OpenAI research roles pay up to 1 billion won a year
Hired over 60 overseas workers from October to December
More than 4,000 employees... 2.14 billion won in stock compensation
The base salary for research positions at OpenAI has been found to reach up to around 1 billion won. Compensation for key talent is being assessed as among the highest in the industry. In addition, contrary to its stated policy of slowing hiring, the company appears to be continuing to recruit overseas talent.
On February 24 (local time), U.S. business outlet Business Insider reported, citing documents submitted to the U.S. federal government, that "OpenAI is paying top-of-the-industry base salaries for key roles and has continued to hire overseas workers in recent quarters."
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is holding a discussion at "K-Startups meet OpenAI," hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, on the 9th at 63 Square in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
Despite saying it would slow hiring, recruitment of AI talent continues
Earlier this year, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said he would significantly slow the pace of hiring in order to avoid the kind of large-scale layoffs that rocked the tech industry.
However, according to federal government documents, OpenAI is still hiring overseas personnel. Most recently, it recruited Peter Steinberger, known as a developer of OpenClaw, which is being interpreted as evidence that competition to secure artificial intelligence (AI) talent is continuing.
In the most recent quarter, from October to December last year, OpenAI newly hired more than 60 overseas employees. This is an increase compared with the previous quarter. Hiring continued even though the Donald Trump administration imposed a 100,000 dollar (150 million won) fee on new H-1B visa applications in September last year.
Sam Altman, founder and CEO of OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is attending the Kakao Media Day held at the Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 4th. Photo by Kang Jinhyung
Employees from top U.S. universities... 2.14 billion won in stock compensation and seven-figure salaries
By role, research scientists receive the highest base salaries. The base salary for research scientists ranges from 245,000 dollars (350 million won) to 685,000 dollars (980 million won).
Within AI research roles, intelligence and investigations staff receive between 320,000 dollars (460 million won) and 382,500 dollars (550 million won), while AI systems engineers earn between 245,000 dollars (660 million won) and 460,000 dollars (660 million won). Technical staff responsible for research and AI systems earn between 310,000 dollars (442 million won) and 460,000 dollars (660 million won), and research engineers earn between 210,000 dollars (300 million won) and 460,000 dollars (660 million won).
Engineering and data science roles also receive high compensation. The base salary for data science staff ranges from 188,885 dollars (270 million won) to 405,000 dollars (580 million won), and data science technical staff earn between 255,000 dollars (364 million won) and 490,000 dollars (700 million won). Hardware engineers receive between 250,000 dollars (360 million won) and 555,000 dollars (800 million won), and security engineers earn between 310,000 dollars (443 million won) and 325,000 dollars (464 million won). Software developers earn 325,000 dollars (464 million won), while software engineers receive between 170,000 dollars (243 million won) and 490,000 dollars (670 million won).
Base salaries are also high for product, program, and design roles. Design roles range from 245,000 dollars (350 million won) to 310,000 dollars (443.52 million won), and product managers earn between 210,000 dollars (300 million won) and 325,000 dollars (464 million won). Program management roles range from 150,000 dollars (214 million won) to 355,000 dollars (510 million won).
In finance, salaries range from 240,000 dollars (344 million won) to 260,000 dollars (373 million won), while go-to-market roles earn between 180,000 dollars (260 million won) and 290,000 dollars (414 million won). Customer success staff receive between 165,000 dollars (240 million won) and 240,000 dollars (343 million won). Field deployment engineers earn 220,000 dollars (314 million won), and support engineers earn 235,000 dollars (340 million won). Community and support staff receive between 180,000 dollars (260 million won) and 235,000 dollars (340 million won).
OpenAI employees are reported to include many graduates of elite U.S. universities such as Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Carnegie Mellon University. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), more than 4,000 employees receive stock compensation averaging 1.5 million dollars (214 million won). Although OpenAI does not separately disclose salaries, the base pay for some roles can be confirmed through H-1B visa documents submitted for foreign hires. However, because these documents do not include stock compensation or bonuses, actual total compensation is likely to be higher.
OpenAI is the company that developed ChatGPT, a generative AI service. The number of users is rapidly increasing in Korea as well. According to a report published in November last year by app market research firm Sensor Tower, ChatGPT revenue in Korea ranked second worldwide. An analysis of OpenAI’s ChatGPT revenue by country showed that after the United States in first place with 35.4%, Korea ranked second, with cumulative revenue of 200 million dollars (285.1 billion won), accounting for 5.4%.
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