Lead / Director Computer and Information Research Scientists salary in California
Roles that direct strategy, lead teams, or hold full functional ownership. Typically ten or more years of experience or a Director-class title with budget responsibility.
Lead / Director Computer and Information Research Scientists in California: actual employer-disclosed pay
Public records from 134 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Median offered wage: $275,500. Every figure below is an actual offered salary an employer attested to under federal law.
By DOL wage level
DOL classifies every offer into one of four wage levels based on the role's experience and skill requirements.
| Level | Filings | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Level IV — fully competent | 134 | $275,500 |
Top employers filing for this role
Companies with the most certified filings for Lead / Director Computer and Information Research Scientists in California. Median offer is across all of that employer's filings.
| Employer | Most-filed title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| BYTEDANCE INC. | Research Scientist | 12 | $319,474 |
| Meta Platforms, Inc | Research Scientist | 11 | $263,803 |
| Mistral AI, Inc. | AI Scientist | 8 | $290,000 |
| Netflix, Inc. | Research Scientist | 7 | $257,421 |
| X.AI LLC | Member of Technical Staff | 7 | $280,000 |
| NVIDIA Corporation | Research Scientist | 5 | $257,421 |
| MONGODB, INC. | Staff Research Scientist | 5 | $300,000 |
| ByteDance Inc. | Research Scientist | 4 | $367,500 |
| Google LLC | Research Scientist | 4 | $368,500 |
| Scale AI, Inc. | Staff Machine Learning Research Scientist | 4 | $290,000 |
Recent sample filings
A snapshot of recent certified offers. Each line is a real, public, verifiable record.
- Senior Machine Learning Engineer at ActiveHours, Inc.$237,786Mountain ViewWage Level IVDecided Sep 30, 2025I-200-25266-328498
- AI ENGINEER at ADCOCK AGI INC.$400,000SAN JOSEWage Level IVDecided Sep 29, 2025I-200-25265-324478
- Research Scientist at Meta Platforms, Inc$250,370Menlo ParkWage Level IVDecided Sep 26, 2025I-200-25262-320572
- Research Scientist at Zoom Communications, Inc.$237,786San JoseWage Level IVDecided Sep 26, 2025I-200-25262-321261
- AI Research Scientist at Meta Platforms, Inc$211,584Menlo ParkWage Level IVDecided Sep 24, 2025I-202-25260-313793
- Member of Technical Staff at Thinking Machines Lab Inc.$209,082San FranciscoWage Level IVDecided Sep 24, 2025I-200-25260-316300
- Research Engineer at Character Technologies Inc.$300,000Redwood CityWage Level IVDecided Sep 24, 2025I-200-25260-316870
- Research Scientist, Foundation Model(LLM) at ByteDance Inc.$720,000San JoseWage Level IVDecided Sep 18, 2025I-200-25255-304324
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification. Disclosed wages reflect what employers attested to pay; actual paid wages may differ. Only certified filings are shown — denied and withdrawn cases are excluded.