The battle for AI talent is pushing salaries to extraordinary levels. Newly disclosed US federal filings show that some employees at Anthropic, the company behind Claude, are paid as much as $1.38 million (₹13.02 crore) a year in base salary alone, offering a rare glimpse into how one of the world's hottest AI firms rewards its workforce.

The salary details come from H-1B visa sponsorship filings, which disclose the base pay offered to foreign hires. While the records do not include bonuses or stock awards—often the most valuable part of compensation at AI firms—they underscore the lengths companies are going to secure top engineers, researchers and specialists, according to a report with business Insider. 

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The disclosures come as Anthropic continues to expand its workforce amid reports that it could go public as early as this year. The company was valued at $965 billion in May.

Technical staff top the pay charts

The highest salaries were offered to employees with the title Member of Technical Staff, a broad designation used across Anthropic. One employee was offered a base salary of $1.12 million, while another received $1.38 million (₹13.02 crore).

The filings do not specify the exact nature of these roles, meaning they could range from AI researchers and engineers to senior technical leaders.

Base salaries for key technical roles include:

• Member of Technical Staff: $133,952 to $1,380,000 (₹1.26 crore–₹13.02 crore)
• Member of Technical Staff (Manager): $134,139 to $850,000 (₹1.26 crore–₹8.02 crore)
• Member of Technical Staff, Reinforcement Learning Researcher: $112,778 to $500,000 (₹1.06 crore–₹4.71 crore)

Product, finance and legal roles also command hefty salaries

The filings show that Anthropic pays well beyond its engineering teams, with several business functions also attracting multi-crore salaries.

Salary ranges for other key roles include:

• Product Design Manager: $140,254 to $385,000 (₹1.32 crore–₹3.60 crore)
• Product Operations: $125,000 to $500,000 (₹1.17 crore–₹4.71 crore)
• Accounting: $141,378 to $230,000 (₹1.33 crore–₹2.17 crore)
• Commercial Counsel: $198,765 to $320,000 (₹1.87 crore–₹3.01 crore)
• Compute Capacity: $187,574 to $300,000
• Finance & Strategy: $182,978 to $310,000 (₹1.72 crore–₹2.92 crore)
• Finance Systems: $152,152 to $315,000
• Marketing: $159,328 to $200,000 (₹1.50 crore–₹1.88 crore)
• Partnerships: $227,760 to $248,500
• Research Operations: $125,000 to $500,000 (₹1.17 crore–₹4.71 crore)
• Technical Sales: $155,522 to $500,000 (₹1.46 crore–₹4.71 crore)

AI firms continue to pay a premium for talent

Anthropic secured certification for roughly 80 H-1B positions during the first two quarters of fiscal 2026, reflecting its continued hiring as competition for AI talent intensifies.

The company is competing with rivals including Meta, Google and OpenAI, all of which have been offering increasingly lucrative compensation packages to attract and retain top researchers and engineers. Although the H-1B filings reveal only base salaries, stock awards often account for a significant share of total compensation at fast-growing AI firms.

Anthropic's soaring valuation has also increased the value of employee equity, strengthening its appeal to prospective hires. The company has reportedly recruited researchers from Google while maintaining stronger employee retention than several rival AI labs.

Anthropic declined to comment on the salary disclosures.