Salary Data
MLOps Engineer Salary in Columbus
$149,000
median salary, 7% below the national average
According to Orbit's 2026 salary analysis, the average MLOps Engineer salary in Columbus is $149,000. Salaries range from $112,000 (25th percentile) to $195,000 (75th percentile), adjusted for Columbus's cost of living.
Salary range
How Columbus compares
Columbus, OH
$149,000
Cost of living: 7% below average
National Average
$160,000
Columbus is $11,000 below
MLOps Engineer job market in Columbus
Columbus market overview
Columbus is Ohio's largest city and a growing technology and logistics hub, home to companies like Nationwide Insurance and a major Intel semiconductor fab under construction. The city's large university system and low cost of living attract both startups and corporate expansions. Tech salaries have been climbing as national employers establish Midwest offices.
What drives MLOps Engineer salaries
Experience with ML pipeline orchestration (Kubeflow, MLflow, Vertex AI), model monitoring in production, and infrastructure automation are the key salary levers. Engineers who can reduce model deployment time from weeks to hours earn premiums. Understanding both the ML lifecycle and cloud infrastructure deeply is what separates mid level from senior compensation.
Beyond base salary
Total compensation
Equity at AI companies adds $20,000 to $90,000+ annually. Bonuses of 10 to 20% are typical. On call compensation is common since MLOps engineers maintain production ML systems. Benefits frequently include cloud certification sponsorship, training budgets, and flexible work arrangements.
Tax considerations in Columbus
Ohio's income tax tops out around 3.5%, and Columbus adds a city income tax of 2.5%. The combined rate is moderate, but the city tax applies to all who work within city limits.
Career progression
Junior MLOps engineers start at $105,000 to $135,000, reaching mid level at $140,000 to $180,000 in two to three years. Senior MLOps engineers earn $180,000 to $240,000. Staff level ML platform engineers at top companies can exceed $300,000 in total compensation, with a path into ML infrastructure leadership.
Top industries in Columbus
Negotiating in Columbus
Mention Intel's new fab investment when negotiating. The semiconductor megaproject is driving salaries upward across the entire Columbus tech and engineering market.