MLOps Engineer.
Wichita.
$111,000
median salary, 17% below the national average
$83,000 to $146,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
MLOps Engineer pay in Wichita ranges from $83,000 to $146,000 in 2026. The median is $111,000, 17% below the national average. Wichita is the air capital of the world, home to major aerospace manufacturers including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and Airbus. 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 MLOps Engineer in Wichita, 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 $105,980 for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) in the Wichita, KS metropolitan area, based on 2,040 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$62,860
25th percentile
$79,890
Median
$105,980
75th percentile
$129,180
90th percentile
$152,500
Workers surveyed
2,040
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 MLOps Engineer specifically. The Wichita 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 $100,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$72,000
to $89,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$94,000
to $117,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$122,000
to $144,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$139,000
to $172,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $28,000 to the total package.
Base
$111,000
Equity
$16,000
Bonus
$10,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $139,000
How Wichita compares.
Wichita, KS
$111,000
Cost of living: 18% below average
National Average
$133,000
Wichita is $22,000 below
MLOps Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Wichita.
What you should know.
If you are interviewing for MLOps Engineer roles in Wichita, here is what you are walking into. Wichita is the air capital of the world, home to major aerospace manufacturers including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and Airbus. The city's engineering talent pool is deep, and the extremely low cost of living means aerospace salaries deliver exceptional purchasing power. Experience with ML pipeline orchestration (Kubeflow, MLflow, Vertex AI), model monitoring in production, and infrastructure automation are the key salary levers. Engineers who can reduce model deployment time from weeks to hours earn premiums. Understanding both the ML lifecycle and cloud infrastructure deeply is what separates mid level from senior compensation.
Junior MLOps engineers start at $105,000 to $135,000, reaching mid level at $140,000 to $180,000 in two to three years. Senior MLOps engineers earn $180,000 to $240,000. Staff level ML platform engineers at top companies can exceed $300,000 in total compensation, with a path into ML infrastructure leadership. In Wichita, your dollars stretch further. Cost of living runs 18% below the national average, which means even a median salary buys a stronger lifestyle.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity at AI companies adds $20,000 to $90,000+ annually. Bonuses of 10 to 20% are typical. On call compensation is common since MLOps engineers maintain production ML systems. Benefits frequently include cloud certification sponsorship, training budgets, and flexible work arrangements. And on the tax side: kansas has a top income tax rate of 5.7%. Wichita has no city income tax. The moderate state rate combined with very low housing costs creates strong net pay. When someone quotes you $111,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Highlight aerospace engineering expertise. Wichita manufacturers pay competitive national rates for specialized aviation and defense engineering talent. The range for MLOps Engineers in Wichita runs from $83,000 to $146,000. 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 ML Engineer in Wichita earns $112,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in Wichita is CTO at $244,000
- See all ai operations roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
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Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"MLOps Engineer Salary in Wichita, KS." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/mlops-engineer/wichita
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