineering salary for a base salary, performance bonus, initial equity grant, sign-on bonus, and any benefits and perks. Understanding the ins and outs of your total compensation is key to any successful negotiation.
You can use our Total Compensation Calculator to calculate your compensation components in this step if needed.
2) COMPLETE DUE DILIGENCE ON YOUR AI ENGINEER JOB OFFER BY ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
During your negotiation, make sure to ask strategic questions. Asking the right questions can help you establish an effective AI engineer salary counter while also communicating to the recruiting team that you are serious about the job offer.
Start by asking for clarity on any items that the recruiter may have been vague about (i.e., What is the expected equity refresher each year for this role?). Each of the answers you collect will include important data points you can use in your counteroffer.
Even if you’re confident that you already understand all the various aspects of your offer package, we still recommend that you ask questions. If you’re not sure what to ask, you can use our list of Strategic Questions to Build Negotiation Leverage. We suggest starting this phase of the negotiation right after you receive the job offer.
3) RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY WHAT AI ENGINEER Salary SHOULD LOOK LIKE
Since the salaries for artificial intelligence engineers will vary by company, you will need to spend some time researching AI engineering salary ranges. Doing so will help you understand the strength of your job offer and identify how much you should counter for. Make sure that your research is specific to your exact role type and level (i.e., is it a senior AI engineer salary or an entry level AI engineer salary) and where it’s located, whether that be in-person, hybrid, or remote.
There are many online resources you can use in your research, such as PayScale or Comparably. However, keep in mind that ranges on these types of sites are publicly reported by current or past employees, meaning the pay they indicate could be different from what is now offered to new employees. So make sure that in your research you compare pay data across multiple sites to pull together the most accurate information.
Here’s something else key to remember: in any job offer you accept, you’ll ultimately be expected to manage the same responsibilities as anyone hired for that same position—meaning you should push for at least the mid- to top-end of the total pay range for your specific AI engineering role regardless of your experience or background. You can use our Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool to help you with your compensation research and identify the pay ranges.
4) SEND AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER COUNTEROFFER TO THE RECRUITER
Now comes the part you’ve been waiting for—sending over an artificial intelligence engineer counteroffer.
After properly preparing (the first three steps), you should be ready to present your AI engineer counteroffer to the recruiter by referencing your pay range data you’ve identified and how the benefits in your offer differ from other companies and/or your current role.
Even though you can present your new ask over the phone, we always recommend that you present your counter via email. Drafting an email gives you the time and freedom to write exactly what you want to say which will help you stay on topic. Sending your counteroffer in writing also gives the recruiter something they can forward on and share internally with their team.
As always, present your counteroffer professionally and kindly—this is your first chance to showcase what you would be like to work alongside. To ensure proper communication, use our Counteroffer Drafts for examples to help you formulate a strategic counteroffer.
5) HANDLE ANY OBJECTIONS AND KNOW YOU ACHIEVED THE BEST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINEER SALARY
In some cases, it only takes one counteroffer and the hiring team will respond with an updated offer package. However, it’s more likely they will come back to you with a list of reasons why they can’t make any increases to the artificial intelligence engineer salary.
If you’re faced with these objections, respond professionally by stating you understand their constraints, but ask again if they could take your counter back to their team for one last look. You should still ask even if they insist their team will just say no and continue to follow our Objection Handling Scripts.
Once they agree to take your thoughts back to their team, they should return with a better offer. If the updated compensation package aligns with the pay bands you researched and meets your needs, you should be ready to send an offer acceptance email!
Congratulations on your successful artificial intelligence engineer job offer negotiation!
Mistakes to Avoid During Your Artificial Intelligence Engineer Salary Negotiation
There are a few common mistakes job seekers make during the artificial intelligence engineer salary negotiation process. Below we’ve listed some of the top things you should make sure you avoid when you negotiate your AI engineering salary.
AVOID SHARING SALARY EXPECTATIONS BEFORE YOU GET A JOB OFFER IN AI ENGINEERING
Did you know that sharing your salary expectations often works against you when trying to receive a fair job offer?
Here’s how sharing your AI engineering salary expectations too early could play out: If you share a lower compensation than what the company could offer, they will be incentivized to now offer you that lower compensation. On the flip side, if you share a number higher than what they could offer, there is a chance that they could become disinterested and choose a different candidate over you. Never forget that recruiting teams are working for the company, not you, and they are ultimately trying to get the best deal for the company.
It also doesn’t make much sense to discuss salary expectations before you learn more about the specific AI engineering role, its total compensation package, and whether those aspects feel like a good fit for you. After all, you’re also interviewing them to see if this role is something you want to pursue so be sure to overcome these tactics by responding like this.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO NEGOTIATE AN AI ENGINEERING JOB OFFER
Many job candidates shy away from negotiating even if it means increasing their total career earnings. In many cases, they fear offending the recruiting team or losing the job offer altogether. However, you’ll be encouraged to know that we’ve helped facilitate hundreds of successful salary negotiations and we’ve never seen a company rescind an engineering job offer because of an attempted negotiation. It's generally expected, regardless of the role type and level—whether it’s an individual contributor, AI engineering manager salary, AI engineering director salary, or a VP AI engineering salary—you should negotiate your salary.
Don’t let salary negotiation myths keep you from negotiating for a better offer.
BE REALISTIC BY DOING YOUR AI ENGINEERING Salary RESEARCH
Even though AI engineering roles are in high demand and pay well, you should still be realistic about what compensation you ask for. Make sure that you conduct thorough and in-depth research so that you only push for compensation that the company can realistically provide. For example, the compensation package for an artificial intelligence engineering role at Nvidia might look different than the compensation package for the same role at Microsoft.
The Bottom Line: Negotiate Your AI Engineer Salary
We wholeheartedly believe that all artificial intelligence engineers can—and should—negotiate their job offers. Following our proven salary negotiation strategies can help you receive a competitive compensation package and increase your total career earnings.
If you want personalized advice on how to negotiate your AI engineer salary from a professional salary negotiation coach, Book a Consultation today. Our team has years of experience helping engineers of all kinds negotiate for the compensation they deserve.
We also have our How to Negotiate Your Job Offer and How to Negotiate Your Current Salary courses, and Salary Negotiation Templates if you prefer to learn at your own pace and want to gain the confidence and tools to negotiate your compensation successfully. With downloadable email templates and job offer negotiation resources, you will be prepared for all aspects of your AI engineering offer negotiation.