Key Takeaways
AI startups are growing base pay to draw high expertise.
Software program engineers at venture-backed startups are actually paid a median base wage of $200,000, a 25% improve from 2022, per wage information platform Ranges.fyi.
One latest graduate was supplied $400,000 in base wage for a software program engineering place.
Silicon Valley is understood for its lavish perks to draw high expertise, corresponding to nap pods and free slippers in its “no sneakers” workplaces. Now, as competitors for high AI expertise intensifies, startups are turning to a extra simple incentive to win expertise wars: exceptionally excessive compensation packages.
Ranges.fyi, a platform for wage information, stories that software program engineers at venture-backed startups are actually paid a median base wage of $200,000, a 25% improve from 2022. In some situations, latest laptop science graduates are receiving affords exceeding $300,000 a yr. These compensation ranges had been as soon as reserved for veteran engineers at main tech firms, Chris Vasquez, CEO of the startup recruiting agency Quantum, not too long ago informed The Wall Road Journal.
“Previous to this, I’d most likely by no means seen anybody over $300,000 on base salaries at seed firms,” Vasquez mentioned. Now, “they’re capable of take dwelling FAANG [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google]-level money comp.”
Vasquez additionally famous that he has begun to see performance-based money bonuses at a number of startups. Employees who hit sure milestones may reap money bonuses equal to 30% of their salaries, he mentioned.
In the meantime, latest laptop science graduates from top-tier colleges with just one or two years of expertise are seeing wage affords between $250,000 and $300,000, in accordance with Vasquez. A number of years in the past, the identical positions would supply base salaries nearer to $170,000, he mentioned. He gave the instance of a math competitors winner with 9 months {of professional} expertise who obtained $400,000 in base wage for a software program engineering place. In one other case, an MIT graduate obtained an entry-level software program engineering position that pays $220,000 in base wage.
Why startups are providing greater salaries
Startups have historically supplied decrease base salaries offset by substantial fairness packages. The objective was to maintain workers invested, with the promise of a major payout after an acquisition or preliminary public providing.
Right this moment, high-growth AI startups are awash with enterprise capital. Pair that with an intensely aggressive expertise market, and compensation packages now characteristic bigger money parts.
“Everybody desires to attract from a restricted pool,” Michael Zhang, CEO of Candidate Labs, a recruiting agency that has positioned expertise at high startups, informed the Journal. “What would have been eyebrow-raising compensation a yr in the past is now thought-about okay to pay, no questions requested, by many not too long ago funded startups.”
Many startups are prioritizing lean operations and compact groups, which implies the staff they rent have to be top-tier expertise. The consequence, in accordance with Zhang, is a cut up economic system: the highest 5% to 10% of candidates are weighing a number of affords, whereas the remainder are discovering it more and more tough to safe positions.
It’s not simply software program engineers who’re dealing with this cut up. Different roles which might be paying nicely for high expertise embrace gross sales representatives, product managers and entrepreneurs.
In the meantime, different entry-level job seekers wrestle to land positions. A report final yr from enterprise capital agency SignalFire discovered that massive tech firms like Meta, Microsoft and Google recruited fewer latest graduates in 2024 in comparison with earlier years. New graduates accounted for simply 7% of recent hires in 2024, down 25% from 2023. SignalFire indicated that AI is a major purpose for the decline in entry-level tech roles.
Employers are additionally conducting mass layoffs, citing AI efficiencies. In January, Amazon minimize 16,000 jobs because it deepened its investments in AI. The restructuring aimed to “cut back layers, improve possession and take away paperwork.” About 50,000 staff misplaced their jobs to AI in 2025.
Key Takeaways
AI startups are growing base pay to draw high expertise.
Software program engineers at venture-backed startups are actually paid a median base wage of $200,000, a 25% improve from 2022, per wage information platform Ranges.fyi.
One latest graduate was supplied $400,000 in base wage for a software program engineering place.
Silicon Valley is understood for its lavish perks to draw high expertise, corresponding to nap pods and free slippers in its “no sneakers” workplaces. Now, as competitors for high AI expertise intensifies, startups are turning to a extra simple incentive to win expertise wars: exceptionally excessive compensation packages.
Ranges.fyi, a platform for wage information, stories that software program engineers at venture-backed startups are actually paid a median base wage of $200,000, a 25% improve from 2022. In some situations, latest laptop science graduates are receiving affords exceeding $300,000 a yr. These compensation ranges had been as soon as reserved for veteran engineers at main tech firms, Chris Vasquez, CEO of the startup recruiting agency Quantum, not too long ago informed The Wall Road Journal.
“Previous to this, I’d most likely by no means seen anybody over $300,000 on base salaries at seed firms,” Vasquez mentioned. Now, “they’re capable of take dwelling FAANG [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google]-level money comp.”
