Compare your tech offeryear by year.
The base salary is usually straightforward. Bonuses and equity need a closer look: what will you receive, when, and under what conditions?
Ready to make a counteroffer?Verify level and location
Confirm the band, work location, and whether the role’s scope matches the level on the offer.
Compare pay year by year
Write out base, target bonus, guaranteed cash, and scheduled equity vesting for each year.
Check what is uncertain
Do not count future refreshers, private-company liquidity, or future share prices as guaranteed pay.
Check the conditions behind each amount
A compensation total can combine base salary with bonuses and equity that depend on performance, vesting, or a future share price. Check how each part is earned and paid before comparing offers.
Salary while employed; sign-on conditions and repayment terms
Bonus target, rules, and payout history
What actually vests in each year
Refreshers, private liquidity, future share price
Year one
List the base paid during the year, sign-on payment and any repayment conditions, bonus under its actual rules, and equity scheduled to vest.
Later years
Check what remains after a sign-on ends, how vesting changes, and whether future grants or bonuses are documented or only customary.
Understand what your equity could be worth
Ask what the award is, what it costs to own, when it becomes yours, and whether you will be able to sell it. A grant can be valuable. It can also be worth nothing.
A promise to deliver sharesRestricted stock units (RSUs)
Confirm the number of units, the vesting schedule, what event delivers the shares, and what happens if you leave. At a public company, current share price can help model value, but future value is still unknown. At a private company, settlement and liquidity may depend on additional events.
The right to buy sharesStock options
Ask for the option count, strike price, current common-share fair market value, vesting schedule, expiration date, post-termination exercise window, and liquidity restrictions. To estimate possible proceeds, compare the share value with the strike price and account for exercise costs, taxes, and whether you can sell the shares.
Take these to the recruiterQuestions to ask about your grant
- What type of award is this, and how many units or options are included?
- What vests in each year, and is there a cliff or other trigger?
- For options, what are the strike price and latest common-share fair market value?
- Will the company share a fully diluted share count or ownership percentage?
- What is the exercise window after leaving, and can it change?
- How have employees historically obtained liquidity? Is any future event guaranteed?
Award and timing matterCheck the tax consequences
Tax treatment differs across RSUs, incentive stock options, nonqualified stock options, location, timing, and individual circumstances. Use this guide to know what to ask, then confirm the consequences with a qualified tax professional before exercising or making an election.
Level affects more than your title
Your level can affect your responsibilities, promotion timing, future salary range, and equity. Check that it matches the job you discussed in interviews.
- Ask for the formal level and the range attached to your work location.
- Compare the responsibilities discussed in interviews with the written role.
- Ask how performance is evaluated at that level and what the next level requires.
- Treat external leveling data as a clue, not a company promise.
“I want to make sure the level matches the scope we discussed. The role includes [specific responsibility]. How did the team map that scope to [offered level], and what would distinguish the next level?”
What this makes clear: The responsibilities you want the team to compare with its level expectations. Their answer can help you decide whether the offered role matches what you want.
Choose what to negotiate
Once you understand the package, choose the one or two changes that would matter most to you. Explain what you are asking for and why.
Sign-on, base, or vestingThe year-one gap
“When I compare the offers year by year, this package is [X] lower in year one because [specific reason]. This role is my preference. Is there room to close that gap through [term]?”
What this makes clear: The actual comparison and the term you want reviewed. Do not imply another offer exists unless it does.
Ask before you counterThe equity grant is hard to value
“Before I compare the equity, could you share the grant type, vesting schedule, and the information the company provides candidates to understand strike price or current share value?”
What this makes clear: A request for missing facts. You are not assigning private equity a value the company has not supported.
Make the mismatch visibleThe level does not match the scope
“Several responsibilities we discussed, including [specific responsibility], appear closer to [level] scope. Could the team revisit the level, or clarify which responsibilities would change at the offered level?”
What this makes clear: The specific responsibility you want clarified. The team may explain the existing level, revisit it, or adjust the responsibilities.
Get the revised offer in writing.
After you agree on a change, check that the updated offer includes it before you sign.