LLM Engineer.
Raleigh.
$134,000
median salary, 1% above the national average
$100,000 to $176,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
The median LLM Engineer salary in Raleigh is $134,000, 1% above the national average. Entry level starts near $100,000. Experienced professionals push past $176,000. Raleigh sits at the heart of the Research Triangle, one of America's premier tech and life sciences corridors. That spread is your negotiation window. 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 LLM 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 $132,770 for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) in the Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area, based on 12,580 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$80,080
25th percentile
$103,480
Median
$132,770
75th percentile
$166,650
90th percentile
$185,110
Workers surveyed
12,580
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) rather than LLM 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 15-1252Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $121,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$87,000
to $107,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$114,000
to $141,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$147,000
to $174,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$168,000
to $208,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $64,000 to the total package.
Base
$134,000
Equity
$39,000
Bonus
$17,000
Signing
$8,000
Estimated total: $198,000
LLM 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
$134,000
Cost of living: 1% below average
National Average
$133,000
Raleigh is $1,000 above
LLM Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Raleigh.
What you should know.
If you are interviewing for LLM Engineer roles in Raleigh, here is what you are walking into. 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. Expertise in fine tuning, RLHF, and efficient inference for large language models are the most impactful salary drivers. Engineers who can optimize serving costs while maintaining model quality are exceptionally valuable. Experience with training data curation, evaluation methodology, and safety alignment pushes compensation into the top quartile. This role has seen the sharpest salary increases since 2023.
Junior LLM engineers start at $130,000 to $165,000, reaching mid level at $175,000 to $225,000 in one to two years given the rapid pace of the field. Senior LLM engineers earn $225,000 to $300,000. Staff level positions at AI labs can exceed $450,000 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 at AI labs is substantial, often adding $50,000 to $200,000+ annually. Bonuses of 15 to 25% are standard. Signing bonuses of $40,000 to $100,000 are common given the extreme demand. Benefits include dedicated GPU access, research time allocations, and conference travel budgets. 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 $134,000, 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 LLM Engineers in Raleigh runs from $100,000 to $176,000. 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 Engineer in Raleigh earns $133,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Raleigh is CTO at $291,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
LLM Engineer salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Raleigh.
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Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"LLM Engineer Salary in Raleigh, NC." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/llm-engineer/raleigh
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