You can lose the right candidate before you make an offer.
Set the salary too low and strong candidates drop out. Benchmark against the wrong level and you spend weeks targeting the wrong profiles. Pay for the title instead of the responsibility and you stretch your hiring budget without getting the capability you need.
For startups and scale-ups, compensation needs to be right before the search starts.
A Lead Applied AI Engineer can command up to £165k.
Lead Rust Engineers reach £160k.
CTO salaries extend to £250k+.
Those figures are useful, but the range alone doesn’t tell you what to pay. Company stage, technical complexity, ownership, seniority and equity all shape the package.
TRG’s London Startup & Scale-Up Salary Guide 2026 brings those benchmarks together using our active hiring data from around 60 placements and almost 150 hiring campaigns.
Here are some interesting numbers to review before you set your next hiring budget.
What is an AI Engineer salary in London?
AI salaries start relatively close together, but the gap widens as roles become more senior and specialised.
| Role | Junior | Senior | Lead |
| AI Engineer | £45k–£60k | £100k–£130k | £120k–£160k |
| ML Engineer | £45k–£60k | £100k–£130k | £120k–£160k |
| Data Scientist | £45k–£60k | £85k–£100k | £110k–£130k |
| Applied AI Engineer | £45k–£60k | £100k–£130k | £130k–£165k |
| LLM Engineer | £45k–£60k | £100k–£130k | £120k–£160k |
For hiring teams, that difference can materially change the budget for an AI hire. Start with the capability you need, the problems they will own and the level of production experience required. Benchmarking against “AI” as one market risks setting the wrong salary before the search begins.
The full guide breaks down compensation by role and seniority, so you can benchmark the specific capability you’re hiring rather than relying on a broad job title.
Leadership salaries reach £250k+
Leadership salary bands widen considerably at executive level, where the same title can represent very different levels of organisational responsibility.
| Role | Permanent | Contract Lead |
| CTO | £130k–£250k+ | £1,800+ |
| VP / Engineering Director | £120k–£180k+ | £1,300+ |
| Head of Engineering | £120k–£140k | £800+ |
| Engineering Manager | £100k–£130k | £700+ |
| Chief Product Officer | £180k–£250k | £1,600+ |
All contract rates shown are benchmarked for outside IR35 engagements.
The difference is clearest at executive level. CTO salaries span £130k–£250k+, compared with £100k–£130k for Engineering Managers. Chief Product Officer salaries range from £180k–£250k.
A £120k range within a single CTO benchmark tells you why the title cannot set the budget on its own. An early-stage CTO building the function from the ground up and a CTO leading an established engineering organisation may carry the same title but very different scope.
The full guide gives hiring teams the wider benchmarks needed to compare leadership compensation across Technology, Product and Go-to-Market.
What else is inside the 2026 Salary Guide?
The full guide covers permanent salary benchmarks and contract day rates across Technology, Product, Go-to-Market, Delivery & Change and Leadership & Executive. It compares compensation across junior, mid, senior and lead levels, alongside typical equity ranges by role and funding stage.
The guide helps you define, benchmark and budget for a role before you enter the market, rather than relying on a headline salary or job title.
How to use salary benchmarks when hiring
Benchmark the role you actually need. Define the scope, seniority and ownership expected before deciding what the role should pay.
Build the complete offer. Check that salary, equity and the wider package match the experience you expect to attract. For startups, equity can play a significant role in an offer’s overall value.
Sense-check live hiring processes. If a search is stalling, compare the package with current benchmarks before changing the brief or widening the candidate pool.
Plan future hiring budgets. Understand the cost of adding specialist capability, growing a function or making a leadership hire before the headcount becomes urgent.
Benchmark your next hire with current market data
The full London Startup & Scale-Up Salary Guide 2026 includes permanent salary benchmarks across Technology, Product, Go-to-Market, Delivery & Change and Leadership & Executive, alongside contract rates where an established market exists and typical equity ranges by role and funding stage.
Benchmark your next role, offer or hiring budget against the full data.