ThriveAI vs hiring an in-house AI engineer
If you run a smaller manufacturer or distributor in Ontario or Quebec, you can bring AI into the business by hiring an engineer or by working with an outside company such as ThriveAI. This page compares the two on 2026 salary data, payroll costs, employment rules and funding, and it says when the hire is the better choice.
The short answer
On 2026 figures from Robert Half, Glassdoor and Indeed, an experienced AI engineer in Canada earns a base salary of about $140,000 to $145,000. The employer adds about $6,200 to $12,700 of payroll contributions on top, before benefits and equipment.
ThriveAI is an AI engineering company in Ottawa that builds private AI systems for manufacturers and distributors in Ontario and Quebec, on their own data. It works hands on with your team. Derik Lawlis, the founder, leads every project and stays close to the build.
- Hire an engineer when you have enough AI work to keep one person busy for years and someone in your company can direct that work. The hire also comes out ahead on SR&ED and on programs that fund graduate and student hires.
- Work with ThriveAI when you want to see a working tool for one job before you add a salary. Stage one is a working prototype for that job, at a fixed price, in weeks, and you keep it if you stop there.
Side-by-side comparison
All amounts are in Canadian dollars. Every figure was checked on September 23, 2026, and the sections below link each source.
| ThriveAI | In-house AI engineer | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | An AI engineering company that builds a private AI system on your own records and works on site with your team. | One employee who works only on your company and learns your business over time. |
| Base cost | Every project is quoted on its own, and no rates are published. Stage one has a fixed price. | A base salary of about $140,000 to $145,000 for an experienced engineer, on 2026 data from Robert Half, Glassdoor and Indeed. |
| Payroll contributions | None. ThriveAI is an outside supplier and invoices each project. | About $6,200 to $8,900 in Ontario and $8,500 to $12,700 in Quebec on a $140,000 salary, before benefits. |
| How it starts | A working prototype for the one job that costs you the most, at a fixed price, in weeks. | A job posting, interviews and an offer. In Ontario, employers with 25 or more employees must post the pay or a pay range. |
| Commitment | You decide whether to start the full build after you have seen stage one working. | A salary that continues until you or the employee ends the job. |
| Who directs the work | Derik leads the project and is your main contact. Working sessions run on site with your team, in French or English. | Someone in your company sets the engineer’s priorities and reviews the work. |
| If it ends | You keep your data, everything the system recorded exports in full, and the stage one prototype stays with you. | Termination notice of 1 to 8 weeks in Ontario or Quebec, and more where the law or the contract gives it. |
| Where your data sits | The platform ThriveAI builds on is designed to keep your data on its own server in Canada. | Wherever your engineer builds the system. An engineer can keep your data on your own server in Canada, and the same model-provider limits apply either way. |
| AI model | You choose a model on your server or a hosted model under a written no-retention agreement, and the contract names it. You pay for the model and the server either way. | Your engineer chooses one, and you pay the provider’s usage rates. |
| Funding | If the work qualifies for SR&ED, 80% of an arm’s-length contract payment counts. | The part of an employee’s salary spent on SR&ED work counts, and IRAP and Mitacs fund some graduate and student hires. |
What an AI engineer earns in Canada in 2026
The salary sources measure different things, so each one keeps its own row. Robert Half reports starting salaries based on its placements, checked against job-posting data. Glassdoor and Indeed report medians or averages from a stated number of salaries. All figures are annual base pay in Canadian dollars.
| Source and measure | Canada | Ottawa | Toronto | Montreal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Half 2026, AI engineer, starting salary, high tier | $140,000 | $140,700 | $146,020 | $142,800 |
| Robert Half 2026, AI engineer, starting salary, midpoint | $115,000 | $115,575 | $119,945 | $117,300 |
| Glassdoor, AI engineer, median base pay | $107,777 | $83,130 (5 salaries) | $120,263 | $98,824 |
| Indeed, machine learning engineer, average base | $140,762 | $139,778 (12 salaries) | $161,937 | $129,648 (16 salaries) |
Figures from fewer than 20 salaries can move a lot from month to month. Glassdoor asks visitors to sign in before it shows full salary data.
