Short answer: a Chief AI Officer in Australia earns a median base salary of about A$330,000 (A$264,000–A$396,000, excluding super), according to Pearson Carter’s 2026 Data & AI Salary Guide. At enterprise level the median total package is A$426,000 in Sydney and A$413,000 in Melbourne, including super (Galileo Search). Most mid-market companies hire a head of AI instead, at a median base of A$253,000, which costs the employer about A$348,000 in year one once super, payroll tax and a search fee are added.
The search results for this question are mostly job boards and salary sites built on a handful of data points. Here are the figures from the recruiter guides that publish their methods, why they disagree, and what the hire actually costs once you’re the one paying.
How much does a Chief AI Officer earn in Australia?
| Role | Salary (AUD) | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief AI Officer | A$264,000–A$396,000, median A$330,000 | Base, excluding super and bonuses | Pearson Carter, 2026 |
| Chief AI Officer, enterprise | Median base A$380,000; median package A$426,000; band A$362,000–A$489,000 | Package including super, Sydney, large company | Galileo Search, July 2026 |
| Head of AI | A$209,000–A$303,000, median A$253,000 | Base, excluding super and bonuses | Pearson Carter, 2026 |
| Head or director of AI | Median package A$291,000; band A$248,000–A$335,000 | Package including super, Sydney, large company | Galileo Search, July 2026 |
| Director of AI, startups and tech | A$236,380–A$250,508, about A$245,000 | Excluding super, bonuses and equity; 80 businesses | Think and Grow, via Startup Daily |
| AI engineer, for comparison | A$143,000–A$220,000, median A$165,000 | Base, excluding super | Pearson Carter, 2026 |
Pearson Carter draws on data from more than 385,000 data and AI professionals across 11 markets, and advises employers to offer 10–15% above its figures for scarce senior AI roles. Galileo Search builds its figures from its own salary dataset and a scrape of live Australian job ads, for companies of 500 to 2,000 people.
What does a head of AI earn in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities?
A mid-market company hiring its first AI leader is almost always hiring a head of AI, not a C-suite Chief AI Officer. Galileo Search says as much: its Chief AI Officer figures are for enterprise seats, and mid-market organisations usually appoint a head of AI.
| City | Head of AI, median package | Chief AI Officer, median package |
|---|---|---|
| Canberra | A$306,000 | A$447,000 |
| Sydney | A$291,000 | A$426,000 |
| Melbourne | A$282,000 | A$413,000 |
| Perth | A$277,000 | A$404,000 |
| Brisbane | A$268,000 | A$392,000 |
| Adelaide | A$248,000 | A$362,000 |
Packages include super, at principal level in large companies, July 2026. Source: Galileo Search.
Canberra tops the table, which fits the federal government’s push: since July 2026, Commonwealth agencies have had to name a Chief AI Officer. Note that they appointed existing staff to the role rather than hiring (ACS Information Age), so the title is spreading faster than new salary lines.
Why the published figures disagree
If you’ve seen numbers from A$236,000 to A$500,000 for the same title, these are the reasons:
- Base or package. Pearson Carter and Think and Grow quote base excluding super. Galileo Search quotes packages including super. On a A$330,000 base, super alone is a A$32,500 gap.
- Enterprise or not. The A$350,000 to A$500,000+ packages advertised for enterprise Chief AI Officers are weighted to bonus and long-term incentives (Galileo Search). Banks and APRA-regulated businesses pay above the large-company medians.
- Very few ads show pay. Only 7.7% of Australian AI leadership ads disclose pay, against 14% of AI ads overall, so advertised bands describe a small minority of roles (same source).
- The title means different things. Some Chief AI Officers run a team, a budget and a mandate across the business. Others are a senior adviser with the title. Pay follows the mandate, not the title.
The demand behind the numbers is real. Datacom’s 2026 survey of 507 Australian business and IT leaders found almost half of organisations have appointed a Chief AI Officer, and 63% expect to by 2027 (IT Brief). Pearson Carter describes the market for senior AI leadership as especially tight.
What a Chief AI Officer costs the employer in year one
Salary is the number in the job ad. It isn’t the number in your budget. Here’s year one for a Victorian employer, using the median base salaries above.
| Cost line | Chief AI Officer | Head of AI | Fractional Chief AI Officer (1 day a week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary or fees | A$330,000 | A$253,000 | A$144,000 (12 × A$12,000) |
| Super guarantee at 12% | A$32,500 (capped) | A$30,360 | Nil: invoiced through a company |
| Victorian payroll tax at 4.85% | A$17,600 | A$13,700 | Usually nil |
| Executive search at ~20% of base | A$66,000 | A$50,600 | Nil; typically starts within weeks |
| Year one, before bonus (ex GST) | About A$446,000 | About A$348,000 | About A$144,000 |
Super: the ATO sets the super guarantee at 12% and a maximum contribution base of A$270,830 for 2026–27, so the Chief AI Officer figure is the legal minimum (12% of A$270,830); many executive contracts pay super on the full salary instead, which would add about A$7,100. Payroll tax: the Victorian State Revenue Office rate is 4.85% on wages above the A$1 million threshold, with a further 1% surcharge where national payroll exceeds A$10 million; super counts as wages. Search fees of 15–25% of first-year salary: Fractionus. The table leaves out bonuses, equity, workers’ compensation and benefits, which is why my fractional Chief AI Officer cost guide uses an all-in figure of about A$380,000 for a head of AI.
