There are plenty of AI jobs in Spain for English speakers. On Spain Dev Jobs on 16 October 2026, we listed 278 machine learning and AI jobs at 125 companies where English is the working language, and 418 jobs that ask for LLM skills across all roles. Most are in Barcelona and Madrid, about a third are fully remote, and 276 of the 278 don’t ask for any Spanish. Posted salaries for ML and AI roles had a median of €71,630.
This guide shows where the jobs are, which companies hire, what machine learning engineers and data scientists earn, and how to get one of these jobs if you are moving to Spain. Board figures come from our October 2026 report and our live job pages; they describe the jobs on this board, not the whole market.
How many AI and ML jobs are there in Spain?
| Category on our board (16 October 2026) | Open jobs | Companies | Fully remote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine learning and AI | 278 | 125 | 35% |
| Jobs that mention LLMs (all roles) | 418 | 164 | 36% |
| Data science | 129 | 69 | 36% |
| Data engineering | 95 | not shown | not shown |
Machine learning and AI was the largest single role category on the board in October 2026, with 11% of all 2,583 jobs, ahead of DevOps and SRE (10%) and product (8%). LLM skills appeared in 16% of all ads, which shows how far AI work has spread into backend, product, security and data roles.
Where the AI jobs are
| City | ML and AI jobs | Posted salaries (most common range) |
|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 99 | €48k to €157k |
| Madrid | 85 | €53k to €94k |
| A Coruña | 6 | not enough data |
| Remote within Spain or the EU | 96 of the 278 jobs | €43k to €148k across all ML and AI jobs |
Barcelona and Madrid dominate, as they do for tech overall. A Coruña is a smaller AI cluster worth knowing: that week, T-Systems Iberia was hiring several AI software engineers there, and Factorial had a staff AI engineer role. A Coruña is also the seat of AESIA, Spain’s AI supervisory agency (Real Decreto 729/2023).
Who hires for AI and ML in Spain
From our machine learning and AI listings in mid-October 2026, the employers included:
- Banks and fintech: Deutsche Bank (an AI security lead in Madrid), N26 (an ML platform product lead in Barcelona).
- Product companies: Preply (senior ML platform engineers for its generative AI and agent platforms in Barcelona), Expedia Group (machine learning engineers in Madrid), IFS and Perk.
- Pharma and health: AstraZeneca (AI-native software development in Barcelona) and Johnson & Johnson (AI, ML and data science interns in Barcelona).
- Consulting and IT services: Capgemini, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and T-Systems Iberia.
- AI start-ups and remote-first companies: Jupus, Anyone AI, n8n, Cantina and Tether, many hiring remotely within Spain or the EU.
Across the whole board, Nebius, an AI cloud provider, had 65 open jobs in October 2026, the fourth-highest of any company.
AI companies in Barcelona
Barcelona has the most ML and AI jobs on our board. Companies hiring there for ML, AI or applied data roles in October 2026 included Preply, N26, AstraZeneca, Capgemini, Perk, Johnson & Johnson and Wallapop (MLOps). See the full, current list on machine learning and AI jobs in Barcelona.
Machine learning engineer salary in Spain
There is no official salary statistic for machine learning engineers in Spain, so here are three sources, with what each shows:
- Posted salaries on our board. In the October 2026 report, ML and AI jobs that state a yearly salary (22 ads) had a median of €71,630, with a range of €43,300 to €147,720 (10th to 90th percentile). One example that week: a Machine Learning Engineer III role at Expedia Group in Madrid posted €56k to €78k.
- Self-reported pay. Levels.fyi showed a median total compensation of €55,411 for all software engineers in Spain on 16 October 2026, from 1,841 submissions (Levels.fyi). ML specialists are part of that group.
- Official data. The INE’s 2024 salary survey puts average gross pay in the information and communications sector at €42,741.94, the third-highest sector, against €29,540.26 for all workers (INE).
Only 59 jobs on the whole board were labelled junior in October 2026, so most ML and AI openings are for experienced people, and the top of the posted range is at senior and staff level.
Data scientist salary in Spain
- Our board: data science jobs with a posted salary (20 ads in the report) had a median of €60,750, with a range of €38,000 to €106,634.
