Microsoft Pay Data Reveals Wide Ranges in AI, Cloud Teams

A leaked Microsoft pay data spreadsheet reveals how much hundreds of employees report making in various teams, including AI and cloud divisions. The internal document contains nearly 600 employee submissions, detailing base salaries, raises, cash bonuses, and stock awards across the company.

The employee-reported data show that Microsoft is rewarding talent across its organization at a time when retaining skilled workers, especially in AI and cloud, is a key strategic priority. Compensation, particularly stock awards, is one of the clearest tools Microsoft has for recruiting and retaining those workers.

The spreadsheet also included pay by organization, showing how much employees report making by team. For example, employees working on Azure reported making between $123K to $252K, while those in Cloud + AI made between $111K to $450K. However, the data is not official or comprehensive and may skew lower due to underrepresentation of higher-paid employees.