'The Market Is Hot': Here's How Much a Typical Meta Employee Makes in a Year

Meta is willing to pay top dollar, ranging up to nine figures, for AI talent — but how is it compensating its more expansive workforce of data scientists, software engineers, and product designers?

According to data from federal filings, obtained by Business Insider, software engineers at Meta can make anywhere from $120,000 to $480,000 in base salary, while product designers and researchers have salaries exceeding $200,000. Data scientists make up to $270,000.

The data comes from required documents that companies must file with the U.S. Department of Labor when hiring non-U.S. workers through the H-1B visa program. The visa allows for highly skilled foreign workers to work in specialized occupations that require at least a bachelor's degree for up to six years.

The filings only include base annual salaries and do not include stock options, signing bonuses, and other perks.

Related: Here's How Much a Typical Nvidia Employee Makes in a Year

The data shows that AI research scientists at Meta make $179,481 to $232,000, while data analysts make $168,000 to $204,000, and design engineers make $185,000 to $256,270.

On the manager side, software engineering managers take home $219,978 to $328,000 in base pay, while senior product managers make $224,323, and research scientist managers make $258,524.

^{Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Meta is currently fighting for top AI talent, vying with OpenAI and other AI companies for a limited pool of AI researchers. The company stated last week that it would house its AI initiatives under a new team called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), and announced 11 new hires for the team, including former Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI researchers.

Meta also invested $14.3 billion last month for a 49% stake in the AI data training startup Scale AI. As part of the deal, Meta brought over Scale AI's 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang to head MSL.

Related: Here's How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that Meta attempted to poach OpenAI staff with "$100 million signing bonuses" and "more than that" in compensation. Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, denied the report at a leaked all-hands meeting, calling Altman "dishonest" for his claims.

"Look, you guys, the market is hot," Bosworth stated at the meeting last month. "It's not that hot."

Following news of the meeting, OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, said in a leaked memo to staff that OpenAI was "recalibrating" compensation in response to Meta's offers.

OpenAI is worth $300 billion after a $40 billion fundraising round in March. Meta stock is up over 20% year-to-date; the company is worth over $1.8 trillion.