AI Jobs: What Can You Do With an AI Degree?

An AI degree can lead to software engineer, data scientist, AI engineer, machine learning engineer, data engineer, data analyst, business intelligence analyst, information security analyst, robotics engineer or AI research scientist. These are ordinary tech jobs with a lot of AI in them. Most ask for a bachelor’s degree, and research roles ask for a master’s.

What Jobs Can You Get With an AI Degree?

“AI career” can sound like one job. It isn’t. A degree in artificial intelligence trains you in math, programming, data and machine learning, and employers use those skills in many different roles. Someone who builds a recommendation system, someone who cleans and moves the data behind it, and someone who explains the results to a sales team might all have the same degree.

That means the job title is the thing to pick first. The ten below are the ones we see AI graduates aim for. Each section covers what the work is, the degree level employers expect, the pay and outlook from federal data, and where to read more.

One caution before the details. The Bureau of Labor Statistics sorts jobs into a fixed list of occupations, and several popular AI titles are not on it. Where that happens, we use the closest occupation and say so. Those numbers describe a wider group of workers, not people with the AI title.

How Do the Ten Jobs Compare?

This table puts the jobs side by side. Pay is the May 2025 national median for the BLS occupation named in the last column. Outlook is projected growth from 2025 to 2035, except robotics, which uses O*NET’s 2024 to 2034 projection.

Notice how many rows share a group. That is a limit of the data, not a sign that the jobs pay the same. A machine learning engineer at a large company can earn well above a data scientist at a small one, and the federal number can’t show it.

What Does a Data Analyst Do?

A data analyst pulls information from databases and spreadsheets, finds what it says about the business, and reports it in a form people can act on. The work is closer to answering questions than to building products, which makes it the most common first stop for people with a new degree.

BLS has no occupation called data analyst. The closest is operations research analysts, who identify problems in business, logistics or healthcare, collect and organize information from databases and sales histories, and gather input from experts. The May 2025 median for that group is $88,940, and BLS projects 12 percent growth, which it calls much faster than average. Treat it as a ballpark for the title.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education for operations research analysts. An AI degree at the bachelor’s level is plenty. Read more on the data analyst career page and the data analyst salary page.

What Does a Software Engineer Do?

Software engineers design, build and maintain the programs people use. In AI companies that includes the product around the model: the app, the servers, the tests and the tools that keep everything running. It is the largest job on this list by far.

BLS counts software engineers as software developers. They analyze users’ needs and design software to meet them, plan how the pieces of a system will work together, and keep programs working through maintenance and testing. The May 2025 median is $135,980, and BLS projects 10 percent growth from 2025 to 2035.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree in computer and information technology or a related field as the typical entry education. See the software engineer career page and the software engineer salary page.

What Does a Data Scientist Do?

Data scientists decide which data is worth using, clean and analyze it, build and test models, and explain what they found to people who make decisions. If you like questions more than systems, this is the job that rewards it.

BLS describes the work the same way: determining which data are available and useful, creating and validating algorithms and models, and making business recommendations from the results. The May 2025 median is $120,230. BLS projects 35 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, the fastest of any occupation on this page.

The typical entry education is a bachelor’s degree. A master’s can open modeling-heavy roles, so check postings for the employers you want. Read the data scientist career page and the data scientist salary page.

What Does an AI Engineer Do?

An AI engineer takes machine learning methods and turns them into features that work inside real products. That might mean connecting a language model to a customer support tool, or making a vision model fast enough to run on a phone.

BLS counts AI engineers with software developers, so these figures cover that wider group. The May 2025 median is $135,980, and BLS projects 10 percent growth from 2025 to 2035. A single employer’s AI title may pay more or less than that.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree in a computing field as the typical entry education for the group that includes this job. This is the job our AI engineering degree list is built around. See the AI engineer career page, the AI engineer salary page and our guide on how to become an AI engineer.

What Does a Data Engineer Do?

Data engineers build the pipelines that move and store the data everyone else uses. Models are only as good as the data feeding them, so this work sits underneath almost every AI project. It suits people who like building systems and don’t need to be the one presenting the results.

BLS has no data engineer occupation. The closest match is database architects, who identify user needs, design and build databases, and keep organizational data secure. The May 2025 median is $139,500. BLS projects 9 percent growth for database architects, still much faster than average.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education. See the data engineer career page and the data engineer salary page.

What Does a Machine Learning Engineer Do?

Machine learning engineers train models, test them, and get them running reliably at scale. The job sits between a data scientist, who explores and models, and a software engineer, who ships. In smaller companies one person often does all three.

