Multimodal AI Engineer.
Portland.
$206,000
median salary, 3% above the national average
$154,000 to $268,000. Last updated April 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
Here is what Multimodal AI Engineers actually make in Portland: $154,000 at the 25th percentile, $206,000 at the median, and $268,000 at the 75th. That is 3% above the national average. Portland, Maine is a small but growing tech and creative economy hub. The number on your offer letter will depend on what you bring and how you ask.
Salary range
Where do you fall?
Salary by experience
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $185,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$134,000
to $165,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$175,000
to $216,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$227,000
to $268,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$258,000
to $319,000
Salary trend
+5% YoYTotal compensation
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $58,000 to the total package.
Base
$206,000
Equity
$33,000
Bonus
$21,000
Signing
$4,000
Estimated total: $264,000
How Portland compares
Portland, ME
$206,000
Cost of living: 5% above average
National Average
$200,000
Portland is $6,000 above
Multimodal AI Engineer salary by city
Salary by role in Portland
What you should know
Before you negotiate a Multimodal AI Engineer offer in Portland, understand the terrain. Portland, Maine is a small but growing tech and creative economy hub. The city attracts remote workers and small companies seeking quality of life on the New England coast. Healthcare, marine industries, and a craft food and beverage sector round out the local economy. Salary variation is driven by experience integrating vision, language, and audio models into unified systems. Engineers who have built production multimodal pipelines at scale are rare and highly valued. Expertise in cross-modal attention mechanisms and efficient inference across modalities commands top-tier compensation.
Entry-level multimodal roles begin around $120,000 to $140,000. Mid-career engineers earn $150,000 to $200,000. Senior engineers at leading AI labs reach $230,000 to $310,000 base, and distinguished engineers or research leads can surpass $450,000 total compensation. In Portland, 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. Equity packages at frontier AI companies can match or exceed base salary. Signing bonuses of $50,000 to $100,000 are common for candidates with demonstrated multimodal research or deployment experience. And on the tax side: maine's top income tax rate is 7.15%. Portland has no city income tax. The state rate is above average but offset by quality of life and access to rural New England. When someone quotes you $206,000, 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. Portland employers know they compete with Boston and New York for talent and may offer location flexibility to attract top candidates. The range for Multimodal AI Engineers in Portland runs from $154,000 to $268,000. 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 Safety Researcher in Portland earns $205,000 (0% more)
- The highest-paying role in Portland is Chief AI Officer at $319,000
Common questions.
Multimodal AI Engineer salary in other cities
Other salaries in Portland
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.