Hire AI & ML Engineers in India,
Without an Agency Fee
Post your AI/ML engineer role free. Every applicant is scored against your JD the moment they apply, with the reasoning shown, so you start with a ranked shortlist instead of a pile of resumes.
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AI and ML engineers are among the highest-paid engineers in India, and the title now covers very different jobs: training and deploying models, or building products on top of LLMs through APIs. Decide which one you need before you post, because the people, the interview and the pay differ.
What AI and ML engineers cost in India
Typical fixed CTC by experience, from our engineer salary insights, which compare ML and AI pay with other roles at each level.
| Experience | CTC | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Junior (0–2 yrs) | ₹8 – 14 LPA | ₹67k – 117k/mo |
| Mid (3–6 yrs) | ₹16 – 30 LPA | ₹133k – 250k/mo |
| Senior (7–10 yrs) | ₹30 – 60 LPA | ₹250k – 500k/mo |
| Staff / Principal | ₹60 – 100 LPA | ₹500k – 833k/mo |
What an agency would charge for this hire
Move the slider to the salary you're offering.
Typical agency fee
₹2.7L–₹3.6L
15–20% of first-year salary
On Switchly
₹0
Free to post, free to hire
No credit card · up to 10 active job posts free
What to look for in an AI/ML engineer
The signals that separate strong candidates from resumes that only list the right keywords.
Models or LLM products in production
Ask what they shipped, who used it, and how they knew it was working after launch.
Evaluation discipline
How they measure quality: offline metrics, eval sets for LLM output, and catching regressions.
Engineering, not just notebooks
Clean code, APIs, deployment and monitoring. Most ML work fails at the handoff to production.
Cost and latency awareness
Inference cost and response time decide whether an AI feature survives. Have they reduced either?
A simple interview loop
Four steps, done within a week or two, is enough for most AI/ML engineer hires and keeps good candidates from accepting another offer first.
- A 30-minute intro with the hiring manager about a model or AI feature they took to production.
- A practical round matched to the job: an ML problem with real data, or an LLM feature with an evaluation plan.
- A system design conversation: serving, monitoring and how the system handles bad output.
- A final conversation with the team about working with product and backend engineers.
How hiring on Switchly works
- Post the role free. Paste your JD, or start from our AI/ML engineer JD template. Up to 10 active jobs on the free plan.
- Get a ranked shortlist. Every applicant is scored 0–100 against your JD with matched skills, missing skills and the reasoning shown.
- Shortlist and talk. Message candidates directly, and your Calendly link goes out automatically when you shortlist someone.
Switchly isn't an agency: it doesn't source or vet candidates for you, or handle payroll or contracts. Hiring from outside India? See EOR vs direct hiring in India.
“We closed a Senior Backend Engineer role in 4 days. Normally that takes 6 weeks. The AI ranking surfaced exactly what I asked for — right experience, right stack, right seniority level. No recruiter middleman, no noise.”
Rohit M.
CTO · early-stage fintech
“As an EM at a Series B, I don't have time for 300-resume batches. Switchly gave me 8 qualified candidates on day one. Three of them were stronger than anyone a recruiter ever sent me — at zero cost.”
Arjun S.
Engineering Manager · Series B startup
Hiring AI and ML engineers? Post the role free.
Every applicant scored against your JD with the reasoning shown. No placement fee, no per-seat pricing.
Post Your First Job FreeFrequently asked questions
How much does it cost to hire an AI or ML engineer in India?
From our salary insights, mid-level ML and AI engineers (3–6 years) typically earn ₹16–30 LPA and senior engineers (7–10 years) ₹30–60 LPA at product startups, the highest of any individual-contributor role we track. Posting the role on Switchly is free.
Should I hire an ML engineer or an AI engineer who builds on LLMs?
If your product depends on training or fine-tuning your own models, hire an ML engineer with that experience. If you're building features on top of hosted models through an API, a strong backend engineer with LLM product experience is usually the better and cheaper fit.
How do I hire AI and ML engineers on Switchly?
Post the role free (up to 10 active jobs). Engineers apply, and each applicant gets a 0–100 AI fit score against your JD with matched skills, missing skills and the reasoning shown, sorted best-first. Shortlist the ones you like and, if you've added a Calendly link, it's sent to them automatically.
Is Switchly a recruitment agency?
No. Switchly doesn't source, vet or place candidates for you, and it doesn't handle payroll, contracts or visas. It's a job board and applicant-ranking tool: you post the role, engineers apply, and you decide who to hire. That's why there's no placement fee.