Microsoft’s Highest-Paid Jobs Revealed: AI Engineers Lead With $336,000 Salaries, Says Report

The company has poured billions into AI development, including its flagship Copilot tool, and remains the biggest backer of OpenAI despite occasional tensions in the partnership.

Figures from around 5,400 US work visa applications in the first quarter of 2025 provide a rare look into its salary structure for foreign recruits.

Source : Freepik

Microsoft is navigating a striking contrast — rolling out layoffs in some areas while offering lucrative pay packages to those driving its artificial intelligence ambitions.

The company has poured billions into AI development, including its flagship Copilot tool, and remains the biggest backer of OpenAI despite occasional tensions in the partnership.

Internal documents cited by Business Insider revealed that Microsoft is not only encouraging staff to adopt in-house AI tools but also permitting managers to grant retention bonuses, particularly to those contributing to AI projects.

AI expertise comes with hefty paycheques

A spreadsheet leaked in 2024 showed employees in AI-focused roles earning noticeably more than their peers in other divisions. The demand for specialised AI talent has prompted Microsoft to pay premium salaries, even as thousands of employees have been laid off this year.

The job cuts have hit more traditional positions, including sales teams, as the tech giant pivots towards hiring technically skilled salespeople to promote AI products and services.

Despite the layoffs, Microsoft’s hiring engine continues to turn. Figures from around 5,400 US work visa applications in the first quarter of 2025 provide a rare look into its salary structure for foreign recruits.

These numbers reflect only base salaries, excluding hefty stock options and bonuses that can significantly boost overall compensation. According to the data cited in the report, software engineers can command up to $284,000 a year, while product managers can earn as much as $250,000.

Microsoft’s LinkedIn subsidiary is also paying aggressively for AI and machine learning roles. A senior software engineer specialising in machine learning can make up to $278,000 annually, while a staff-level machine learning engineer tops the scale at an impressive $336,000 — one of the highest base salaries revealed in the report.

Broad spectrum of high-paying roles

The disclosed salary ranges highlight the breadth of roles across the company. Data engineers are earning up to $264,000, hardware engineers up to $270,641, and silicon engineers as much as $275,000. Cloud solution architects can take home up to $207,285, while site reliability engineers may earn $236,670. Even in fields like product marketing and UX research, six-figure salaries are standard, with some roles exceeding $200,000.

The figures underline a stark truth about Microsoft’s strategy: while it streamlines some teams, the company is willing to invest heavily in areas driving future growth. AI has become the centrepiece of its ambitions, and the salary data makes it clear — expertise in artificial intelligence isn’t just shaping the future of technology; it’s one of the most lucrative career paths in the industry today.