In 2025, the competition for AI talent has reached a new level, and Microsoft is one of the companies that pays the most generously. At the same time, its internal culture is undergoing a transformation: intense work, staff reduction and its reliance on AI are fundamentally changing business. A new report has revealed how much Microsoft employees — from software engineers to data scientists — are paid.
Does the level of salary always depend on productivity? It’s a complicated question. Everyone has their own reasons for working — some seek self-realization, some just make ends meet, and for some, it’s a vocation. But whatever your personal motives, remuneration remains one of the key factors.
To data According to a special June report by Microsoft Work Trend Index, the majority of employees are living in a never-ending workday and are forced to take work home with them. Work tasks are being postponed to the evening, weekends are losing their boundaries, and Sundays are increasingly turning into just another Monday. The balance between work and personal life is seriously disturbed. But if we put emotions aside and look at the financial side, what exactly does Microsoft offer its employees?
The corporation has already close to a market capitalization of $4 trillion — and this means not only an increase in profits, but also an increase in personnel costs. For data Business Insider, the company generously rewards its specialists. The report covers approximately 5,400 job postings in the first quarter of 2025.
Last year, leaked documents indicated that employees in the AI division receive significantly more than colleagues from other areas. On average, an AI developer can earn up to $377.6 thousand per year, which is almost $120 thousand more than the average Azure employee.
This confirms the company’s focus on AI development. Some data shows that part of the Microsoft Teams team was redeployed to Copilot-related projects — amid regulatory demands to separate Teams and the Office 365 suite due to suspected unfair competition.
It is also reported that machine learning engineers on LinkedIn’s team can expect compensation of up to $336 thousand per year. As it is known, generative AI is a machine learning product based on large data sets.
Microsoft’s salary range by department:
- Applied sciences: from $127,200 to $261,103
- Business analytics: from $159,300 to $191,580
- Business planning: from $117,200 to $201,900
- Business program management: from $102,380 to $195,100
- Cloud network engineering: from $122,700 to $220,716
- Cloud solution architecture: from $130,000 to $207,285
- Construction project management: from $150,000 to $193,690
- Customer experience engineering: from $126,422 to $239,585
- Customer relationship management: from $141,865 to $201,508
- Architecture of client solutions: from $122,730 to $225,000
- Data analysis: from $132,385 to $205,000
- Data center management: from $115,000 to $176,900
- Data engineering: from $144,855 to $264,000
- Data Science: from $121,200 to $274,500
- Demand planning: from $147,000 to $204,550
- Architecture of digital cloud solutions: from $155,085 to $217,589
- Electrical engineering: from $138,995 to $247,650
- Financial analysis: from $91,100 to $213,800
- Hardware engineering: from $136,000 to $270,641
- Product design: from $125,100 to $208,058
- Product management: from $122,800 to $250,000
- Product marketing: from $113,350 to $213,200
- Scientific research: from $146,054 to $208,000
- Research in applied and analytical sciences: from $85,821 to $208,800
- Service engineering: from $130,080 to $182,500
- Silicon Engineering: from $116,334 to $275,000
- Site Reliability Engineering (SRE): from $135,100 to $236,670
- Software engineering: from $82,971 to $284,000
- Solution Area Specialists: from $144,000 to $209,300
- Supply planning: from $131,300 to $193,270
- Technical program management: from $120,900 to $238,000
- Technical support consultations: from $114,290 to $153,984
- Technical support engineering: from $80,371 to $176,606
- Technology specialists: from $168,800 to $200,000
- UX research: from $138,560 to $177,148
Interestingly, this financial recovery is taking place against the backdrop of large-scale layoffs: since the beginning of 2025 alone Microsoft laid off about 15,300 employees in various divisions — from sales to technical support and development.
Julia Lewson, President of Developer Division and GitHub, recently sent a letter to executives emphasizing that the use of internal AI tools, such as GitHub Copilot, is now part of employee performance reviews.
«Artificial intelligence is now a fundamental part of the way we work. Just like collaboration, data-driven thinking, and effective communication, the use of AI is no longer optional — it is at the core of every role and every level».
Another illustrative example of the effectiveness of AI is the integration of this technology into Microsoft contact centers. It is allowed to save up to $500 million in 2024 alone, increasing service productivity.
Interestingly, another tech giant — NVIDIA —, although it pays no less, is known for the intensity of its teams’ work. According to sources, employees of the «company work until they are exhausted», although they receive exceptionally favorable conditions for this, which are called «golden shackles».
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: