Top 10 Highest Paying Machine Learning Jobs in India [A Complete Report]

Machine Learning (ML) is the division of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is concerned with computer algorithms capable of improving with experience. Since the focus is on the ‘learning’ aspect, ML involves developing programs that can access data and then use it for themselves. Most of the leading tech firms are hiring for the highest paying machine learning jobs in India.

In the future, the dominance of robots and AI will be definite. Therefore, another thing confirmed is the continuously increasing demand for AI and machine learning jobs. 

Why Artificial intelligence and machine learning jobs are the future?

The specific term AI might have been gaining popularity over the past couple of years, but its existence goes far behind it. As newborn as the concept might seem, we are unaware that AI already surrounds us in many ways.  The Internet, which plays a big part in today’s life, is mostly handled by AI. Apart from that, the reports of Statista show that AI use in the healthcare industry alone will become a $28 billion market by 2025.

This number mere $1.4 billion in 2017. Therefore, one can only imagine the industry’s growing speed. Keeping all this in mind, it is needless to say that, as the market value is projected to grow, the number of AI and machine learning jobs in the market will also skyrocket.

Various segments of AI markets are valued equally highly as AI in healthcare. One such segment is the explainable artificial intelligence market, which is projected to reach 21 billion USD by 2030. This also indicates that the number of artificial intelligence and machine learning jobs in this market will also shoot up. 

AI and machine learning go hand in hand, as machine learning is a subset of AI. Hence, it is certain that the more AI broadens its horizon, the more jobs in machine learning will also increase. 

However, if specifically talking about machines’ scope, the future is also vivid. Machine learning applications include a range of state-of-the-art applications such as speech recognition, computer vision, customer service, the healthcare sector, stock trading, etc. Along with that, ML is expected to greatly impact industries such as robotics, quantum computing, automotive and cyber security.  

That being the case, the number of jobs in machine learning is bound to increase in the future. 

The kinds of roles offered are also learning-oriented and professionally rewarding. Therefore, engineering graduates and researchers are eyeing this field with much more interest. We listed the top 10 highest-paying machine learning jobs in India. This list is updated and irrespective of your work level, beginner/entry-level or middle level, these will help you decide the direction you want to go in next.

If you are aspiring for one of the best machine learning jobs in India, the salary package is not the only factor. Career growth, job security, and reputation make a career attractive.

As AI technologies slowly enter the mainstream, organizations are looking to capitalize on the opportunities. A prime example is that of American Express that uses ML algorithms to detect fraud in near real-time. Another case in point is Volvo, which is improving safety by predicting when auto parts might fail and when their vehicles might need servicing.

According to Gartner’s 2019 CIO Agenda Survey, organizations that deployed AI grew from 4% to 14%. If you want to know about the highest paying machine learning jobs, this article may help you. 

Seeing a rising demand from the industry, the practitioners are responding by brushing up their AI and ML skills and acquiring new credentials. Let us first look at the must-have capabilities. 

The essential AI skills

To become an AI specialist, you would first have to complete your bachelor’s education in computer science, mathematics, or any other related engineering field. To advance beyond entry-level jobs, you need additional certifications to build your skillset and gain practical experience. 

Software engineers may find it easier to transition to a career in machine learning. However, as long as you have the relevant knowledge and expertise for the job, your discipline of study would not matter. It would help if you focused on refining your aptitude in the following topics:

• Bayesian networking
• Cognitive science theory
• Coding and programming
• Mathematics (algebra, calculus, probability and statistics, logic and algorithms)
• Robotics, etc.

Given the short supply of talented individuals in the space and the niche requirements of modern workplaces, online learning options can prove to be an excellent choice for developing these competencies. Moreover, most PG diplomas and master’s programs on upGrad follow a project-driven and mentorship-led approach, which is highly beneficial for candidates in today’s competitive job market. 

Now, let us see which are the highest-paying machine learning jobs in India. We have also mentioned the average annual compensation for each position, as estimated by the job search site PayScale.

Highest Paying Machine Learning Jobs in India

1. Director of analytics

It is a senior-level position that entails playing a mentorship role for the personnel in data analytics and data warehousing departments. The director of analytics is tasked with organizing the technological, financial, and human resources to address the business needs. The analytics director receives direction from the employer of the Chief Data Officer to leverage data and deliver optimal performance. This leadership and supervisory role enjoys considerable aspects related to strategy and team management

Salary

Average director of analytics salary in India is ₹3,719,375.

How director of analytics salary in India increases over experience:

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2. Principal scientist

As one of the highest paying machine learning jobs, The principal scientist conducts research in laboratories and comes up with innovative and high-impact data science projects. Another responsibility of this chief scientist is to ensure whether the team has the necessary resources to undertake the assigned tasks and perform effectively. Also, coordinating with stakeholders and leading cross-functional teams are central to this job. The excessive & growing demand makes principal scientists land on one of the highest salary machine learning jobs in India 

Salary

Average principal scientist salary in India is ₹1,622,900.

How principal scientist salary in India increases over experience:

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3. Computer scientist

As a computer scientist, you solve problems by writing and programming software. In other words, this technical role is about developing websites and creating applications for mobile devices. Computer scientists also develop and validate mathematical models to enable person-computer and computer-computer interactions. It has always been one of the best machine learning jobs in India, and dealing with money – yours and others – is the stuff of dreams.

Salary:

Average computer scientist salary in India is ₹1,843,353.

How computer scientist salary in India increases over experience:

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4. Data scientist

Data scientists’ work involves managing and making sense of data, which is being generated every day in the digital era. This data is hardly ever clean, so they have to clean it. Further, it is their responsibility to extract meaning from the data and interpret it. To do this, they apply various statistical and machine learning skills. The insights given by data scientists hold immense significance for decision-makers of the business. In addition to being one of the highest paying machine learning jobs in India, it is also a fast-paced one.

To pursue data science as a career, you should emphasize learning big data tools and platforms (MapReduce, Spark, Hadoop, Hive, Pig, etc.) and statistical computing (SQL, Python, Scala, and so on).

Salary

Average data scientist salary in India is ₹698,413.

How data scientist salary in India increases over experience:

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5. Statistician

Statistical data analysis lies at the heart of data science. But statisticians have a very different approach to building and testing models as compared to data scientists. The analytical prowess of statisticians helps organizations in understanding quantitative data and predicting potential trends. It is one of the highest paying machine learning jobs in the market today.

As a statistician, you turn data-driven problems into questions and hypotheses and use methods like linear regression to verify data and determine whether it is consistent with the models.

Salary:

Average statistician salary in India is ₹508,647.

How statistician salary in India increases over experience:

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6. Machine learning engineer

One of the highest paying machine learning jobs worldwide, ML engineers feed data into the theoretical models developed by data scientists. They assist in the scaling process to create production-level models that are adept at handling terabytes of real-time data. To enter the workforce as an ML engineer, you would need a good knowledge of Scala, Python, and Java. The demand and the salary making it one of the highest paying machine learning jobs in India.

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Salary:

Average machine learning salary in India is ₹691,892.

How machine learning engineer salary increases over experience:

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7. Research engineer

The development of new technology products is the primary duty of research engineers. These professionals improve the existing systems and processes by implementing research and creating knowledge from engineering. The excessive & growing demand makes application architects land on one of the highest salary machine learning jobs in India

The typical educational qualifications research engineers include an advanced degree of master’s or above. If you are thinking about this career path, you should also gain significant industry and professional experience. It is among the highest paying machine learning jobs in India.

Salary:

Average research engineer salary in India is ₹709,823.

How research engineer salary in India increases over experience:

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8. Computer vision engineer

This job profile includes working with image analysis algorithms and deep learning architectures. Computer vision engineers apply their problem-solving skills to create image processing and visualization platforms. Those looking forward to a career in this field should build their computer engineering research skills and explore how to handle computer vision libraries and frameworks. 

Salary

Average computer vision engineer salary in India is ₹528,464.

How computer vision engineer salary in India increases over experience:

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9. Data engineer

Data engineers design and build data systems upon which the MI and AI capabilities can function. It has always been one of the best machine learning jobs in India, and dealing with money – yours and others – is the stuff of dreams. Their primary responsibility is to develop information processes for the following purposes:

• Data acquisition
• Developing data processes
• Data transformation
• Data mining and finding hidden patterns in data
• Data migration, verification, etc.
• Data modelling

A command over C++, Java, Python, and Scala is considered essential for candidates who want to become data engineers. 

Salary

Average data engineer salary in India is ₹868,951.

Top employers hiring data engineers salary:

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10. Algorithm engineer

Algorithm engineering is concerned with several facets of computer algorithms, including their design, analysis, implementation, optimization, and experimental evaluation. Knowledge of algorithm applications (both theoretical and practical) in software engineering is required for this job. The excessive & growing demand makes algorithm engineer land on one of the highest salary machine learning jobs in India

Salary: Rs 7,32,301

The Highest Paying Machine Learning Jobs in India

How much you are paid as a machine learning professional is a factor of your experience level, organization, and location. Both PayScale and LinkedIn have listed the average pay grade as Rs 650,000 per year. Specialized skills like NLP, deep learning, and computer vision can help you stand out, boosting your annual pay package upwards of Rs 700,000. In the hardware and networking industry, machine learning engineers can get a lucrative remuneration between Rs 12,00,000 and Rs 23,00,000 per annum.

