# OpenAI Software Engineer Salary: $266,000 to $445,000 Listed

**Author:** Zero G Talent
**Published:** 2026-11-03
**Category:** software

[Read on Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com/blog/openai-software-engineer-salary)

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**OpenAI software engineer postings list a median pay band of $266,000 to $445,000.** That's from 176 open US software engineer postings with listed pay on November 2, 2026, taken directly from OpenAI's own hiring system. The midpoints' middle half runs from $307,500 to $366,000.

## By level

| Level | Postings | Median low | Median high |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Mid | 43 | $266,000 | $445,000 |
| Senior | 25 | $266,000 | $445,000 |
| Not stated | 106 | $266,000 | $405,000 |

Levels come from the posting's structured field, else its title.

## By location

| Location | Postings | Median low | Median high |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| CA | 157 | $266,000 | $445,000 |
| WA | 8 | $306,500 | $425,000 |
| NY | 6 | $306,500 | $385,000 |

## The range

- **Highest listed:** Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization AI/ML (San Francisco, CA): $381,000 to $555,000.
- **Lowest listed:** Software Engineer, Applied Emerging Talent (2027) (San Francisco, CA): $180,000 to $180,000.

## Against the market

Across all 4,012 US software engineer postings with listed pay in our data, the median midpoint is $200,000. OpenAI's is $355,500, 78% higher.

## What these numbers are

- **Listed bands, not offers.** A band can span several levels, and the midpoint isn't what anyone is paid.
- **Listed pay only.** Bonus and equity are left out, and they can be a large part of the total at some employers.
- **What counts.** Titles with "engineer" or "developer" in our Software job category. Internships are out, and repeats of the same title, place and band count once.
- **One day.** A snapshot of November 2, 2026, which weights levels and places by what's open today.

See [all OpenAI pay](/ai-salaries/openai) or [open OpenAI roles](/ai-software-jobs-at-openai). For the next study by email, get [the Zero G Talent newsletter](/newsletter).


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*Source: [Zero G Talent](https://zerogtalent.com), the job board for space, defense, AI, robotics and frontier-tech companies.*