AI Model Distillation Engineer.
Tampa.
$190,000
median salary, 1% below the national average
$143,000 to $249,000. Last updated April 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
If you are evaluating a AI Model Distillation Engineer offer in Tampa, FL, here is the reality: $143,000 to $249,000, with $190,000 as the midpoint. 1% below the national average. Expertise in knowledge distillation, model compression, and efficient transfer learning drives compensation. Do not accept the first number.
Salary range
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $171,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$124,000
to $152,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$162,000
to $200,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$209,000
to $247,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$238,000
to $295,000
Salary trend
+8% YoYTotal compensation
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $90,000 to the total package.
Base
$190,000
Equity
$55,000
Bonus
$24,000
Signing
$11,000
Estimated total: $280,000
How Tampa compares
Tampa, FL
$190,000
Cost of living: 4% below average
National Average
$192,000
Tampa is $2,000 below
AI Model Distillation Engineer salary by city
Salary by role in Tampa
What you should know
Here is what the AI Model Distillation Engineer market actually looks like in Tampa. Tampa's economy combines a strong financial services sector with growing tech, healthcare, and defense industries. The city has attracted remote workers and corporate relocations seeking Florida's tax advantages. Tampa offers a favorable salary to cost of living ratio, with compensation levels that have risen significantly as the metro continues to grow. 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 Tampa, 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: florida has no state income tax, which is Tampa's biggest compensation advantage. There are no local income taxes either. Property taxes and insurance costs are the main financial considerations. When someone quotes you $190,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Frame your salary expectations against the no income tax benefit. Tampa employers know candidates are factoring in the tax savings, so be explicit about how it shapes your number. The range for AI Model Distillation Engineers in Tampa runs from $143,000 to $249,000. 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 Agent Architect in Tampa earns $189,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Tampa is Chief AI Officer at $295,000
Common questions.
AI Model Distillation Engineer salary in other cities
Other salaries in Tampa
Related
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget — one script tag, free forever.