{"h1":"AI skills that pay the most","faq":[{"a":"Leading AI teams is the AI skill with the highest median posted pay: $242k across the openings that name it, against $150k for all openings in our data.","q":"Which skill ranks first: ai skills that pay the most?"},{"a":"24 skills have at least 20 openings with pay posted, so the list has 24 entries.","q":"How many skills are ranked?"},{"a":"A skill's score is the median posted annual salary of the open professional roles whose posting names it, read by our AI-skill tagger from the full posting text across 24 AI skills in three groups. Only skills named in at least 20 openings that post a salary are ranked. A higher median means those roles pay more, not that the skill causes the pay.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Leading AI teams is the AI skill with the highest median posted pay: $242k across the openings that name it, against $150k for all openings in our data.","minN":20,"rows":[{"n":175,"key":"skill:l_ai_org_lead","sub":"Leading AI","href":null,"name":"Leading AI teams","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"700"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$242k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+61%"}],"value":242000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$242k"},{"n":454,"key":"skill:b_gpu","sub":"Building AI systems","href":null,"name":"GPU and CUDA","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"1,334"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$240k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+60%"}],"value":240000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$240k"},{"n":299,"key":"skill:b_finetune","sub":"Building AI systems","href":null,"name":"Model fine-tuning","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"758"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$238k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+58%"}],"value":237500,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$238k"},{"n":640,"key":"skill:b_ml_frameworks","sub":"Building AI systems","href":null,"name":"ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"2,308"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$224k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+49%"}],"value":223500,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$224k"},{"n":1435,"key":"skill:b_model_training","sub":"Building AI systems","href":null,"name":"Model training and deep learning","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"4,739"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$223k"},{"label":"Pay against all 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openings","value":"+33%"}],"value":200000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$200k"},{"n":429,"key":"skill:a_prompt","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"Prompt design","rank":17,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"1,811"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$198k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+32%"}],"value":197500,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$198k"},{"n":511,"key":"skill:l_responsible","sub":"Leading AI","href":null,"name":"Responsible AI","rank":18,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"2,456"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$193k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+29%"}],"value":192980,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$193k"},{"n":6007,"key":"skill:a_tool_use","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"AI tools in daily work","rank":19,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"19,938"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$180k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+20%"}],"value":180000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$180k"},{"n":192,"key":"skill:a_enterprise_ai","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"AI in business apps (Agentforce, Now Assist)","rank":20,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"690"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$180k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+20%"}],"value":180000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$180k"},{"n":327,"key":"skill:a_ai_analytics","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"AI-enabled analytics","rank":21,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"1,269"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$178k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+18%"}],"value":177500,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$178k"},{"n":993,"key":"skill:a_assistants","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"Gen-AI assistants (ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude)","rank":22,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"3,438"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$175k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+17%"}],"value":175000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$175k"},{"n":282,"key":"skill:a_creative","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"Gen-AI content tools","rank":23,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"883"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$170k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+13%"}],"value":170000,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$170k"},{"n":279,"key":"skill:a_automation_tools","sub":"Using AI in your work","href":null,"name":"Automation platforms (Zapier, n8n, Power Automate)","rank":24,"stats":[{"label":"Openings naming it","value":"1,178"},{"label":"Median posted pay with it","value":"$168k"},{"label":"Pay against all openings","value":"+12%"}],"value":167500,"change":null,"employers":[],"valueLabel":"$168k"}],"slug":"ai-skills-that-pay-the-most","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"us","kind":"national","name":"United States"},"title":"AI skills that pay the most","family":"AI skills","method":["A skill's score is the median posted annual salary of the open professional roles whose posting names it, read by our AI-skill tagger from the full posting text across 24 AI skills in three groups.","Only skills named in at least 20 openings that post a salary are ranked. A higher median means those roles pay more, not that the skill causes the pay."],"builtAt":"2026-11-02T22:07:31.247Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"skillpay","sources":["NextChapter job data: open professional roles on employer career sites, verified in the last week"],"baseline":null,"keyFacts":["#1 Leading AI teams, Leading AI: $242k","#2 GPU and CUDA, Building AI systems: $240k","#3 Model fine-tuning, Building AI systems: $238k","24 skills ranked across all job families","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"skills","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Leading AI teams leads on $242k, and #10 AI strategy and use cases is at $214k.","Leading AI teams reaches #1 on a sample of 175 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","Model training and deep learning is the largest market in the top ten, with 1,435 openings with pay posted behind its figure.","Skills with fewer than 20 openings with pay posted are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/ai-skills-that-pay-the-most"}