Meta went on a hiring spree in 2025, paying extraordinary salaries to secure top engineering and AI talent. According to a report by Business Insider, more than 5,800 federal H-1B and other work visa applications, the company offered base salaries that rival Silicon Valley’s highest pay scales.As per the H-1B visa data one software engineer earned $450,000 a year, a research engineer took home $400,000, and a product manager received $348,000 all the before stock options, bonuses and perks. A vice president of AI commanded a base salary of $650,000, underscoring Meta’s willingness to pay premiums for specialized roles.
Salaries across key roles at Meta
The filings show that most new hires earned between $150,000 and $250,000, but senior technical and AI-focused positions were compensated far higher. Examples include:These figures reflect base salaries only, excluding stock options and bonuses that can double or triple total compensation.For high-level researchers, Meta reportedly offered total packages exceeding $100 million.
Here’s a look at the salary range of H-1B employees at Meta
Role
Salary Range (USD)
Software Engineer
$124,000 – $450,000
Research Engineer
$124,000 – $400,000
Product Manager
$165,485 – $348,101
Vice President of AI
$650,000
AI Research Scientist
$163,800 – $328,000
Machine Learning Engineer
$165,000 – $250,602
Machine Learning Systems Engineer
$250,000
ML Engineer
$193,000 – $287,042
Product Manager, Machine Learning
$252,000
Product Policy Manager, GenAI
$198,000
Software Engineer, Machine Learning
$144,096 – $293,118
Software Engineer – ML Generalist
$221,024
Software Engineering Manager, ML
$258,524
Software Systems ML Engineer
$270,732
Applied Research Scientist
$181,786 – $265,129
Research Engineer Manager
$289,144
Research Engineering Manager
$276,678
Research Scientist
$135,516 – $302,134
Research Scientist, Central Applied Science
$263,803
Research Scientist Manager
$258,524 – $263,803
Thermal Research Engineer
$254,000
User Experience Researcher
$170,000 – $242,050
UX Researcher
$163,000 – $292,160
UX Research Science Manager
$302,134
ASIC & FPGA Engineer
$299,880
ASIC Manager, Design Verification
$258,940 – $299,880
Director, Production Engineering
$354,123
Embedded Software Engineer
$169,313 – $269,081
Front End Engineer
$178,000 – $282,461
Production Engineer
$108,098 – $317,242
Production Engineering Manager
$258,524 – $309,797
Senior Staff Software Engineer
$311,029
Software Engineer (Leadership) – Infrastructure
$317,797
Software Engineering Manager
$200,907 – $328,000
Software Engineer Manager
$277,837 – $318,000
Sr Staff Hardware Engineer
$294,520
Staff Software Engineer
$258,524 – $263,803
Database Engineering Manager
$287,470
Data Engineer
$125,068 – $270,000
Data Engineering Director
$336,606
Data Engineer Manager
$224,028 – $305,406
Data Engineering Manager, Analytics
$234,781 – $289,786
Data Science Manager
$230,498 – $305,000
Data Science Manager, Analytics
$260,000
Data Scientist
$122,760 – $295,703
Data Scientist, Analytics
$171,000 – $267,703
Data Scientist Manager
$248,920 – $264,461
Data Scientist, Product Analytics
$162,000 – $260,516
Tech Lead, Data Science
$259,085
Business API Product Marketing Manager
$269,719
IDC Program Manager
$211,934 – $285,564
Product Design Director
$328,103 – $344,171
Product Designer
$132,991 – $279,594
Product Design Manager
$234,706 – $279,594
Product Marketing Manager
$195,000 – $248,000
Program Manager, Performance
$258,950
Technical Program Management Manager
$266,429
Technical Program Manager
$164,131 – $289,397
Trust Compliance & Operations Program Manager
$258,774
Director
$359,940
Director, Product Management
$333,200 – $348,902
Director, Product Strategy
$347,214
Director, Regulatory Escalations
$295,862
Director of Security, Integrity & Investigations Data
$294,000
HR Director, GBG & International HR
$352,416
Product Management Director
$346,240
Technical Lead Manager
$308,566
VP, FoA, Marketing
$476,600
Visa trends and workforce shifts
As per the data about half of Meta’s visa hires in 2025 were software engineers, this figure highlight the dependence of the company on international talent. However, the filings also suggest that the fillings in the last quarter of 2025 halved compared to the previous year because of the changes made to the H-1B visa program by the Trump government. During the same period, Meta continued with its restructuring and aggressive expansion of its AI workforce.By year’s end, Meta reported 78,865 employees in its 10-K filing.
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