Deep Learning Engineer.
Raleigh.
$116,000
median salary, 3% above the national average
$80,000 to $167,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
Deep Learning Engineer pay in Raleigh ranges from $80,000 to $167,000 in 2026. The median is $116,000, 3% above the national average. Raleigh sits at the heart of the Research Triangle, one of America's premier tech and life sciences corridors. Every dollar in that range is negotiable if you come prepared. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Deep Learning Engineer in Raleigh, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $120,710 for Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) in the Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area, based on 1,990 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$72,190
25th percentile
$85,220
Median
$120,710
75th percentile
$145,500
90th percentile
$180,850
Workers surveyed
1,990
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) rather than Deep Learning Engineer specifically. The Raleigh range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 15-2051Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $105,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$75,000
to $93,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$99,000
to $122,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$128,000
to $151,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$145,000
to $180,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $59,000 to the total package.
Base
$116,000
Equity
$36,000
Bonus
$16,000
Signing
$7,000
Estimated total: $175,000
Deep Learning Engineer salary by company.
Total compensation estimates include base, equity, bonus, and signing. Ranges reflect mid to senior level. Derived from public H-1B LCA filings (DOL).
How Raleigh compares.
Raleigh, NC
$116,000
Cost of living: 1% below average
National Average
$113,000
Raleigh is $3,000 above
Deep Learning Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Raleigh.
What you should know.
Before you negotiate a Deep Learning Engineer offer in Raleigh, understand the terrain. Raleigh sits at the heart of the Research Triangle, one of America's premier tech and life sciences corridors. Cisco, Red Hat, Epic Games, and numerous biotech firms drive strong demand for engineering, research, and product roles. The combination of top tier universities and moderate living costs creates an exceptionally favorable salary to expense ratio. Pay hinges on expertise with transformer architectures, large-scale training pipelines, and GPU optimization. Engineers who have shipped production models at scale earn top-band salaries. Publications at NeurIPS or ICML and familiarity with distributed training frameworks like DeepSpeed further boost compensation.
Junior deep learning roles start at $120,000 to $145,000. Mid-level engineers earn $155,000 to $200,000. Senior and staff-level positions reach $220,000 to $300,000 base, with principal engineers at top labs exceeding $400,000 in total compensation. In Raleigh, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity is a major component at AI-focused companies, often representing 30 to 50% of total compensation. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 20% of base, with signing bonuses of $30,000 to $75,000 common for experienced hires. And on the tax side: north Carolina's flat 4.5% income tax keeps the burden low. Raleigh has no city income tax, and the Triangle's affordable housing amplifies your take home purchasing power. When someone quotes you $116,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Cite Research Triangle talent competition in your negotiation. Employers here compete directly with each other and with remote offers, creating favorable leverage for candidates. The range for Deep Learning Engineers in Raleigh runs from $80,000 to $167,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- An AI Data Scientist in Raleigh earns $115,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Raleigh is CTO at $291,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
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Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Deep Learning Engineer Salary in Raleigh, NC." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/deep-learning-engineer/raleigh
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