For an experienced hire, Robert Half’s high tier is the closest match, since Robert Half defines it as extensive experience and advanced skills. Glassdoor’s senior AI engineer data lands in the same place. It shows a median base of $144,899 in Canada from 30 salaries, with the middle half between $123,772 and $172,580.
Offers can land above these figures. Robert Half’s 2027 Canada Salary Guide reports that six in 10 technology hiring managers offer salaries above their planned ranges and pay more for AI skills. The guide gives an AI architect a national midpoint starting salary of $162,750. Robert Half’s public AI architect page shows a 2026 range of $109,250 to $164,500.
The sources disagree on regional gaps. Glassdoor’s Montreal median is about 18% below its Toronto median. Indeed puts Montreal 8% below its national average and Toronto 15% above it. Robert Half places Ottawa slightly below both Toronto and Montreal.
Government figures run behind the market. Job Bank uses Statistics Canada survey data from 2023 and 2024. It lists a median of $48.21 an hour for machine learning engineers in the Ottawa region, and $47.69 in Ontario and $46.00 in Quebec.
What an employer pays on top of salary
Each employee adds the employer’s share of payroll contributions. The table applies the 2026 rates to a $140,000 salary, which reaches the annual maximum for every contribution that has one. The totals are calculated from the published maximums.
| Contribution | Ontario | Quebec |
|---|---|---|
| Pension plan (CPP or QPP) | $4,230.45 at 5.95% | $4,479.30 at 6.30% |
| Second additional pension contribution | $416 at 4% | $416 at 4% |
| Employment insurance | $1,572.30 at 2.282% | $1,253.98 at 1.82% |
| Quebec parental insurance plan | Does not apply | $620.06 at 0.602% |
| Health payroll tax | Employer Health Tax: $2,730 at 1.95% once your Ontario payroll passes the $1 million exemption | Health services fund: $1,750 at 1.25% for a manufacturer with total payroll of $1 million or less, $2,310 at 1.65% for most other employers of that size, and $5,964 at 4.26% from $7.8 million |
| Labour standards contribution | Does not apply | Owed on pay up to $103,000 |
| Total calculated | $6,218.75 before EHT, and $8,948.75 with it | $8,519.34 to $12,733.34, before the labour standards contribution |
Ontario employers lose the EHT exemption when their associated group’s Ontario payroll exceeds $5 million. Workplace insurance premiums, benefits, equipment and software come on top of the table. Job Bank reports that 94.6% of machine learning engineers in Ontario receive at least one non-wage benefit.
Hiring, time off and notice rules
A hire brings provincial employment rules with it. The table lists the minimums in each province. An employment contract can give more, and in Ontario, common-law rights can be greater than the ESA minimums.
| Rule | Ontario | Quebec |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum vacation | 2 weeks with 4% vacation pay, rising to 3 weeks with 6% at 5 years | 2 consecutive weeks at 4% after 1 year, rising to 3 weeks at 6% after 3 years |
| Termination notice | None under 3 months, 1 week under 1 year, 2 weeks for 1 to 3 years, then 1 more week per year up to 8 weeks at 8 years | 1 week from 3 months to 1 year, 2 weeks for 1 to 5 years, 4 weeks for 5 to 10 years, and 8 weeks from 10 years |
| Beyond notice | Severance pay of 1 week per year of service, up to 26 weeks, after 5 years with an employer whose global payroll is $2.5 million or more | After 2 years of uninterrupted service, an employee can file a complaint within 45 days of a dismissal made without good and sufficient cause |
How long hiring takes
No official source measures how long an AI engineer search takes. Statistics Canada reports that in the second quarter of 2026, 25.9% of all job vacancies in Canada had been open for 90 days or more. That share covers every occupation. The same release counts 42,300 vacancies in natural and applied sciences occupations.
Since January 1, 2026, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees follow rules for publicly advertised jobs. A posting states the expected pay or a range no wider than $50,000, discloses any use of AI in hiring, and says whether the job is an existing vacancy. Interviewed applicants must hear the hiring decision within 45 days of their last interview.
Funding that favours the hire
On funding, the hire is often the better choice. Three of Canada’s main programs favour people on your payroll or in your internship program.
