An internal spreadsheet with 600 employee submissions shows Microsoft paying AI engineers over $400K in total comp as it competes with Google and OpenAI for talent.
Microsoft employees have shared their compensation details in an internal spreadsheet, offering a rare look at how the tech giant is paying its workforce as it competes for AI talent.
The spreadsheet, viewed by Business Insider, contains nearly 600 employee submissions covering base salaries, raises, cash bonuses, and stock awards. The self-reported data provides a snapshot of compensation across Microsoft's organization at a time when retaining engineers and researchers is a key priority.
The company is pouring billions into AI infrastructure while competing with Meta, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and well-funded startups for the people who will determine whether those investments pay off. Stock awards, which can dwarf annual raises and bonuses, are one of Microsoft's clearest tools for recruiting and retaining workers.
Microsoft had 223,000 employees as of June 30. The spreadsheet with nearly 600 submissions represents a small sample, and the data is neither official nor comprehensive. Employees with higher pay or seniority may contribute less to such spreadsheets, so the ranges may skew lower than the total workforce. Business Insider removed entries that seemed anomalous and excluded levels and teams with few entries.
Pay varied significantly by role and level. Software engineers in AI-related roles reported total compensation packages exceeding $400,000, including base salary, cash bonus, and stock awards. Engineers in cloud and Azure roles reported packages ranging from $250,000 to $350,000. Hardware engineers and program managers reported lower ranges, typically $180,000 to $250,000.
The spreadsheet also included pay by organization, showing how much employees report making by team. The AI and cloud divisions paid the most, reflecting where Microsoft is concentrating its hiring and retention efforts.
Microsoft employees typically share this information voluntarily and anonymously to promote pay transparency. The company also recently cut thousands of employees in a fresh round of layoffs in July.
Business Insider last year reported Microsoft's internal pay guidelines, revealing how much the company generally offered new hires in engineering and research roles in the US.
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