Across 235 certified FY2025 Department of Labor wage filings for AI leadership titles, the median offered annual wage was $200,000, and the middle half fell between $165,000 and $245,356. Directors had the highest median at $217,055 (118 filings), ahead of VPs at $193,170 (82) and Heads at $188,451 (28). Among states with at least 20 filings, California was highest at $230,000 and Texas lowest at $192,500.
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Each row is one certified Labor Condition Application, the wage filing an employer makes before sponsoring a worker on an H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 visa. We kept filings whose job title names both an AI field and a leadership level, from fiscal year 2025 (October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025). The 235 filings come from 166 employers; decision dates run from October 7, 2024 to September 29, 2025.
Medians are shown only where a group has at least 20 filings. Smaller groups show the count.
| Title level | Filings | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director | 118 | $217,055 | $180,000 – $253,634 |
| VP (vice president, VP, SVP, EVP) | 82 | $193,170 | $165,000 – $218,750 |
| VP, excluding JPMorgan Chase | 39 | $201,323 | $171,500 – $252,500 |
| Head | 28 | $188,451 | $161,228 – $242,500 |
| Chief AI Officer | 7 | Fewer than 20 | Listed below |
| All filings | 235 | $200,000 | $165,000 – $245,356 |
| All filings, excluding JPMorgan Chase | 189 | $212,514 | $165,000 – $251,150 |
Download: all 235 filings (CSV) · summary by level and state (CSV). Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar; exact values are in the CSV.
Which states pay AI leaders the most?
| Worksite state | Filings | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 63 | $230,000 | $183,147 – $270,000 |
| New York | 49 | $200,000 | $180,000 – $255,944 |
| Texas | 20 | $192,500 | $161,644 – $221,875 |
Every other state has fewer than 20 filings: New Jersey 18, Washington 11, Delaware 10, North Carolina 9, Massachusetts 8, Illinois 7, Ohio 6, Michigan 5, Pennsylvania 5, Georgia 4, Connecticut 3, Florida 3 and Tennessee 3. Colorado, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin have 1 each.
What do Chief AI Officer filings show?
Seven filings carry a Chief AI Officer title. They range from $105,269 to $400,000. Seven filings are too few to say what Chief AI Officers are paid in general.
| Employer | Title | Worksite | Offered wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch Rewards, LLC | Chief AI Officer | Santa Clarita, CA | $400,000 |
| Ciba Health Inc | Chief Artificial Intelligence & Product Innovation Officer | New York, NY | $260,000 |
| Advanced Moore Machines, Inc | Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer | Santa Clara, CA | $160,000 |
| Advanced Moore Machines, Inc | Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer | Austin, TX | $160,000 |
| Post Trailers Repairs, Inc | Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer | Knoxville, TN | $150,000 |
| The Trinity AI Software Inc | Chief AI Officer | Frisco, TX | $127,878 |
| SMARC Solutions Inc | Chief AI and Growth Officer | Santa Monica, CA | $105,269 |
Download: Chief AI Officer filings (CSV)
Who files the most?
JPMorgan Chase filed 46 of the 235 filings, under two spellings of its name, almost all at VP level (43 VP, 3 Director). Next are Fidelity Investments (4), Invisible Technologies (4), Brillio (3) and ServiceNow (3). Because one bank is close to a fifth of the data, the tables above also show figures without JPMorgan.
Download: filings by employer (CSV)
What this means if you are hiring
In these filings the median offered base wage was $217,055 for Director titles and $193,170 for VP titles, before bonus and equity, and the California median was $230,000. These filings set a floor for sponsored hires, not a full market rate. A Chief AI Officer at a large organization is a different job from most of the seven filings above, and its pay is set by the scope you give it. Our free role brief puts a range on your specific role.
What the count includes and leaves out
It includes certified filings only, not withdrawn or denied ones. The wage is the lower bound of the range the employer filed. Annual wages are as filed; a few filings state an hourly rate, which we multiplied by 2,080 hours. It leaves out bonus, equity, signing payments and every hire who needed no visa. One filing is one position, not one person hired.
Frequently asked questions
Is this what a Chief AI Officer earns?
No. These are offered base wages in filings for sponsored workers (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3). They exclude bonus and equity and do not cover hires who need no visa. Only 7 filings carry a Chief AI Officer title, too few for a median, so they are listed one by one.
Why is the VP median lower than the Director median?
JPMorgan Chase filed 43 of the 82 VP-level filings. Vice President is a mid-level title at large banks. Without JPMorgan, the VP median is $201,323 across 39 filings.
Methodology
Source. US Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification, LCA disclosure data for FY2025, quarters 1 to 4, downloaded November 13, 2026. Only rows with case status "Certified" are kept.
Title rule. A filing is kept when its job title (case-insensitive) contains an AI term ("artificial intelligence", "machine learning", "AI" as a whole word, "genai" or "generative ai") and a leadership word: head, director, vice president, VP, SVP or EVP, or "chief" together with "officer". Titles with "assistant vice president", "AVP" or "associate director" are excluded. Titles whose only leadership word is "chief" without "officer", such as Chief AI Engineer or Chief AI Scientist, are excluded.
Title level. Assigned by first match: Chief AI Officer (chief and officer), then VP, then Head, then Director.
Statistics. Median and middle half (25th to 75th percentile) of the offered annual wage, computed only for groups of 20 or more filings. No filing is removed as a duplicate, and nothing is estimated; a blank stays blank.
Refresh. Updated yearly at this address when the Department of Labor publishes a new fiscal year.
Compiled by Husani Bastien. Tables were built with automated scripts from the official files listed below and checked by hand.
Sources
- US Department of Labor, OFLC, LCA Disclosure Data FY2025 Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 (US government data, public domain).
- Tables and CSVs on this page: Talent Echo Advisory Group, licensed CC BY 4.0. Please credit "Talent Echo, talentecho.net/data/ai-leader-pay/".