AI Model Distillation Engineer.
Burlington.
$210,000
median salary, 9% above the national average
$158,000 to $275,000. Last updated April 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
The median AI Model Distillation Engineer salary in Burlington is $210,000, 9% above the national average. Entry level starts near $158,000. Experienced professionals push past $275,000. Burlington is Vermont's largest city and a small but growing hub for technology, healthcare, and sustainable industries. That spread is your negotiation window.
Salary range
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $189,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$137,000
to $168,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$179,000
to $221,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$231,000
to $273,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$263,000
to $326,000
Salary trend
+8% YoYTotal compensation
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $100,000 to the total package.
Base
$210,000
Equity
$61,000
Bonus
$26,000
Signing
$13,000
Estimated total: $310,000
How Burlington compares
Burlington, VT
$210,000
Cost of living: 6% above average
National Average
$192,000
Burlington is $18,000 above
AI Model Distillation Engineer salary by city
Salary by role in Burlington
What you should know
Before you negotiate a AI Model Distillation Engineer offer in Burlington, understand the terrain. Burlington is Vermont's largest city and a small but growing hub for technology, healthcare, and sustainable industries. The University of Vermont drives education and research employment. The city attracts remote workers and small tech companies seeking New England quality of life at lower costs than Boston. Expertise in knowledge distillation, model compression, and efficient transfer learning drives compensation. Engineers who can reduce large model sizes by 5 to 10x while preserving 90% or more of performance earn significant premiums of 12 to 20%. Experience with multi-teacher distillation, task-specific fine-tuning from distilled models, and deploying compressed models to edge devices adds further salary value.
ML engineers or research engineers earning $120,000 to $160,000 specialize into distillation roles at $145,000 to $252,000. Senior distillation engineers earn $195,000 to $275,000 before advancing to Principal Engineer or Head of Model Efficiency at $230,000 to $310,000. In Burlington, 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. Total compensation reaches $225,000 to $420,000 with equity, cost-reduction bonuses, and efficiency milestone incentives of 12 to 22% of base. Companies focused on on-device AI and edge deployment offer the strongest packages for this specialization. And on the tax side: vermont's top income tax rate is 8.75%, one of the highest in the nation. Burlington has no city income tax, but the state burden requires careful salary planning. When someone quotes you $210,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Negotiate remote work flexibility. Burlington's lifestyle appeal is a retention tool, but employers know they must offer competitive pay to offset Vermont's high tax rate. The range for AI Model Distillation Engineers in Burlington runs from $158,000 to $275,000. 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 AI Solutions Architect in Burlington earns $211,000 (0% more)
- The highest-paying role in Burlington is Chief AI Officer at $329,000
Common questions.
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