Top 10 Companies Hiring AI Engineers in Puerto Rico in 2026
By Irene Holden
Last Updated: April 23rd 2026

Too Long; Didn't Read
Evertec and Banco Popular lead Puerto Rico's AI hiring surge in 2026, with the island's average AI engineer salary reaching $113,544 and job openings up 143% year-over-year. Evertec offers global-scale fintech challenges from San Juan, while Banco Popular provides a unique data scientist apprenticeship program and deep local economic impact.
By early 2026, AI engineering job postings on the island had surged 143% year-over-year, according to Glassdoor data, with the average AI engineer salary in Puerto Rico reaching $113,544 per SalaryExpert’s compensation database. Senior roles at top multinationals now exceed $200,000, placing Puerto Rico’s AI salaries well above the mainland average when adjusted for cost of living. The San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metro area anchors this growth, driven by Act 60 tax incentives that have attracted R&D centers from global firms in aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and fintech.
Yet demand still outstrips supply. Industry analyst Josh Bersin notes that rather than eliminating jobs, AI is making software engineering “more interesting, more valuable, and ultimately more rewarding,” shifting focus to high-level design and orchestration. Despite this opportunity, 69.2% of employers on the island report significant talent gaps in AI and machine learning, according to recent hiring surveys. For engineers trained at UPR Mayagüez or other local universities, the market has never been more favorable - but the choice of where to apply is increasingly a question of problem type and impact, not just compensation.
Beyond salaries, the island’s pharmaceutical corridor in Juncos, the aerospace hub in Aguadilla, and the fintech heart of San Juan each offer distinct flavors of AI work - from clinical ML that saves lives to real-time fraud detection processing millions of Caribbean transactions. The data is clear: Puerto Rico has become a serious destination for AI engineering, but navigating this display case requires knowing what you’re truly hungry for.
Table of Contents
- The AI Job Market in Puerto Rico
- Honeywell
- Lockheed Martin
- Liberty Latin America
- Amgen
- PwC San Juan Acceleration Hub
- RTX
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Triple-S
- Banco Popular de Puerto Rico
- Evertec
- Choosing the Right Fit
- Frequently Asked Questions
Honeywell
Honeywell’s massive aerospace service center and engineering hub in Aguadilla and Moca makes it one of the most established technical employers for graduates of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM). The engineering culture here rewards deep fundamentals over flashy frameworks, with AI work focused on real-time industrial optimization - think PID controllers meeting neural networks for predictive maintenance on aircraft turbines and flight control systems.
- Tech Stack: C++, Python, MATLAB, and specialized embedded ML frameworks for industrial control systems
- Primary Projects: Predictive maintenance for aircraft turbines, flight control system optimization, and industrial AI for manufacturing automation
- Salary (Est.): Mid: $95k-$130k | Senior: $135k-$175k
What distinguishes Honeywell in the Puerto Rico context is its deep pipeline from UPRM - you’ll find more Mayagüez engineering alumni here than at almost any other multinational on the island. The northwest corridor also offers access to Act 60 benefits for qualified professionals, and the cost of living in Aguadilla remains significantly lower than San Juan’s metro area. For engineers who want to work on safety-critical aerospace systems without trading away island life, this counter serves a steady, satisfying meal.
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin’s engineering centers in Puerto Rico focus on some of the most demanding AI applications in the aerospace and defense sector, where models are deployed in safety-critical environments where failure is not an option. The company actively recruits locally for AI InfraOps Associate Managers and Machine Learning Engineers, with roles requiring security clearance eligibility - a credential that opens doors across the entire defense industry. According to a current job posting for Puerto Rico, the work spans space autonomy systems, sensor fusion, and conversational AI for immersive training environments.
Senior AI engineers at Lockheed Martin in Puerto Rico earn between $107,000 and $185,000, with the tech stack built around Python, C++, Docker, Kubernetes, and specialized AI InfraOps tooling. The company’s “AI Solutions” and “Platform Infrastructure” teams collaborate with global R&D centers, giving local engineers exposure to projects that literally fly. Security clearance eligibility is a prerequisite, but for engineers willing to meet that requirement, the career trajectory is steep.
“The benefits available and the company's value culture make it an incredibly supportive place to work… I know I'll be supported every step of the way.” - Current Lockheed Martin Developer, Glassdoor
For Puerto Rico-based engineers who want their code to power aircraft autonomy and defense systems without relocating to the mainland, Lockheed Martin offers a rare combination of cutting-edge mission scope and island roots. This is a counter for those who thrive under pressure and measure impact in lives and national security, not quarterly metrics.
