Artificial Intelligence - Career Earnings Analysis (September 2025)

Colleagues, implementing a well-defined, forward-thinking career development plan can boost your career and income growth over a 30-year life cycle. Statista reports that “The market size in the Artificial Intelligence market is projected to reach US$244.22bn in 2025. The market size is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2025-2031) of 26.60%, resulting in a market volume of US$1.01T by 2031. In global comparison, the largest market size will be US$73.98B in 2025.” Making modest investments in your professional training and certification will reward you with greatly enhanced income potential.

Assumptions

• Duration: 30-year career lifecycle (e.g. age 25-55)

• Salary: $125,645/year - Salary.com (compensation will vary by location - we will use a US average for our analysis)

• Education Level: This model is based upon the individual having a BS/BA degree. A MS/MA degree adds an extra 5%-10% to annual income

• Training & Certification: 5%-10% income lift/year

• Salary - Annual Increase per CPI Inflation: 2.5%/year

• Base Case: Junior Level - age 25/1st certification

• Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - age 30/2nd certification

• Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - age 35/3rd certification

• Expert Case: Technical Refresher - age 40-45/4th certification

Junior Level (5 years of experience)

• Title(s): Junior Data Scientist, Junior Machine Learning Engineer, Prompt Engineer

• Base income: $145,623/year

• Sample Training & Certs: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Understanding Artificial Intelligence, AI for Everyone, AI in Practice

Intermediate (10 years of experience)

• Title(s): Machine Learning Engineer, Computer Vision Engineer, Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engineer, AI Product Manager, Gen AI Engineer

• Base income: $176,292/year

• Sample Training & Certs: IBM Artificial Intelligence Professional Certificate, Applied Artificial Intelligence Specialization, Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals with Python and SQL Specialization, Generative AI for Everyone

Advanced (15 years of experience)

• Title(s): Senior Machine Learning Engineer, AI Solutions Architect, AI Researcher/Research Scientist, Lead Data Scientist, RAG Gen AI Manager

• Base income: $215,415/year

• Sample Training & Certs: AI TensorFlow Developer Professional Certificate, Contact Center AI: Conversational Design Fundamentals, Data Structures, Algorithms, and Machine Learning Optimization, TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning, 

Expert (Executive-Refresher) (20 years of experience)

• Title(s): Chief AI Officer (CAIO), Director of AI/Head of AI, Principal Engineer/AI Fellow, AI Ethics Specialist

• Base income: $351,763/year

• Sample Training & Certs: Apply Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning, Convolutional Neural Networks

Income Comparison

• Base Case: Junior Level - $145,623/year

• Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - $176,292/year

• Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - $215,415/year

• Expert Case: Technical Refresher - $351,763/year

Note: For a more comprehensive roster of AI certifications see Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, nVidia, Coursera, edX, MIT Opencourseware, and Udacity.

AI Specializations, Master Classes and Certifications

• AI for Everyone

• AI TensorFlow Developer Professional Certificate

• Apply Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

• Applied Artificial Intelligence Specialization 

• Artificial Intelligence: Foundations using R Specialization

• Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals with Python and SQL Specialization

• Artificial Intelligence Specialization

• Contact Center AI: Conversational Design Fundamentals

• Convolutional Neural Networks 

• Data Structures, Algorithms, and Machine Learning Optimization 

• Deep Learning with TensorFlow & PyTorch 

• Generative AI for Everyone

• IBM Artificial Intelligence Professional Certificate

• Machine Learning / AI Engineer

• TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning

• Understanding Artificial Intelligence

Get started today (teams & execs are welcome).

Recommended Reading: See the “Transformative Innovation” book series

 

1 - AI Software Engineer: ChatGPT, Bard & Beyond (Audible) (Kindle) 

2 - ChatGPT, Gemini and Llama - The Journey from AI to AGI, ASI and Singularity (Audible) (Kindle)

3 - ChatGPT - The Era of Generative Conversational AI Has Begun (Audible) (Kindle) 

4 - The Race for Quantum Computing (Audible) (Kindle) 

5 - The Upskill Gambit - Discover the 5 Keys to Your Career and Income Security in the Digital Age  (Audible) (Kindle)

Much success in your AI career journey, Lawrence E. Wilson - AI Academy (share with colleagues & friends)