BLS has no separate line for machine learning engineers, and the nearest occupation is data scientists. The May 2025 median for that group is $120,230, with 35 percent projected growth. Those figures cover a wider group than people with the ML title.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education for the data scientist group. Our machine learning degree list is the place to start. See the machine learning engineer career page and the machine learning engineer salary page.

What Does an Information Security Analyst Do?

Information security analysts protect an organization’s networks and data. They monitor for breaches and investigate when one happens, run firewalls and encryption tools, and check systems for vulnerabilities. AI shows up in this job in two ways: tools that spot threats, and new kinds of attack on AI systems themselves.

This one has its own BLS occupation, so the numbers are direct. The May 2025 median is $129,180, and BLS projects 21 percent growth from 2025 to 2035. That growth is much faster than average.

BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education. An AI degree helps most if you add security coursework or certifications. See the information security analyst career page and the information security analyst salary page.

What Does a Robotics Engineer Do?

Robotics engineers research, design and test robots, including the software that controls them. O*NET lists tasks such as designing systems for autonomous vehicles and computer vision, building and testing robots, and debugging robotics programs.

BLS counts robotics engineers in a catch-all group, engineers, all other. The May 2025 median for that group is $122,930, so it covers more than robotics. For the job itself, O*NET projects slower than average growth of 1% to 2% for 2024 to 2034. Be honest with yourself about that: the field is exciting, but it has fewer openings than the others here.

O*NET says most robotics engineers have a four-year bachelor’s degree. Some online AI programs offer a robotics focus, such as the one Johns Hopkins University lists. See the robotics engineer career page and the robotics engineer salary page.

What Does a Business Intelligence Analyst Do?

Business intelligence analysts turn company data into dashboards and reports so managers can see what is happening and decide what to do. It is analysis with a business slant.

BLS counts business intelligence analysts with data scientists, so the figures cover that wider group. The May 2025 median is $120,230, and BLS projects 35 percent growth from 2025 to 2035.

A bachelor’s degree is the typical entry education. See the business intelligence analyst career page and the business intelligence analyst salary page.

What Does an AI Research Scientist Do?

AI research scientists invent and test new methods. They design experiments, analyze results, and write papers. This is the only job here where the typical entry degree is a master’s.

BLS counts research scientists in computer and information research scientists. They explore computing problems, develop new software systems and tools, and present findings at conferences. The May 2025 median is $140,300, the highest on this page, and BLS projects 22 percent growth from 2025 to 2035. There are far fewer of these jobs than of the others, about 37,200 nationally.

BLS lists a master’s degree as the typical entry education. See the AI research scientist career page and the AI research scientist salary page.

Which AI Jobs Pay the Most?

On the federal numbers, AI research scientists lead at $140,300, followed by data engineers (database architects) at $139,500, then software engineers and AI engineers at $135,980. Information security analysts are at $129,180. Robotics engineers are at $122,930, and data scientists, machine learning engineers and business intelligence analysts are all at $120,230.

Data analysts are lowest at $88,940, but they are also the easiest to enter. Those medians are midpoints, and the spread is wide. For research scientists, the bottom tenth earns $82,200 and the top tenth earns $230,630 or more.

Pay also depends on where you live. Our AI engineer salary page shows state-by-state numbers for the closest occupations.

How Do You Choose a Degree for the Job You Want?

Start with the job, then work backward to the level and the program focus. A few rules of thumb hold up.

For building jobs, start with a bachelor’s. Software engineer, AI engineer, data engineer and information security analyst all list a bachelor’s as typical. Our online bachelor’s in AI list and AI engineering degree list fit these.

For modeling jobs, think master’s. Data scientist and machine learning engineer both list a bachelor’s, and a master’s can help with modeling-heavy work. The online master’s in AI list and the machine learning degree list are the closest matches.

For analyst jobs, look at applied and business programs. Data analyst and business intelligence analyst roles reward business sense. Our AI for business degree list and applied AI degree list are built for that.

For research, you need a master’s, and maybe more. Look at the online AI master’s with a thesis option, since a thesis is the closest thing to research experience in an online program.

If you are changing careers, see the list for career changers. If you work full time, the working adults list filters for flexibility. Our best online AI degrees list covers all levels.

What Should You Know Before You Commit?

A degree helps you get the interview. It doesn’t guarantee a job. Projects, internships and a portfolio help you show what you can do, and our list of online AI degrees with internships shows programs that build them in.

Also compare an AI degree with a computer science degree before you choose. Employers read both, and the right answer depends on the job. We cover the tradeoffs in our AI degree versus computer science guide, and whether the cost pays off in is an AI degree worth it.