The skills that pay the most

Across 652 disclosed-salary designer listings (baseline median: $167k), adding ml to the job description correlates with a $40k salary bump — 25% above listings without it.

Ranked by dollar premium (median salary of listings mentioning the skill minus median of listings without it). Minimum 20 mentions required to qualify.

1.
ml
+$40k
$204k median with · $163k without · 25% premium
n = 31 listings
Intel, Fluidstack, FOX Tech, Jack & Jill
2.
agents
+$38k
$200k median with · $163k without · 23% premium
n = 35 listings
TikTok, Assort Health, Smarter Technologies, Superhuman
3.
craft
+$37k
$182k median with · $145k without · 25% premium
n = 279 listings
DoorDash, Discord, Brex, Chipotle Mexican Grill
4.
interaction
+$30k
$180k median with · $150k without · 20% premium
n = 274 listings
Discord, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Samba TV, Renesas Electronics
5.
experimentation
+$25k
$187k median with · $162k without · 15% premium
n = 60 listings
Discord, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Netflix, Affirm
6.
code
+$24k
$184k median with · $160k without · 15% premium
n = 81 listings
Brex, Broadcom, Affirm, hackajob
7.
ambiguity
+$22k
$182k median with · $159k without · 14% premium
n = 106 listings
Spotify, Samba TV, Renesas Electronics, Assort Health
8.
prototyping
+$22k
$179k median with · $158k without · 14% premium
n = 204 listings
Discord, Brex, TikTok, Renesas Electronics
9.
hiring
+$21k
$178k median with · $157k without · 13% premium
n = 253 listings
DoorDash, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Netflix
10.
strategy
+$20k
$175k median with · $155k without · 13% premium
n = 332 listings
Ibotta, Brex, Discord, Chipotle Mexican Grill
One caveat: skill keywords correlate with seniority. A senior role asking for “strategy” pays more partly because it's senior, not purely because of the keyword. The figures above are raw correlations across all roles — treat them as directional, not causal. A more rigorous version would control for role + seniority; that's the next iteration.