Liberty Latin America
Liberty Latin America’s Puerto Rico operations tackle infrastructure problems that affect every household on the island, making it one of the most locally impactful AI employers. The company’s “Smart Island” initiative applies machine learning to optimize network traffic across fiber and wireless infrastructure, predict customer churn, and power NLP-driven technical support. According to Indeed job listings for AI roles in San Juan, Liberty’s centralized data analytics teams work across Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean region, using Python, SQL, and cloud analytics on GCP and Azure.
The distinctive advantage here is impact proximity: your ML models directly influence network performance dashboards visible across the island. When hurricane season threatens connectivity, the traffic optimization model you trained helps keep families online. When a customer is about to cancel their internet plan, your churn prediction triggers a targeted retention offer that keeps access affordable. The salary ranges from $60,000 for junior engineers to $165,000 for senior roles, competitive for the local market and paired with the satisfaction of seeing your work improve daily life in Puerto Rico.
For engineers who want their code to reduce outages, speed up technical support, and help bridge the digital divide on an island still recovering from repeated natural disasters, Liberty offers a career with tangible community results. The “Smart Island” vision is more than a marketing tagline - it’s a concrete roadmap for using AI to make Puerto Rico more resilient, one model at a time.
Amgen
Amgen’s massive biotech manufacturing and process development site in Juncos represents one of the most meaningful applications of AI on the island. Here, machine learning models influence the production of biologic medicines where quality deviations can mean delayed treatments for patients. According to SalaryExpert’s compensation data for Puerto Rico, senior AI roles at major pharmaceutical firms regularly surpass $130,000, reflecting the high value placed on data integrity in regulated environments.
- Tech Stack: Python, R, Spark, and specialized biotech data platforms for clinical and manufacturing data
- Primary Projects: Clinical ML for biologic drug development, predictive maintenance for pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, and supply chain optimization for life-saving medicines
- Salary (Est.): Senior: $130k-$175k+
The interview process at Amgen focuses heavily on statistical validity and data integrity, often including take-home data analysis assignments. This rigor is not accidental - models here directly impact the quality and availability of therapies for patients with chronic and life-threatening conditions. Engineers collaborate with process chemists, biologists, and quality assurance teams, making this an environment where cross-functional AI work meets real human stakes.
Amgen’s presence in Juncos connects to Puerto Rico’s pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem - one of the densest in the world. The work moves at a deliberate pace: regulatory validation takes time, but the satisfaction of knowing your predictive maintenance model prevents a production line shutdown - and ensures a patient receives their medication on schedule - is unmatched. For engineers who want their algorithms to save lives rather than optimize clicks, Amgen’s Juncos site offers purpose-driven AI work with global impact.
PwC San Juan Acceleration Hub
PwC’s San Juan Acceleration Hub has become one of the island’s most dynamic landing spots for AI engineers who crave variety. Unlike in-house roles where you polish the same product for years, PwC’s AI teams rotate across industries - healthcare one quarter, financial services the next, retail after that. Based on Glassdoor salary data for Puerto Rico AI engineers, mid-level Senior Associates earn between $77,000 and $202,000, while Managers and Leads range from $124,000 to $280,000.
The tech stack spans Generative AI frameworks like PyTorch and Hugging Face, cloud platforms across Azure, AWS, and GCP, and enterprise AI tools for document analysis and automation. The interview process reflects the consulting nature of the work: technical case studies and ML system-design interviews that test both breadth and depth. For engineers who get bored easily and want exposure to dozens of business problems in their first year alone, PwC offers the widest variety of AI challenges on the island.
High-level Director roles here can offer base salaries ranging from $155,000 to $410,000, according to the same Glassdoor data - figures that rival top mainland markets while benefiting from Puerto Rico’s Act 60 tax incentives. The hub serves Fortune 500 clients globally, meaning your work on a GenAI contract analysis tool for a pharmaceutical giant could inform your next project building an NLP-powered recommendation engine for a Latin American retailer. For the engineer who wants to taste something new every morning, this counter is wide open.
RTX
RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) maintains substantive engineering operations in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, focused on some of the most safety-critical AI applications in aerospace and defense. The company’s AI Solutions Engineers work within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), meaning candidates need both ML expertise and a solid grasp of enterprise software delivery. Senior roles at RTX range from $120,000 to $180,000+, with salaries scaling higher for engineers who obtain and maintain security clearance eligibility.
