Typical comp shape
ML infrastructure engineers usually earn ppus, rsu, or pre-ipo options. Common employers include OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Nvidia. ML infra hires at frontier labs hold PPUs whose valuation jumps at each funding round trigger tax questions without liquidity.
What Alaska changes
Alaska has no wage income tax, which is structurally favorable for ml infrastructure engineers with meaningful RSU comp. The savings vs a CA-resident colleague can be $30-60k per year at senior IC levels. That math is why Austin and Seattle are the two top relocation destinations for Bay Area tech workers.
Planning cadence
For a ml infrastructure engineer in Alaska, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor). A move-out question — if you're considering leaving Alaska for a high-tax state, time it around vesting.