Roles at frontier labs · Applied AI
Applied AI Engineer
114 recorded postings · Partial update · October 8, 2026
Recorded postings, not a live vacancy count. Partial update: some sources retain earlier observations; each listing has its own check date.
Applied AI engineers turn models into working systems for customers and products: agents, retrieval, evaluations and the production code around them.
- Working with customers 93%
- Python 56%
- Production systems 56%
- Agents and tool use 51%
- Evals and benchmarks 48%
- Inference and serving 36%
taught here course coming not taught
The numbers
- Recorded postings at 11 labs
- 114
- Median base pay middle half $230k to $265k, 33 U.S. bands
- $247k
- No degree requirement stated 1% require a PhD outright
- 91%
- Years asked, median of the 63 that state a minimum
- 4
The recorded snapshot
Postings from 11 labs
In the labs' own words
In the labs' own words
“Understand how to design AI workflows with retrieval, structured outputs, tool use, evals, guardrails, telemetry, sandboxing, and human-in-the-loop review.”
“Learn quickly by embedding in complex, real-world environments”
“Experience working with modern GenAI stacks with expertise in RAG, Agent, Evaluation & Orchestration.”
Your way in
Three doors to this role
- Door 1
Finishing a degree
2% mention publications
The way in is a program: 32 recorded in the snapshot
- Door 2
A software engineer
91% have no degree requirement stated
What to add
- Door 3
A PhD
3% ask for PyTorch
Engineering at scale
Asked often
The short answers
How much does a applied ai engineer at a frontier lab make?
The median U.S. base salary across 33 recorded applied ai engineer postings that publish a band is $247k; the middle half runs from $230k to $265k. Equity and bonus are not included.
Do you need a PhD to be a applied ai engineer?
91% of the 114 recorded postings do not state a degree requirement, 3% mention a PhD or master's, and 1% require a PhD outright.
What skills do applied ai engineer postings ask for?
Most often: working with customers (93%), python (56%), production systems (56%), agents and tool use (51%), evals and benchmarks (48%).
Which labs posted applied ai engineer roles in this recorded board?
Recorded board: OpenAI (43), Cognition (18), Mistral AI (14), Anthropic (12), Cursor (Anysphere) (9), CodeRabbit (8), and 5 more.
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The board
Recorded postings, newest first
The newest 40 of 114. Each title opens the lab's own posting. By family: applied ai and forward-deployed
- Applied AI Engineer, Public Sector ↗
Anthropic · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $280k to $320k base
- Software Engineer, Staff: Applied AI, Science & Engineering ↗
Anthropic · Applied AI and forward-deployed · PhD preferred · $405k to $485k base
- Commercial Field Engineer – Post-sales - (East Coast) ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $150k to $200k base
- Applied AI Engineer, Codex ↗
OpenAI · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- ITAV Deployment Engineer ↗
OpenAI · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $187k to $207k base
- Commercial Field Engineer - Pre-sales ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $150k to $210k base
- Commercial Field Engineer - Pre-sales - London ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Enterprise Field Engineer - Pre-sales ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Enterprise Field Engineer - Pre-sales - SouthEast (Atlanta) ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Enterprise Field Engineer – Post-sales ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $200k to $250k base
- Enterprise Field Engineer, Pre Sales - New York ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $200k to $270k base
- Senior Applied AI Engineer ↗
CodeRabbit · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $200k to $300k base
- Applied AI Engineer ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $180k to $225k base
- Applied AI Engineer - ANZ ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $180k to $225k base
- Applied AI Engineer - APAC ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $180k to $225k base
- Deployed Engineer ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - ANZ ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - APAC ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - Doha ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - EMEA ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - Europe ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - Japan ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - LATAM ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - LATAM ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer - South Korea ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Deployed Engineer, Federal ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated · $180k to $280k base
- Partner Deployed Engineer ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Partner Deployed Engineer - APAC ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Partner Deployed Engineer - APAC ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Partner Deployed Engineer - Europe ↗
Cognition · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer - ANZ ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer - ASEAN ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer - India ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer - South Korea ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer, Healthcare ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer, Life Sciences ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineer, Public Sector ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Field Engineering - Japan ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Solutions Engineer, Mid-Market, NYC ↗
Factory · Applied AI and forward-deployed · Bachelor's degree