- Tech Stack: Python, C++, MATLAB, and secure cloud environments compliant with defense standards
- Primary Projects: Computer vision for autonomous systems, predictive maintenance for aerospace components, and advanced signal processing for radar and communications
- Structure: “AI Solutions” engineering teams that collaborate with global R&D centers across the RTX portfolio
The RTX careers page for Puerto Rico describes multi-stage technical assessments including initial phone screens and structured technical interviews that test both theoretical understanding and practical implementation. The work here is high-stakes engineering where ML models are deployed in environments where failure isn’t an option - think computer vision guiding autonomous aircraft or signal processing protecting military communications. For engineers who thrive under pressure and want their models to operate in the most demanding conditions on (and off) the planet, RTX’s Santa Isabel hub is a counter worth studying carefully.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Edge intelligence isn’t just a buzzword at Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Aguadilla hub - it’s the core engineering challenge. HPE’s “Edge to Cloud” AI strategy focuses on optimizing inference on resource-constrained devices deployed in manufacturing plants, hospitals, and retail environments, rather than simply training models on unlimited cloud compute. The company requires hybrid flexibility (averaging 2 days per week in-office), a balance that appeals to engineers who want both collaboration and remote autonomy.
- Tech Stack: Python, C++, Linux, Docker/Kubernetes, and AI-optimized hardware infrastructure
- Primary Projects: Edge intelligence for IoT devices, AI infrastructure orchestration, and automated system diagnostics for enterprise customers
- Salary (Est.): Junior: $65k-$90k | Mid: $95k-$135k | Senior: $140k-$190k+
What makes HPE distinctive in the Puerto Rico market is hardware-software co-design - a rare combination locally. Engineers here work alongside electrical engineers and systems architects, learning how ML models behave when inference happens on a sensor rather than a server. According to HPE’s engineering career listings for Puerto Rico, the company actively recruits AI Software Developers and AI Architects who can translate customer requirements into production ML products. For engineers who want to understand the full stack from silicon to deployment, HPE’s Aguadilla operation offers a seat at the intersection of hardware and intelligence.
Triple-S
Triple-S, managed by GuideWell (the parent company of Blue Cross Blue Shield), occupies a unique intersection of fintech and medtech in San Juan. Here, your ML models predict which patients are at risk of chronic conditions, then help design interventions that improve outcomes while reducing costs. The focus on social determinants of health - factors like housing, food access, and community environment - means your work directly addresses Puerto Rico’s specific healthcare challenges, from diabetes prevalence to post-hurricane mental health needs.
- Tech Stack: Python, SQL, SAS, and HIPAA-compliant cloud-native healthcare data platforms
- Primary Projects: Predictive modeling for patient outcomes, NLP-powered automated claims processing, and preventative care analytics
- Salary (Est.): Junior: $70k-$95k | Mid: $100k-$140k | Senior: $145k-$190k+
According to Glassdoor salary data for Triple-S Salud in Puerto Rico, the compensation is competitive, but the real draw is purpose-driven work at population scale. The interview process includes standard technical screening with a heavy emphasis on data privacy under HIPAA and ML theory applied to healthcare data. For engineers who want their models to improve lives at scale across the island, Triple-S offers a career where impact is measured in healthier communities, not just quarterly metrics.
Banco Popular de Puerto Rico
As Puerto Rico’s largest bank, Banco Popular has invested heavily in digital transformation and data science, creating one of the most robust AI engineering environments on the island. The distinctive advantage here is economic primacy: your credit risk models must account for hurricane risk, federal funding cycles, and the island’s unique demographic trends, while customer churn prediction helps the bank serve communities that might otherwise lose access to banking services. You’re not building for a generic US market - you’re building for Puerto Rico.
- Tech Stack: Python (Scikit-learn, TensorFlow), R, SQL, Azure ML, and PowerBI
- Primary Projects: Credit risk modeling for local economic conditions, customer churn prediction, personalized banking recommendations
- Structure: Dedicated “Data & Analytics” division with data scientists, ML engineers, and data analysts
- Salary (Est.): Junior: $65k-$90k | Mid: $95k-$130k | Senior: $135k-$180k+
Banco Popular’s “Data Scientist Apprentice” program for local graduates provides a structured pathway from UPR campuses into professional AI roles. According to Glassdoor’s salary data for Banco Popular in Puerto Rico, mid-career data scientists earn competitive compensation while working on models that directly influence the island’s financial stability. The interview process includes technical assessments on statistical modeling and SQL, followed by behavioral rounds and case study presentations that test business acumen alongside technical skill. For engineers who want their ML work to have a tangible impact on Puerto Rico’s economic resilience, Banco Popular’s AI division is a counter where every model serves local communities.