- SR&ED. The part of an employee’s salary spent on SR&ED work in Canada is an allowable expenditure. For an arm’s-length contract, 20% of the payment is deducted, so only 80% qualifies for the tax credit.
- NRC IRAP. IRAP serves incorporated, for-profit companies operating in Canada with up to 500 full-time employees, and it does not fund day-to-day operating costs. Its youth employment program shares part of the salary of a new graduate aged 15 to 30 for 6 to 12 months.
- Mitacs Accelerate. The partner company contributes from $7,500 per 4- or 6-month Mitacs Accelerate internship, which becomes a $15,000 research award, and the intern receives at least $10,000. Interns are registered students or postdocs at a Canadian institution and have an academic supervisor.
The IRAP youth program and Mitacs fund new graduates and students, so plan for someone experienced to guide their work. NGen’s AI4M program works differently. Its official page still shows the 2025 call, which closed July 17, 2025, and no 2026 intake. That call required a consortium of at least one manufacturer and one AI company, and it reimbursed 40% of projects worth $1.5 million to $8 million.
Where your data goes either way
An engineer you hire and an outside company face the same limits from the model providers. Check these before you pick a model, whoever builds the system.
- Anthropic API. Requests are processed globally by default or in the United States, and workspace data is stored in the United States. There is no Canadian option. Inputs and outputs are deleted within 30 days by default, and zero data retention is available by agreement.
- OpenAI API. Abuse-monitoring logs, which can contain prompts and responses, are kept for up to 30 days by default. The Canada region stores data at rest in Canada but does not process requests there, and it requires Modified Abuse Monitoring or Zero Data Retention. Data-residency endpoints are billed above the standard rate for models released on or after March 5, 2026.
- ChatGPT Enterprise. Data at rest can be stored in Canada. In-region inference is available only in Europe, the United States and the UAE.
- Amazon Bedrock. Claude Opus 5.5 on Bedrock has no in-region inference in either Canadian region. Its US geographic profile keeps data within US and Canadian regions, and the global profile routes requests worldwide. AWS says data at rest, such as logs and knowledge bases, stays in Canada (Central).
If your business holds personal information in Quebec, section 17 of Quebec’s private-sector privacy act applies before that information leaves the province. You complete a privacy impact assessment and sign a written agreement first. The rule is the same whether your own engineer builds the system or a supplier does.
The platform ThriveAI builds on is designed to keep each client’s data on its own server in Canada. You choose the model that reads it: one that runs on that server, or a hosted model under a written agreement that the provider keeps nothing after answering. A hosted model may process requests outside Canada, so the contract names the model and its service tier. An engineer you hire can set up the same arrangement.
When to pick each
Hire an in-house AI engineer when
- You have enough AI work planned to keep one person busy for years, and someone in your company can set an engineer’s priorities and review the work.
- Your products depend on models or research that you own and keep developing.
- Your customers require named personnel with a security clearance or a site badge.
- You plan to claim SR&ED on the work, or to hire a new graduate through IRAP or a student through Mitacs.
- You want the knowledge of your AI systems to sit with an employee who is in your building every day.
Work with ThriveAI when
- You want to see a working tool for one job before you commit to a salary. Stage one is a working prototype for that job, at a fixed price, in weeks, and you keep it if you stop there.
- No one in your company has the time or the background to direct an AI engineer.
- You want your records kept on your own server in Canada, with the model choice written into the contract.
- You want the work done on site with your team, in French or English, with the founder leading the project.
For examples of the desks in a plant where this kind of system drafts work, see AI for manufacturing, desk by desk.
Working with Derik to build these AI agents has been fun, very worthwhile, with a huge ROI for my team.
Fahd Alhattab, Founder, Unicorn Labs.
If you plan to hire later
The two paths can follow each other. You keep your data, and everything the system records exports in full in a documented format. A prototype from stage one stays with you, so an engineer you hire later starts from a working tool.
About the author
Derik Lawlis founded ThriveAI in December 2025 and leads every project. Before ThriveAI, he worked in sales at American Iron & Metal, co-founded Mindbliss, which was later acquired, and was a product manager at Invert. He built Paddle.ca and sold it in May 2025. For more about the company, see About ThriveAI.