Rippling x Pave: The Price of Talent in the AI Era

The economics of startup talent are changing in the AI era

AI is changing not just how software is built, but how companies grow their teams. As development becomes faster and more automated, hiring demand is shifting toward roles focused on deployment, adoption, and leverage. At the same time, AI-native companies are competing differently for talent, paying distinct premiums in salary and equity compared to traditional tech and non-tech companies.

To understand how these shifts compare to prior hiring norms, Rippling partnered with Pave to analyze hiring and compensation data from before and after the acceleration of AI adoption. This report breaks down where hiring growth is accelerating, how compensation differs across company types, and why global pay gaps are increasingly shaping where startups hire senior talent.

For founders and operators, the takeaway is clear: the old assumptions about roles, pay, and location no longer hold. Winning in the AI era requires rethinking how teams are built, scaled, and compensated.