AI DevOps Engineer.
Minneapolis.
$191,000
median salary, 9% above the national average
$147,000 to $246,000. Last updated April 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
The median AI DevOps Engineer salary in Minneapolis is $191,000, 9% above the national average. Entry level starts near $147,000. Experienced professionals push past $246,000. Minneapolis is a Fortune 500 powerhouse with Target, UnitedHealth Group, Best Buy, and 3M headquartered in the metro. That spread is your negotiation window.
Salary range
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $172,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$124,000
to $153,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$162,000
to $201,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$210,000
to $248,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$239,000
to $296,000
Salary trend
+10% YoYTotal compensation
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $85,000 to the total package.
Base
$191,000
Equity
$52,000
Bonus
$22,000
Signing
$11,000
Estimated total: $276,000
How Minneapolis compares
Minneapolis, MN
$191,000
Cost of living: 5% above average
National Average
$175,000
Minneapolis is $16,000 above
AI DevOps Engineer salary by city
Salary by role in Minneapolis
What you should know
Before you negotiate a AI DevOps Engineer offer in Minneapolis, understand the terrain. Minneapolis is a Fortune 500 powerhouse with Target, UnitedHealth Group, Best Buy, and 3M headquartered in the metro. The city's strong corporate base creates consistent demand across finance, healthcare, retail tech, and supply chain roles. Quality of life is high, and employers offer competitive salaries to offset the cold winters. Pay depends on expertise managing GPU clusters, ML pipeline CI/CD, and model deployment automation. Engineers who can optimize inference serving costs while maintaining latency SLAs are especially valued. Experience with container orchestration for heterogeneous compute environments adds 10 to 15% to base compensation.
Junior MLOps engineers start at $95,000 to $120,000. AI DevOps engineers earn $135,000 to $175,000. Senior roles reach $190,000 to $240,000, and principal AI infrastructure engineers at large companies command $260,000 to $340,000 in total compensation. In Minneapolis, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 15% of base salary. Equity is standard at AI-focused companies, typically valued at $20,000 to $60,000 per year. On-call compensation or additional stipends may apply for production ML systems. And on the tax side: minnesota's top income tax rate is 9.85%, one of the highest state rates. There is no city income tax in Minneapolis, but the state burden significantly reduces take home pay. When someone quotes you $191,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Emphasize retention risk when negotiating. Minneapolis employers know that remote opportunities from warmer, lower tax states are a constant competitive threat. The range for AI DevOps Engineers in Minneapolis runs from $147,000 to $246,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: SEC filings, H-1B LCA (DOL), BLS OES, 50+ job posting platforms. COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified April 8, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- A LLM Engineer in Minneapolis earns $192,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in Minneapolis is Chief AI Officer at $329,000
Common questions.
AI DevOps Engineer salary in other cities
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