OpenAI's London staff averaged £2.3m each in 2025, double the year before
OpenAI UK Ltd's accounts show its 110 London staff averaged £2.3m each in salary and shares in 2025, about double the £1.1m of the year before. The average spans researchers and sales and government affairs staff, so it is a weak guide to what an AI researcher costs.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
OpenAI's London staff each received £2,318,181 on average in 2025 in salary and shares. The average basic salary is thought to be around £790,000 before shares. The average package equals 58 times median UK full-time earnings, according to the ONS.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average salary and shares per London staff member, 2025 | £2,318,181 | 1 | |
| Avg salary before shares | £790,000 around | 12 | |
| Average package vs median UK full-time earnings | 58 times | ONS figure, cited by the Guardian | 4 |
What happened
- The 110 staff shared £87,372,625 in salaries and £167,838,900 in shares, according to the accounts filed with Companies House.
- The Guardian, citing the Office for National Statistics, put the average at 58 times median UK full-time earnings, or about £1,000 an hour before tax.
- OpenAI declined to comment on the compensation figures, according to both the Guardian and Personnel Today.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint A London AI hiring budget cannot be anchored to £2.3m, because a mean across mixed roles supports no offer band for a researcher.
- What it costs cost Employers that cannot issue equity like OpenAI's would have to pay in cash the roughly two-thirds of the package that OpenAI pays in shares.
- What it sets up precedent A listing at about $1tn would put a public price on the shares, so later accounts can be compared against a market value.
Equity is about two-thirds of the package. Shares are roughly 66% of the combined £255.2m [17][16], and salary works out to about £794,000 a head [18]. Personnel Today reported the average basic salary as thought to be around £790,000 [12]. Against the £112,000 it cites as the median for AI and machine learning developers [10], that salary is about seven times higher [13].
The average blends different jobs. The Guardian reported that there is understood to be a wide discrepancy between the highest and lowest earners, with the biggest packages reserved for researchers who help build the models [6]. The same London office houses government affairs, sales and marketing teams [7]. The reports do not include a median, a split by role or last year's headcount. That limits the year-on-year comparison. The average rose from £1.1m to £2.3m, a factor of about 2.1 [3][1][19], and higher pay per person, a different staff mix or both could produce that.
Set against turnover, the package is large. Salary and shares together equal about 87% of the £293m OpenAI UK Ltd booked in 2025 [14][5], and salary alone about 30% [15]. The company still reported a £20.3m profit [5]. The 87% compares two reported figures. Where the cost of the share awards falls between OpenAI UK Ltd and the San Francisco company is a separate question, and the ratio should not be read as a cost ratio.
For an employer hiring AI staff in London this quarter, the nearer benchmark is the lower tier. Personnel Today puts the average mid-level AI engineer in London at around £90,000 [10]. OpenAI pays mostly in shares [17], in a company the Guardian says is aiming to list at a valuation of about $1tn [11]. In our view, an employer with no comparable equity is choosing between paying the market tier and competing for a few researchers in cash. The Guardian reported that Meta, in the same 2025 talent war, was offering multi-year packages running into several hundred million dollars [8].
If the listing goes ahead, the shares will have a public price, and next year's comparison can be made against it.
What to watch
- OpenAI UK Ltd's accounts for 2026: whether the average holds near £2.3m and whether headcount or a split by role is disclosed.
- Whether OpenAI's planned listing at about $1tn goes ahead, which would put a market price on the share component.
- Any disclosure of how the share awards are valued and charged between OpenAI UK Ltd and the San Francisco company.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence78
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence72
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
OpenAI's London staff each received £2,318,181 on average last year (2025), according to accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd.
- [2]
In the accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, 110 staff shared £87,372,625 in salaries and £167,838,900 in shares.
- [3]
The previous year's average pay and equity package was £1.1m.
- [4]
The average package equals 58 times the median UK full-time employee earnings according to the Office for National Statistics, or about £1,000 an hour in salary and equity before tax.
- [5]
OpenAI UK Ltd more than trebled its turnover in 2025 to £293m, on which it made a £20.3m profit.
- [6]
There is understood to be a wide discrepancy between the highest and lowest earners; the biggest compensation packages are reserved for AI researchers who help build the company's models.
- [7]
OpenAI's London office is its largest international research hub and also houses a government affairs team and sales and marketing functions.
- [8]
In 2025, during a talent war, OpenAI's rival Meta was reported to be offering multi-year packages running into several hundred million dollars.
- [9]
OpenAI declined to comment on the compensation figures.
- [10]
Mid-level AI engineers in London average around £90,000 a year, and AI and machine learning developer medians sit near £112,000.
- [11]
OpenAI is aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn.
- [12]
The average basic salary at OpenAI's London HQ is thought to be around £790,000 before shares are taken into account.
- [13]
Average salary per head is about seven times the £112,000 median cited for AI and machine learning developers.
- [14]
Combined salary and shares equal about 87% of 2025 turnover.
- [15]
Salary alone equals about 30% of 2025 turnover.
- [16]
Salary and share totals combined come to about £255.2m (£255,211,525).
- [17]
Shares are about 66% of the combined salary and share total.
- [18]
Salary per head across the 110 staff is about £794,000.
- [19]
The average package rose by a factor of about 2.1 year on year.
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Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- personneltoday.comOpenAI in UK sees huge jump in salaries
1 article · October 15, 2026
- theguardian.comOpenAI’s London staff receive average of £2.3m per person annually
1 article · October 14, 2026
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