The starting salary is slightly lower (Rs 10,80,000 p.a. on average) in the finance domain, but senior-level positions are at par with the networking industry at around Rs 23,00,000. IT services is another sector where AI and ML practitioners can be employed with total compensation ranging from Rs 6,20,000 to Rs 14,50,000.

Top Industries That are Hiring for Machine Learning Roles:

Any and every company these days is pouring its resources into AI and machine learning to become more technologically advanced. However, there are some particular industries in India that are leveraging the power of AI and ML to their most.

By assessing the data provided by CompTIA/Burning Glass, it can be found that currently, the industries that are utilising AI and ML the most are the manufacturing industry, followed by the science and technology industry, then finance and insurance. 

The results might surprise some who are not well aware of the advancements that the manufacturing industry has made over the years. For the past years, the manufacturing industry has successfully automated a large portion of its manufacturing processes. This objective of theirs has successfully been accomplished with the sole help of AI and ML. The aspects that AI has helped the industry to improve, include minimizing downtime, improving the supply chain and even reducing waste production by designing the best prototypes on the first go.

The other two industries, healthcare and finance are also constantly investing their money in AI and ML to make the entire customer convoy and organizational efficiency better. Especially during the pandemic, the healthcare industry had to reconstruct most of its conventional ways of working and get accustomed to the new norm of digitalization. Incorporating ML in the healthcare industry has empowered patients to get timely risk scores that can lower the catches of health hazards. 

Patients now can regularly keep track of their health without visiting the doctors on a regular basis. Benefits like image analysis, precise resource allocation and many such things are available as ML has merged with the healthcare industry. 

On the other hand, ML has significantly increased safety measures for the banking and finance industry. Not just only create a safer experience for the customers, but AI and ML have also benefited financial institutions by giving data-driven predictions on the client’s behaviour and purchasing algorithms. 

Emerging Trends in the Field

The scope for machine learning is limitless in the current global context. So, it is no surprise that the highest paying machine learning jobs show inclination towards individuals who continuously update their skill sets. Your critical thinking abilities, married with awareness about the latest market trends, can set you apart from the crowd.

A closer look at the technology landscape reveals that all types of companies — from retailers like Walmart to telecom leaders like Jio to pharmaceutical giants like Novartis — are hiring individuals who are adept in machine learning. According to Indeed, the job postings having “Artificial Intelligence” and “Machine Learning” as keywords jumped up by nearly 100 percent between 2015 and 2018. Moreover, LinkedIn currently advertises more than 9000 machine learning jobs in India. As organizations continue to adopt novel technological solutions and keep developing their in-house capabilities, the demand for ML skills is likely to rise even further. 

The Future of ML Jobs in India 

In India, the job market trends for AI and ML are on a positive trajectory with newfound investments and innovative projects in the pipeline. Some of these are already up and running in the major tech cities or hubs. Here is an overview of the recent developments:

• Key AI Hubs launched as the Indian government has shown interest in investing in R&D, skills, innovation, and the startup ecosystem
• Robert Bosch announced its first venture investment in India
• Oracle is on track to launch its data center in Mumbai
• An integrated startup complex is coming up in Kerala
• Microsoft India is increasing its investments in the northeastern state
•  Software company Apptio Inc establishing a Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru
• EagleView, a company in aerial imagery and computer vision analytics, officially opened its international office in Bengaluru
• PwC India is coming up with its first IoT Lab in Kolkata
• Clearwater Analytics is considering to open an office in Noida
• Microsoft Research India has started its Societal Impact through Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) initiative as a part of its lab in Bengaluru

So, there is tremendous scope for ML technologies in present-day India. With the right proficiencies, the country’s engineering students and technical workforce can transform this space and emerge as powerhouses of innovation.

A Quick Recap

In this article, we looked at the scope of machine learning careers and the respective job titles. We also delved into the qualifications and skills you should focus on attaining. Then, we listed some industries with the highest paying machine learning jobs in India. We ended with the way forward, suggesting what you should consider while preparing for a profession in the ML and AI fields. With all this information, you would be better positioned to plan your next move and grow in your chosen line of work!  

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