Two things in that table are easy to miss. The super cap means the employer’s minimum super stops growing above about A$270,000 of earnings, so the gap between a head of AI and a Chief AI Officer is mostly salary and search fee. And a search fee charged as a share of first-year pay rises with every dollar you add to the offer, including the 10–15% premium recruiters advise for scarce AI leaders.
What moves a Chief AI Officer’s salary up or down
- Mandate. A seat that owns a budget, a team and results across the business pays more than an advisory seat with the same title.
- Reporting line. A Chief AI Officer who reports to the CEO is a C-suite role and is paid like one. A head of AI reporting to the CTO or CIO is usually paid as a senior manager.
- Sector. Banks, insurers and other APRA-regulated businesses pay above the market, partly because governance carries more weight.
- City. Melbourne runs about 3% below Sydney in Galileo Search’s dataset, and Canberra above both.
- Hands-on depth. Someone who has put AI into production, rather than written strategies about it, is scarcer, and the guides’ upper bands reflect it.
Does a mid-market company need to pay this?
Usually not yet. At a mid-market company the first year of AI leadership is mostly setting a short roadmap, proving two or three use cases, putting governance in place and getting one workflow into production. That’s important work, but it’s rarely five days a week of it at the start.
The biggest AI saving I’ve led, about US$1M a year from moving a global consumer brand’s translation to AI across 14 languages, came from owning one workflow end to end and getting it into production. That’s the kind of work to fund first. A full-time salary makes sense once the work clearly fills the week, and by then you’ll know exactly what the role needs to do.
I wrote more about how to decide in does your company need a Chief AI Officer?. If you hire, use my brief template to set the outcomes before you set the salary.
The bottom line
Expect to pay a Chief AI Officer about A$330,000 base (around A$426,000 as an enterprise package in Sydney), and a head of AI about A$253,000 base (A$282,000 as a package in Melbourne). In year one, with super, payroll tax and search, that’s about A$446,000 and A$348,000 before bonus.
If you want senior AI leadership without a salary line of that size, a fractional Chief AI Officer starts from A$12,000 + GST a month for about one day a week. You can compare the options with the fractional vs full-time cost calculator, or book a 30-minute call and I’ll give you a straight view of which one your business needs.
Common questions
How much does a Chief AI Officer make in Australia?
Pearson Carter's 2026 Data & AI Salary Guide puts a Chief AI Officer at a median base salary of A$330,000, in a range of A$264,000–A$396,000, excluding super and bonuses. Galileo Search benchmarks an enterprise Chief AI Officer at a median total package of A$426,000 in Sydney, including super. Most of these seats are in large enterprises and banks.
What is the salary of a head of AI in Australia?
Pearson Carter puts a head of AI at a median base of A$253,000 (A$209,000–A$303,000), excluding super. Galileo Search puts the median total package, including super, at A$291,000 in Sydney and A$282,000 in Melbourne, for companies of 500 to 2,000 people. Startup and smaller tech businesses pay less, around A$236,000–A$251,000 for a director of AI before super.
Is super included in Chief AI Officer salary figures?
It depends on the source, which is why the figures look so far apart. Pearson Carter and Think and Grow quote base salary excluding super. Galileo Search quotes total packages including super. Super guarantee is 12%, but the employer's obligation stops at the maximum contribution base of A$270,830 for 2026–27, so on a A$330,000 base the minimum is about A$32,500 unless the contract says otherwise.
How much does a Chief AI Officer earn in Melbourne?
Galileo Search's July 2026 data puts an enterprise Chief AI Officer at a median total package of A$413,000 in Melbourne, about 3% below Sydney, and a head of AI at A$282,000. Both include super and are for large companies. Melbourne advertised bands run about 5–10% below Sydney.
Do Chief AI Officers get bonuses or equity?
At enterprise level, yes, and a large part of the package. Galileo Search says advertised enterprise Chief AI Officer packages of A$350,000 to A$500,000 and more are weighted to bonus and long-term incentives. In a mid-market company the head of AI package is usually mostly base, with a short-term bonus tied to agreed outcomes.
Is it cheaper to hire a fractional Chief AI Officer?
In year one, usually by a wide margin. A head of AI at the median salary costs about A$348,000 in year one once super, payroll tax and a search fee are added, before bonus. My fractional Chief AI Officer seat is A$144,000 a year at A$12,000 + GST a month for about one day a week. You get fewer days, so the question is whether there is five days of senior AI work to do yet.
