Recommendation Systems Engineer.
Kansas City.
$121,000
median salary, 9% below the national average
$94,000 to $154,000. Last updated August 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Orbyt estimates Recommendation Systems Engineer pay in Kansas City at $121,000, within a range of $94,000 to $154,000. That is 9% below the national average. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors. 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 Recommendation Systems Engineer in Kansas City, 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 $124,990 for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) in the Kansas City, MO-KS metropolitan area, based on 12,160 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$76,340
25th percentile
$97,560
Median
$124,990
75th percentile
$139,820
90th percentile
$169,440
Workers surveyed
12,160
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 Recommendation Systems Engineer specifically. The Kansas City 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 $109,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$79,000
to $97,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$103,000
to $127,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$133,000
to $157,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$151,000
to $188,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $24,000 to the total package.
Base
$121,000
Equity
$13,000
Bonus
$9,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $145,000
How Kansas City compares.
Kansas City, MO
$121,000
Cost of living: 7% below average
National Average
$133,000
Kansas City is $12,000 below
Recommendation Systems Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Kansas City.
What you should know.
Before you negotiate a Recommendation Systems Engineer offer in Kansas City, understand the terrain. Kansas City straddles Missouri and Kansas, creating a unique dual state job market with strong logistics, tech, and agriculture technology sectors. The metro's central location has made it a hub for distribution centers and supply chain companies. Cerner's healthcare IT presence and a growing startup scene have boosted demand for technology professionals. Compensation for Recommendation Systems Engineers is driven by depth of technical specialization, open-source or published work, and the specific technology stack. Base salary carries most of the total compensation, with bonuses adding roughly 10% in a typical year. Within tech-sector Recommendation Systems Engineers specifically, employer tier (FAANG and frontier-AI labs vs mid-stage startups vs traditional enterprise) drives 66%+ variance across the compensation band.
Recommendation Systems Engineers typically progress Junior → Mid → Senior → Staff → Principal over 8 to 12 years, with the Staff+ levels carrying significant technical scope and cross-team influence. The director/VP track diverges around year 8 for those who choose management; IC staff-plus roles keep building technical depth. In Kansas City, 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. Total compensation for Recommendation Systems Engineers runs roughly $176K at median when factoring base + typical bonus (~10% of base). Base salary carries most of the compensation; benefits (healthcare, 401(k) match, PTO) add an estimated 15–25% in imputed value on top. At tech companies specifically, equity and sign-on are often the largest delta between offers — two roles with matching base can differ by $100K+ at total when equity is included. And on the tax side: missouri's top income tax rate is about 4.8%, and Kansas City adds a 1% earnings tax. Workers living in Kansas face that state's rates instead. Choose your side of the state line carefully. When someone quotes you $121,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Negotiate which side of the state line you will be based on. Your tax situation differs meaningfully between Missouri and Kansas, and some employers offer flexibility on office location. The range for Recommendation Systems Engineers in Kansas City runs from $94,000 to $154,000. 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 Kansas City earns $120,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Kansas City is CTO at $282,000
Common questions.
Recommendation Systems Engineer salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Kansas City.
Related salary pages
Jump to nearby roles and cities most relevant to Recommendation Systems Engineers in Kansas City.
Related tools.
Do you work as a recommendation systems engineer in Kansas City?
Your individual figure is never published. Submissions appear only as aggregate percentiles, and nothing is shown for a role and city until at least five people have reported. It is stored against your account, which is what keeps the dataset clean.
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Recommendation Systems Engineer Salary in Kansas City, MO." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/recommendation-systems-engineer/kansas-city
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget. One script tag, free forever.
Related tools