Principal AI Engineer H-1B wages

Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).

Employers filed 27 wage applications for Principal AI Engineer jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 20 employers. The median offered wage was $240,000, 17.8% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. Empire Acquisition Corp 2, Inc filed the most (4, median $350,000).

Filings: 27
Positions covered: 25
Employers: 20
Median offered: $240,000
Median prevailing wage: $184,558
Filings since FY2024: 34
Median offer change since FY2024: +5%

Principal AI Engineer, all employers27 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$240,000Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$193,100 to $270,000Where the middle half of the filings fall

$184,558Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2024

The median wage offered for Principal AI Engineer jobs rose 5%, from $232,599 in fiscal 2024 to $245,000 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 30.6% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2025, with 8 filings.

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wageFilings per year

Fiscal years run October to September. Fiscal 2026 is still running: these figures cover October 2025 to June 2026.

Principal AI Engineer by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	20	$245,000	+27.9%	$187,075	+30.6%
2025	8	$191,550	−17.6%	$180,659	+4.9%
2024	6	$232,599	n/a	$178,204	+31.5%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Empire Acquisition Corp 2, Inc	4	$350,000	+32.3%
Finster AI Inc.	2	$300,000	+70.7%
Boston Consulting Group, Inc.	2	$252,900	+35.2%
Arm, Inc.	1	$212,202	at the minimum
Gainwell Technologies LLC	1	$152,131	at the minimum
Rapid7 LLC	1	$270,000	+2.1%
Nextpower LLC	1	$240,000	+14.8%
Ouro Global, Inc.	1	$250,000	+85.9%
PointClickCare Technologies USA Corp.	1	$220,000	+3.7%
Datacor, Inc.	1	$235,000	+59.7%
Rowan University	1	$122,628	+6.5%
Target Enterprise, Inc.	1	$193,100	+3.3%

Showing the 12 employers with the most filings of 20. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Principal AI Engineer jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Palo Alto, CA	4	$350,000	+32.3%
New York, NY	3	$166,450	+17.0%
Downers Grove, IL	2	$153,317	at the minimum
Fremont, CA	2	$257,500	+21.8%
Jersey City, NJ	2	$300,000	+70.7%
Austin, TX	1	$250,000	+85.9%
Bellevue, WA	1	$212,202	at the minimum
Cumming, GA	1	$152,131	at the minimum
Edison, NJ	1	$131,997	at the minimum
Glassboro, NJ	1	$122,628	+6.5%
Glenville, NY	1	$205,000	+69.3%
Houston, TX	1	$250,000	+67.0%
Irvine, CA	1	$200,000	+8.4%
Los Angeles, CA	1	$252,900	+37.0%
Milpitas, CA	1	$270,000	+2.1%
Mount Juliet, TN	1	$235,000	+59.7%
Redmond, WA	1	$220,000	+3.7%
Seattle, WA	1	$250,000	+17.8%
Sunnyvale, CA	1	$193,100	+3.3%

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry4%

Level II, qualified4%

Level III, experienced4%

Level IV, fully competent88%

The government assigns each job one of four wage levels. A higher level means a higher legal minimum.

What these numbers are

They are wages employers attested to on Labor Condition Applications (Form ETA-9035), not paychecks. Bonuses and stock are not included.
A filing is not a visa or a hire. One filing can cover several positions, and some are later withdrawn. Wage figures use certified filings only.
The prevailing wage is the minimum the employer must pay for that job in that area, set from government wage surveys.
1 filing is for part-time work. Hourly wages are shown as full-time equivalents (2,080 hours a year).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC disclosure data. How we clean and count it.