AI Research salary in Santa Clara
Employer-stated pay · updated Oct 19, 2026
Live AI research jobs in Santa Clara All AI research ranges BostonCambridgeMountain ViewNew YorkPalo AltoSan Francisco
AI Research pay in Santa Clara is measured from 10 postings where the employer stated pay. The best-evidenced figure is senior, where 10 postings put the middle half between $202,088 and $247,638, with a median of $214,300.
Against the 8 other measured markets for AI research at senior, this sits below 6 of them; San Francisco leads at $250,750.
12 AI research roles are open in Santa Clara right now, 11 listing pay.
| Level | Market range | Median | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $202,088 – $247,638 | $214,300 | 10 |
Entry is junior titles. Mid is mid-level and manager titles. Senior is senior titles. Lead is director, VP and above.
Ranges span the 25th to 75th percentile of employer-stated base pay for the level. Median is the 50th percentile. Sample is the number of postings measured.
Open AI research roles in Santa Clara · 11 with stated pay
Pay marked e is our estimate. Everything else is the employer's own figure.
this job's payour estimatewhere most pay sits here, $150,000–$272,000scale $90,000–$390,000
Principal Machine Learning Engineer (AI-ML Data Scientist - ADEM) Paloaltonetworks · Santa Clara $163,200–$264,000 4d ago Principal Applied AI Researcher (Prisma AIRS) Paloaltonetworks · Santa Clara $163,200–$264,000 2w ago Data Scientist - Agentic AI / ML Applied Materials · Santa Clara $170,000–$234,000 5w ago Senior/Staff Research Engineer — Vision-Language-Action Models (Autonomous Driving) PlusAI · Santa Clara $170,000–$260,000 5w ago Senior Perception Engineer John Deere · Santa Clara $124,584–$186,864 5w ago 
Staff Research Engineer/Scientist ServiceNow · Santa Clara $202,500–$354,400 7w ago Lead Principal Applied Scientist Eeho · Santa Clara $158,300–$355,400 8w ago Physics AI Scientist III Applied Materials · Santa Clara $142,500–$196,500 2mo ago 
Sr. Staff ML Researcher, LLM Algorithmic Optimization d-Matrix · Santa Clara $175,000–$265,000 3mo ago 
Senior Staff / Principal Machine Learning Scientist, AI Inference & Optimization netskope · Santa Clara $124,500–$272,000 3mo ago Senior Research Engineer, Controls PlusAI · Santa Clara $150,000–$200,000 8mo ago 
Software Research Engineer Integrated Resources INC · Santa Clara $135,000–$232,000e 9y ago