Look up what Scale AI pays a and you get three answers: base bands on its postings, the offered base wage on its one Forward Deployed Engineer filing, among H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, and, as of September 2026, a Levels.fyi median total of $351K from 6 submissions. Source 1Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 2Scale AI Greenhouse job feedPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job boardSource 3Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 4Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 5LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 6LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 7Scale AI Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi None is wrong, and none is the number to say on a recruiter call until you know what it measures, whose pay it is, when it was true and how many people it covers. By the end you can state a posted band with its date, basis and level, say why filings and self-reports differ from it, and write a base range for one level.

Three kinds of pay data

Name a figure’s source before you quote it: each sees a different slice of the same offer.

SourceWhat it measuresWhat it leaves out
Posted bandThe range one posting states, on the day you read itBonus and equity unless it names them; it may omit the basis and the level
H-1B filingThe offered base wage an employer filed for a sponsored positionBonus, equity, anyone not sponsored, other titles
Self-reportWhat people chose to submit, usually labeled total or baseEveryone who didn’t submit, and the level unless it’s given

Each has its own sentence to say aloud:

  • “As of [month and year], the posting lists [range] as [base, , or no stated basis].”
  • “In H-1B filings certified from [start] to [end], the median offered base wage, taking the lower bound of each, was [figure], from [n] filings.”
  • “As of [month and year], Levels.fyi showed a median total of [figure] from [n] submissions.”
One year of one offer, from the top: a sign-on paid in the first year only, this year's equity, the target bonus, and base at the bottom.One offer, one yearsign-on, year oneequity this yeartarget bonusbaseEach source sees a different slice of the same offer, so their figures never agree: a posted band sees base, and the bonus too if it is stated as OTE; an H-1B filing sees one offered base wage, as a figure or a range; a self-report sees the year's total, perhaps without the sign-on, from whoever submitted it.What each source seesPosted bandbase; dashedif it's OTEH-1B filingone offeredbase wageSelf-reportthe total, assubmitted
Match the slice to the figure you're holding before you compare it with anything.

A self-reported total above a posted base band makes neither wrong: they see different slices.

GlossaryForward deployed engineerA software engineer who builds and ships production systems inside a customer’s problem and environment, accountable to that customer’s outcome.More on Forward deployed engineerGlossaryOn-target earningsBase pay plus variable pay if targets are met; a posting that states pay as OTE includes incentive pay in the figure.More on On-target earnings