In the World Economic Forum’s latest report, they predict that although 92 million jobs will be displaced due to the effects of technology, innovation, AI, and other industry and economic factors, there will be 170 million new ones by 2030. To put it simply, that means for every one job displaced, about 1.85 new roles will be created.
But not only are there new roles being created; some of the current job titles that we are already familiar with will surge in demand, especially as venture capital investment in AI startups continues to soar. While AI startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, and others dominate the AI space, there are others coming into the limelight that intend to capitalize on the potential of artificial intelligence across all sectors and industries. This factor, as well as the proverbial “AI arms race” and the technical skills gap, is leading to a global talent demand where hundreds of companies including high-profile start-ups are all hungry for the crème de la crème of talent.
To be able to efficiently ship and release ground-breaking models and updates, these startups are hiring aggressively and redefining what the most essential tech jobs of the future will look like.
What 2 Jobs Are In Demand At AI Startups?
Analysts at Jobright, an AI-powered platform for job-seekers (especially in tech), analyzed more than 80,000 job vacancies from private U.S. based AI startups listed in Crunchbase, and their findings opened the lid to what’s trending in the AI job market and what job-seekers can do to align themselves with the right opportunities:
Their report, which was shared via email, notes: “It’s probably not a surprise that Machine Learning (ML) Engineers are the most in-demand role at AI startups (2,071 openings), but what will be a surprise is that Enterprise Sales roles are #2 (1,988 openings)! The latter indeed points to a growing demand by enterprises for the latest AI solutions and that these AI products are indeed ready to be sold into major companies.”
As an example of how this demand is impacting high-profile AI companies, “OpenAI alone has already scaled the number of enterprise sales personnel from 200 in June of last year to 300 by the end of 2024, which now accounts for more than 20% of OpenAI’s total staff. And they and other startups are on the look for more top sales talent,” Jobright continues.
Another fascinating insight from the report is that with ML engineers being the most widely sought-after role to fill right now, this role “barely existed within the technology sector when you go back five to seven years. It probably wasn’t until 2018 that the role became more common at public FAANG companies,” they pointed out. “However, with the generative AI explosion in 2023, this role has become extremely important at AI companies and technology companies more broadly.”
How Much Do These AI Jobs Pay?
At OpenAI, salaries are eyewateringly high as you can imagine, because they are trying to attract the highest caliber of talent and are working on what is now the most famous and fastest growing (in terms of user acquisition) AI app of all: ChatGPT.
For an ML engineer role, salaries at OpenAI have been reported to start as low as $240,000 and go up to $1.34 million for a level six engineer, according to data from Levels.fyi. An enterprise sales role at the same company is quoted as paying up to as much as $290,000 in total compensation.
On average, however, an ML engineer pays $108,898, with a senior machine learning engineer role paying between $172,880 to $209,640 annually, according to Salary.com.
For an enterprise sales role, the pay ranges are similar to that of OpenAI’s averages, hovering between $223,618 and $280,359.
Where Can You Find High-Paying AI Jobs?
The top locations for AI jobs in the U.S. are start-up hubs like New York, and San Francisco. Austin, Cupertino, and Mountain View are also key locations to look out for as each of these U.S. cities have 1,000 or more AI jobs available. Some are remote, others are hybrid-remote, and others require fully in-person attendance to the office, although hybrid-remote tends to be most popular among larger startups.
In terms of job boards, the best places to look for AI startup jobs include:
- Y Combinator (has a fully remote jobs list)
- Dice
- Levels.fyi
- Crunchboard
AI jobs will continue to shape the workplace and will constitute the new future of work. If you’re ready to make an impact and have a strong technical background, opt for an engineer role. If you are not experienced in tech and have no interest in coding or building applications, but are a great relationship-builder and communicator, perhaps a tech sales role at one of these startups is best suited to you.
Go ahead and start applying via the job boards listed above, right now. AI startups are looking for innovative forward-thinkers like you.