going perm after contracting for a while so i tracked this carefully. sharing for the community.
my offer (declined, took something else): Senior MLE, remote US, offered early 2026. base: $195k equity: 0.04% over 4 years with 1-year cliff. at their last valuation that's meaningful but very illiquid obviously no signing bonus in initial offer, i pushed and got $15k benefits were solid, fully remote, unlimited PTO (which means nothing, you know how this goes)
a toronto-based candidate i know in the same cohort got CAD 190k base which is obviously a different number in USD terms. so if you're comparing offers, mind the currency.
for context: i had offers from two other AI companies in the same range. Cohere was middle of the pack. the equity story is more interesting than the base if you believe in the enterprise LLM thesis. i'm skeptical enough of the timeline that i took a higher base elsewhere.
5 replies
numbers_only
useful. the Toronto vs US comp delta is real and worth flagging for anyone with location flexibility. US-remote gets you materially more in real terms. the equity math at current valuation on 0.04% is about $240k at a $600M val, much less liquid than it sounds.
ml_mike
my US offer was a bit higher base, around $210k, but i'm post-PhD with publications so probably a different band. the equity is the real bet and i'd agree it's illiquid enough that i wouldn't count it in an apples-to-apples comparison.
corp_refugee
unlimited PTO 'which means nothing, you know how this goes' is doing a lot of work in that sentence and it's doing it correctly
visa_vik
does the toronto office have different sponsorship / PR support? i'm weighing whether to target the canadian arm
contractor_kai
i don't know their canada immigration support specifically. i'd ask the recruiter directly and ask for it in writing. AI companies at this stage are usually good about it but the details vary.