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 California changes
In California, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 13.3% state tax on top of federal. For a senior ml infrastructure engineer with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
State AMT for ISO holders
If your ml infrastructure engineer role grants ISOs (common at pre-IPO startups, uncommon at post-IPO mega-caps), be aware that California runs its own AMT calculation. An ISO exercise-and-hold here generates AMT at two layers, not one.
Planning cadence
For a ml infrastructure engineer in California, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at both federal and state), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor).