---
title: "From €50,000 to €115,000 a year: what AI professionals earn — Marsanne Studio AI watch"
description: "A Silkhom barometer details salaries for AI roles in France, from prompt engineer to chief AI officer."
url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/from-50-000-to-115-000-a-year-what-ai-professionals-a22dee/"
lang: "en"
---

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Data study · 22 September 2026

# From €50,000 to €115,000 a year: what AI professionals earn

Original title, in French: “De 50 000 à 115 000 euros par an : découvrez les salaires des professionnels de l'IA”

**Publication**

Journal du Net (France)

**Author**

[Raphael Hazan](https://www.journaldunet.com/account/raphael-hazan-141338)

**Published on**

22 September 2026 · read in the page structured data

## Summary

Recruitment firm Silkhom has published a salary barometer for artificial intelligence professionals in France, based on an analysis of more than 25,000 profiles supported between 2019 and 2026. Prompt engineer is the lowest-paid technical role (€49,700 average gross annual salary), while AI researcher comes top (€86,800). On the management side, chief AI officer is the best paid at €115,800. The barometer identifies five factors behind salary variation: geographical area, technical specialisation, type of employer, the company's AI maturity and command of English. It also indicates that France published more than 166,000 AI-related job postings in 2024, making it the largest European market ahead of Germany and the United Kingdom.

Summary based on the full text of the article.

[Read the article on Journal du Net →](https://www.journaldunet.com/intelligence-artificielle/1555235-de-49-700-a-115-800-euros-par-an-decouvrez-les-salaires-moyens-des-professionnels-de-l-ia/)

## Figures cited

-   49.7 EUR thousand
    
    average gross annual salary, prompt engineer
    
    France
    
    > « Avec une moyenne de 49 700 euros bruts annuels, le métier de prompt engineer est le moins rémunérateur du secteur. »
    
    Source: Baromètre Silkhom
    
-   86.8 EUR thousand
    
    average gross annual salary, artificial intelligence researcher
    
    France
    
    > « Parmi eux, le poste de chercheur en intelligence artificielle est celui qui offre le meilleur salaire brut annuel avec 86 800 euros. »
    
    Source: Baromètre Silkhom
    
-   115.8 EUR thousand
    
    average gross annual salary, chief AI officer
    
    France
    
    > « le chief AI officer, avec 115 800 euros (fourchette : 80 000 à 160 000 euros) »
    
    Source: Baromètre Silkhom
    
-   103.3 EUR thousand
    
    average gross annual salary, head of data and AI
    
    France
    
    > « le head of data et AI, avec 103 300 euros (fourchette : 72 000 à 140 000 euros) »
    
    Source: Baromètre Silkhom
    
-   166,000 job postings
    
    number of AI-related job postings published in France in 2024
    
    France, 2024
    
    > « la France a publié plus de 166 000 offres d’emploi liées à l’IA en 2024, soit le "premier marché européen devant l’Allemagne et le Royaume-Uni". »
    
    Source: Baromètre Silkhom
    

## Classification

**Country**

France

**Company size**

All sizes

**Industries**

Software vendors, IT services companies, telecoms · All industries, or industry not specified

**Companies**

Silkhom (study author)

**Keywords**

AI salaries, AI recruitment, chief AI officer, prompt engineer, salary barometer, job market

Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Journal du Net and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.