- Levels.fyi: the median total compensation for data scientists in Spain was €55,606 from 138 submissions, with a 25th percentile of €39.1k and a 75th percentile of €77k. By city, it showed €64,858 for Barcelona, €38,846 for Madrid and €34,678 for Valencia (Levels.fyi). Small city samples can swing these figures.
Data engineering jobs on our board had a median posted salary of €62,000, close to data science.
To see what any of these salaries means in take-home pay, use our salary after tax calculator. If an offer is in 14 payments, read bruto a neto and 14 pagas.
Skills that appear most in AI job ads
Across the whole board, the most requested skills in October 2026 were Python (34% of jobs), AWS (24%), Kubernetes (19%), SQL (16%) and LLMs (16%). For ML and AI roles specifically, look for:
- Python plus PyTorch or TensorFlow;
- LLM work: retrieval, evaluation, agents and frameworks such as LangChain;
- MLOps and platforms: Kubernetes, cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), data pipelines;
- Data foundations: SQL, Spark and tools such as Databricks.
Read each listing for the level of production experience it expects: titles such as “ML Platform Engineer” and “Applied AI Engineer” usually mean shipping and running models, not only research.
AI governance and the EU AI Act
The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, is creating work in AI governance, risk and compliance. In Spain, AESIA monitors compliance with national and European AI rules (AESIA). On our board, these roles often appear under security, risk or product titles, such as the AI security lead roles at banks, so search beyond the ML category.
AI jobs in Spain for foreigners
Language
You don’t need Spanish for most of these jobs: 276 of the 278 ML and AI jobs on our board didn’t ask for any, and the other two asked for basic Spanish at most. Our guide to getting a tech job in Spain without Spanish has more.
Visas
If you are not an EU citizen, you need a work permit. Only 4 of the 278 ML and AI jobs mentioned visa sponsorship, at companies including Cast AI, N26 and n8n. Among LLM jobs, Multiverse Computing also mentioned it. See all visa sponsorship jobs.
Most AI salaries clear the EU Blue Card threshold of €41,356.36 a year (since 28 June 2026), and recent graduates have a reduced threshold of €33,085.09 (Order PJC/44/2026). That makes the Highly Qualified Professional route realistic for experienced ML engineers with an offer. Our work visa guide explains the steps.
Remote AI jobs
About a third of ML, AI and LLM jobs on our board are fully remote. Many are “Remote (Spain)” or “Remote (EU)”, which means you must live in Spain or the EU. If you already work remotely for a company abroad, see working remotely from Spain for a foreign employer.
For the wider picture of demand and pay across all tech roles, read Spain tech job market 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Are there AI jobs in Spain for English speakers?
Yes. On 16 October 2026 our board listed 278 machine learning and AI jobs at 125 companies where English is the working language, and 276 of them didn’t ask for Spanish. Another 418 jobs in other roles asked for LLM skills. Barcelona had 99 ML and AI jobs and Madrid 85.
What is the machine learning engineer salary in Spain?
On our board, ML and AI jobs with a posted salary had a median of €71,630 in October 2026, with most between €43,300 and €147,720. One Machine Learning Engineer III role in Madrid posted €56k to €78k. Senior and staff roles at international companies pay the most.
What is the average data scientist salary in Spain?
Levels.fyi showed a median total compensation of €55,606 for data scientists in Spain in October 2026, from 138 submissions. On our board, data science jobs with a posted salary had a median of €60,750. Barcelona tends to pay more than other cities.
Which AI companies are hiring in Barcelona?
In October 2026, companies hiring for ML, AI and applied data roles in Barcelona on our board included Preply, N26, AstraZeneca, Capgemini, Perk, Johnson & Johnson and Wallapop. The list changes every day; see our page of machine learning and AI jobs in Barcelona for current openings.
Are there remote AI jobs in Spain?
Yes. 96 of the 278 ML and AI jobs on our board (35%) were fully remote in October 2026, and 36% of jobs mentioning LLMs. Most remote jobs require you to live in Spain or the EU, so check each ad.
Do AI companies in Spain sponsor visas?
A few do. Only 4 of 278 ML and AI jobs on our board mentioned visa sponsorship in October 2026, at companies including Cast AI, N26 and n8n. Because most AI salaries are above the Blue Card threshold of €41,356.36, an offer from any employer willing to file the paperwork can work.
Board figures describe the jobs on Spain Dev Jobs, not the whole market. Salaries and visa rules change; this guide isn’t legal or tax advice, so check the official sources linked above.