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Home / Compensation / Anthropic / ML Engineer
Total compensation for a Anthropic ML Engineer ranges from about $305K at the entry level to $2.5M+ at the most senior bands, with a typical mid-level package around $680K. Below is the full breakdown by level - base salary, annual equity, and bonus - from public-source data.
Public-source estimates (Beta). Last updated 2026-05. Figures are annualized USD.
| Level | Years | Base (p50) | Equity/yr (p50) | Bonus (p50) | Total (p25-p90) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L3MTS, Research / ML (Junior) | 1-3 YOE | $250K | $95K | - | $305K - $480K |
| L4MTS, Research / ML | 3-7 YOE | $290K | $210K | - | $410K - $770K |
| L5Senior MTS, Research / ML | 6-10 YOE | $330K | $340K | - | $540K - $1.1M |
| L6Staff MTS, Research / ML | 10-15 YOE | $370K | $595K | - | $770K - $1.6M |
| L7Senior Staff MTS, Research / ML | 13+ YOE | $430K | $960K | - | $1.1M - $2.5M |
Junior ML IC. Most ML hires are PhD-track and start at L4+.
Mid-level ML IC. Most-common external research hire.
Senior ML IC. Premium for pretraining / alignment work.
Staff ML IC. Counter-offers from OpenAI / DeepMind set the top end.
Senior staff. Realized value depends on Anthropic growth.
Anthropic does not formally distinguish ML engineers from MTS - 'Member of Technical Staff' is the umbrella IC title. ML/research-track ICs negotiate at the top end of the SWE band; pre-training and alignment work commands premium offers, with counter-offers from OpenAI / Google DeepMind setting the upper bound.
The offer calculator compares your current and target offers 4 years out - vesting, refresh grants, and federal + state + FICA tax - so you negotiate with real take-home numbers.
Open the offer calculator