Machine learning engineers turn models into working products, from training and evaluation to serving them at scale. This family leans more on research backgrounds than most, and advanced degrees are mentioned unusually often.
We analyzed 229 U.S. job descriptions from 94 employers for Machine Learning Engineering roles. The most requested skills were Python (69%), Machine learning (66%) and LLMs (46%).
1,737open U.S. roles tracked
5 yearstypical experience asked for
$238,500median advertised pay, from 447 roles that state it
Languages
Python69%
C++23%
SQL19%
Java18%
AI & machine learning
Machine learning66%
LLMs46%
Generative AI29%
PyTorch28%
Deep learning21%
TensorFlow21%
NLP13%
MLOps12%
Computer vision10%
Cloud & infrastructure
AWS32%
CI/CD23%
Google Cloud21%
Kubernetes20%
Azure19%
Distributed systems16%
Docker16%
Microservices9%
Product & design
Prototyping26%
Data
Spark17%
Statistics15%
Kafka8%
Updated November 7, 2026, using job descriptions collected since September 25, 2026. Shares show how many of the sampled descriptions mention a skill, so a low share can still be a firm requirement in the roles that list it. We sample a limited number of descriptions per employer so that no single company dominates, and we only report figures backed by several employers. Advertised pay comes from a different group of roles than H1B filings, so the two are not directly comparable.