Evertec
Evertec isn’t just a company hiring AI engineers in Puerto Rico - it’s the company that put the island on the global fintech map. Headquartered in San Juan, this transactional processing leader serves 26 markets across Latin America and the Caribbean, managing high-volume, mission-critical financial data where every millisecond counts. When you build fraud detection models here, you’re protecting payments for your neighbors while competing technically with fintechs worldwide.
- Tech Stack: Java, Python, .NET, SQL, and AWS-based ML services for real-time inference
- Primary Projects: Fraud detection for millions of daily transactions, predictive analytics for payment processing, and recommendation systems for merchant services
- Salary (Est.): Junior: $60k-$85k | Mid: $85k-$110k | Senior: $110k-$150k+
The interview process includes multi-stage technical phone screens, coding tests with a Java/.NET/SQL focus, and architectural design discussions about distributed systems and real-time ML inference. According to Glassdoor’s salary data for Evertec in Puerto Rico, engineers consistently highlight the collaborative culture and the opportunity to work with colleagues who understand the Caribbean market deeply. The data volume is immense, the latency requirements are punishing, and the cost of a false positive or false negative is measured in real money - exactly the kind of pressure that sharpens engineering instincts.
For Puerto Rico-based AI engineers, Evertec offers the rare combination of global-scale problems and local roots. You’ll build systems that process payments for the panadería down the street while protecting transactions across the region. Zippia’s compensation data for San Juan confirms that senior engineers earn competitive mainland-matching salaries while benefiting from the island’s cost of living and Act 60 incentives. If you want to know what it feels like to build AI that Puerto Rico depends on every day, this counter has been waiting for you.
Choosing the Right Fit
The counterwoman’s eyes haven’t left you. She’s seen hundreds of customers freeze before - engineers, students, career-changers - all paralyzed by the same realization that every option here is excellent, but only one will actually satisfy. The rankings you just read were never the point. Each employer is a different receta: different ingredients, different craft, different hunger it serves. Evertec’s high-velocity fraud detection is a different meal than Amgen’s deliberate clinical ML or Honeywell’s embedded aerospace systems.So forget “best.” Ask instead what you secretly want to spend your days solving. Do you want to build fraud detection that protects an entire region’s payments? Credit models that understand Puerto Rico’s economy better than any mainland algorithm? Models that predict patient outcomes and improve healthcare access across the island? Or flight systems where failure means nothing less than catastrophe? Each answer leads to a different counter. According to Puerto Rico Tech Talent 2030 analyst Yaneisha Pérez Padilla, the island’s AI landscape has matured to the point where engineers can now choose by problem type rather than just by paycheck - a luxury earlier generations didn’t have.
The counterwoman is still waiting. She knows that the best choice isn’t the highest salary or the most prestigious name - it’s the one that aligns with your hunger. Look again at the display case. Puerto Rico’s AI market offers more options than ever, but the decision remains deeply personal. Make your choice with intention, and the work will taste right every single morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which company on the list pays the most for AI engineers in Puerto Rico?
Senior roles at PwC and RTX can exceed $200,000, with director-level positions at PwC reaching up to $410,000. However, average AI engineer salary in Puerto Rico is $113,544, and companies like Evertec and Banco Popular offer strong total compensation with local impact.
Do I need to speak Spanish to work at these companies?
While many companies operate bilingually, Spanish is often required for roles involving local customers or regulatory compliance. Banco Popular and Evertec especially value Spanish fluency, while Honeywell and RTX may prioritize English for global teams.
Are these companies hiring for remote AI positions or are they on-site only?
Most offer hybrid models - HPE requires 2 days in-office weekly. Fully remote roles are rare but possible at consulting firms like PwC. On-site presence is more common for roles in manufacturing (Amgen) or defense (Lockheed Martin).
What's the best company for a junior AI engineer just starting out?
Banco Popular's Data Scientist Apprentice program is ideal, offering structured pathways from UPR campuses. Evertec also has entry-level roles with mentorship, starting around $60k-$85k. Liberty and Triple-S provide good first jobs with clear impact on local infrastructure.
How does the cost of living in Puerto Rico affect the AI engineer salaries listed?
Salaries are competitive when adjusted for cost of living - a $120k salary in San Juan goes further than $150k in New York due to lower housing and taxes. Act 60 tax incentives also boost take-home pay, making these roles financially attractive compared to mainland U.S. cities.
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Irene Holden
Operations Manager
Former Microsoft Education and Learning Futures Group team member, Irene now oversees instructors at Nucamp while writing about everything tech - from careers to coding bootcamps.

