The average pay at OpenAI in London

OpenAI spent £258.04 million on its 110 UK employees in 2025, according to its latest Companies House accounts.

The figures work out to an average of £2.35 million per employee at OpenAI UK, the London-based arm of the ChatGPT maker. Wages and salaries totalled £87.37 million, or about £794,000 per employee.

Share-based pay in the form of OpenAI equity awards made up £167.84 million, about £1.53 million per employee. Pension contributions and other employee benefits accounted for the remaining £2.83 million.

The share-based figure reflects the value of equity awards the company recognised during the year, rather than cash paid out to staff.

OpenAI swapped its employees’ equity units for shares as part of a wider group restructuring during 2025. The 110 figure is a monthly average across a year in which the UK workforce grew rapidly.

Pay more than doubled in a year

OpenAI UK spent £60.77 million on an average of 55 staff in 2024, or about £1.1 million per employee. Average cash pay per employee rose from about £302,000 in 2024 to about £794,000 in 2025.

The company doubled its average headcount over the same period, with research and development staff rising from 21 to 34.

Research and development spending more than doubled to £117.79 million, up from £48.2 million the year before. OpenAI UK also claimed £4.65 million through the UK government’s research and development tax credit scheme.

The company provides research, sales and marketing services to its US parent, which pays it its costs plus a margin.

Turnover rose to £292.96 million from £79.21 million, while profit after tax climbed to £20.35 million from £5.39 million.

OpenAI UK said it plans to further develop its research capabilities and grow its workforce over the coming year.

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