Meta Files H-1B Visa for AI Research Scientist Paid Up to $650,000 Base

(UNITED STATES) — Meta filed more than 5,800 H-1B and similar work visa petitions in 2025, with the filings showing a vice president of AI role offered a base salary of $650,000, the highest reported among the positions described.

The filings also showed that most new hires received base salaries between $150,000 and $250,000. About half of the roles went to software engineers, underlining how heavily the company continued to recruit for technical jobs across its business.

Meta’s petitions covered its core operations as well as subsidiaries including WhatsApp and its payments division. The filings outlined pay across engineering, AI, machine learning, product and design roles.

Those disclosures offer a window into how Meta priced talent in 2025, especially in artificial intelligence. They also showed that base pay alone did not tell the full story, because bonuses, stock grants and perks can double or triple total compensation.

At the top end, software engineering positions reached $450,000 in base salary. Research engineers went as high as $400,000, while product managers reached nearly $348,000.

The largest single base figure in the filings belonged to the vice president of AI position at $650,000. That figure stood well above the pay ranges listed for other AI-focused jobs in the company’s visa records.

For AI and machine learning roles, the filings showed an AI Research Scientist position with a base salary range of $163,800 to $328,000. Machine Learning Engineer roles ranged from $165,000 to $250,602.

Meta also listed ML Engineer positions at $193,000 to $287,042. Software Engineer, Machine Learning roles ranged from $144,096 to $293,118.

Some machine learning roles came with a single listed base figure rather than a range. Software Engineering Manager, Machine Learning was listed at $258,524, while Machine Learning Systems Engineer was listed at $250,000.

Those figures placed many AI and machine learning roles above the lower end of the broad hiring band shown in the filings. At the same time, the pay ranges showed wide variation by level and specialty.

Product and design jobs also commanded high pay. Product Manager, Machine Learning was listed at $252,000.

Design leadership roles went higher. Product Design Director ranged from $328,103 to $344,171, and UX Research Science Manager was listed at $302,134.

Taken together, the filings showed that Meta’s compensation structure stretched across a broad range of technical and management jobs. They also showed that the company attached some of its highest base salaries to work tied to AI, machine learning, research and product leadership.

Most of the new hires still fell into a narrower pay band. The $150,000 to $250,000 base salary range covered the bulk of the company’s incoming workers in the visa filings, even as a smaller number of jobs climbed far above that level.

About half of all roles went to software engineers. That concentration helps explain why software positions accounted for a large share of the salary disclosures, from more typical engineering pay to top-end offers reaching $450,000 in base salary.

The visa records covered more than one part of the company. Alongside Meta’s main operations, the filings extended to WhatsApp and the company’s payments division, showing that hiring through work visas supported multiple lines of business.

Within that broader hiring picture, AI jobs drew some of the highest advertised pay. The range for AI Research Scientist, a role that sits near the center of the company’s push for advanced technical talent, ran from $163,800 to $328,000 in base salary.

Machine learning roles appeared in several forms, each with its own pay band. A Machine Learning Engineer could earn between $165,000 and $250,602, while an ML Engineer could receive between $193,000 and $287,042.

The distinction extended into software jobs tied directly to machine learning. A Software Engineer, Machine Learning role ranged from $144,096 to $293,118, showing that machine learning work at Meta spread across engineering titles rather than sitting in one single category.

Management and systems positions also featured prominently. Software Engineering Manager, Machine Learning carried a listed base salary of $258,524, and Machine Learning Systems Engineer was listed at $250,000.

Product-side compensation showed a similar pattern of elevated pay for jobs tied to advanced technology. Product Manager, Machine Learning carried a base salary of $252,000.

Design and research leadership also ranked high in the disclosures. Product Design Director ranged from $328,103 to $344,171, and UX Research Science Manager reached $302,134.

The filings did not stop at base pay, even if base salary was the clearest figure in the records. Bonuses, stock grants and perks can double or triple total compensation, pushing actual pay packages far above the stated salary.

That gap between base salary and total compensation matters most at the top end. Some senior researchers reportedly received total packages exceeding $100 million including equity.

The difference between listed salary and total package helps frame the $650,000 vice president of AI base salary. While that number led the reported base figures, the broader compensation structure described in the filings showed how equity and incentives could widen the gap further for top recruits.

Even below the executive level, the filings showed how expensive the market for technical talent had become. Base salaries for AI, machine learning, research, software and product roles often sat well above the levels found in many other occupations.

Meta closed 2025 with 78,865 employees. That headcount provides scale for the company’s hiring activity and shows that the more than 5,800 H-1B and similar petitions formed part of recruitment inside a very large workforce.

The filings also pointed to a slowdown late in the year. H-1B filings halved in Q4 2025 compared to the prior year.

That drop in the fourth quarter stood alongside the company’s large overall petition count for the year. The combination suggested that Meta still filed thousands of visa-related petitions in 2025 even as late-year activity fell from the earlier pace.

Across the records, the spread in base salaries was striking. At one end, Software Engineer, Machine Learning started at $144,096, while the vice president of AI role reached $650,000.

Other technical positions clustered in between. AI Research Scientist topped out at $328,000, ML Engineer reached $287,042, and Machine Learning Engineer went to $250,602.

Research and leadership roles pushed pay higher. Research engineers reached up to $400,000, while Product Design Director climbed to $344,171 and UX Research Science Manager reached $302,134.

Product management also remained near the top of the disclosed salary bands. Product managers reached nearly $348,000, and Product Manager, Machine Learning was listed at $252,000.

Because the filings covered Meta, WhatsApp and the payments division, the salary disclosures reflected demand across more than one business line. That breadth helps explain why the records included such a wide mix of engineering, research, product, design and management titles.

The concentration in software engineering remained central. With about half of the roles going to software engineers, Meta’s 2025 visa filings showed that broad technical hiring continued to anchor the company’s recruitment, even as AI jobs drew the most attention.

For readers tracking the H-1B market, the filings offered one of the clearest snapshots of how a large technology company valued imported talent in 2025. They showed a labor market where most roles landed between $150,000 and $250,000 in base salary, but where AI and senior technical leadership could command far more.

At the very top sat the vice president of AI offer at $650,000 in base salary, a number that captured the upper edge of Meta’s disclosed pay in 2025 and the premium the company attached to top artificial intelligence talent.