It Is Not Just Salary
When a company says "we'd like to offer you $180,000," that number is almost never the full picture. In the tech industry, Total Compensation (TC) is the correct unit of comparison, and base salary is often less than half of it at mid-to-senior levels. Negotiating without understanding all the levers is like optimizing one microservice while ignoring the bottleneck in another.
The Four Levers
1. Base Salary
The cash deposited to your account every two weeks. It is the most visible number but often the hardest to move significantly because companies operate within internal "salary bands" tied to your level. Pushing base above the band ceiling is rare. However, pushing to the top of the band (rather than accepting the midpoint offer) is almost always possible.
2. Sign-on Bonus
A one-time cash payment made when you join, sometimes split across your first two years. This is the easiest lever to negotiate because it is a one-time cost to the company (not a recurring salary increase) and it has a natural justification: "I'm leaving unvested equity at my current employer." Always ask for a sign-on bonus. The worst answer is no.
3. Equity — RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)
At public companies, RSUs are the most powerful lever. An RSU is a grant of actual company stock that vests over time. A typical grant is structured as a 4-year vest with a 1-year cliff:
- Year 0–1: You own 0% of the grant. If you leave, you get nothing.
- Year 1: 25% vests immediately (the "cliff").
- Years 2–4: The remaining 75% vests monthly or quarterly.
If a company offers you $200,000 in RSUs, that is $50,000/year in stock (at current price). Negotiating the RSU grant up by $40,000 is worth $10,000/year — equivalent to a $10,000 base salary increase, but often easier to get.
4. Equity — Options
Common at startups. An option gives you the right to purchase stock at a fixed price (the "strike price") set at the time of grant. Options are only valuable if the company's stock price rises above your strike price. They carry significant risk and illiquidity. Always ask: "What is the current 409A valuation? What was the last preferred share price? What is the preference stack?" These questions reveal whether your options have realistic value.
The Golden Rule of Negotiation
You have zero leverage without a competing offer.
This is not cynical — it is structural. Without an alternative, you are asking the company to pay you more out of goodwill. With a competing offer, you are presenting market data. You are not asking for a favor; you are asking them to compete.
The sequence that maximizes leverage:
1. Apply to multiple companies simultaneously, not sequentially.
2. Time your final rounds to overlap so offers arrive within the same 1–2 week window.
3. When Offer A arrives, call Company B: "I have an offer I need to respond to by Friday. Is there any way to accelerate my process?" Most companies will.
4. Once you have two offers, use each to negotiate the other upward.
Never give a number first. When asked "What are your salary expectations?", respond: "I'm flexible and more interested in finding the right fit. Can you share the range budgeted for this role?" If pressed, give a range where your target is the bottom of the range.
A common recruiter tactic is to ask for your current salary early in the process. In many US states this is now illegal, but it still happens. The correct response is: "I'd prefer to focus on the market rate for this role rather than my current comp — can you share the band?" If they insist, you can say: "My total compensation expectations are in the range of $X–$Y based on my research into market rates." Never anchor yourself to your current salary, especially if you are underpaid.