sharing my offer numbers since i always benefit from others doing this.
Role: Senior Software Engineer, L5 Team: Search Relevance Location: San Jose (hybrid 3 days) YOE: 8 Base: $198k Annual bonus target: 15% ($29.7k) RSUs: $280k over 4 years ($70k/yr), front-loaded slightly Signing bonus: $30k (clawback over 1 year)
Total Year 1: ~$258k Total Year 2-4: ~$228k/yr depending on refresh
negotiated up from an initial base of $185k and signing of $20k. they moved on both. RSU refresh vesting didn't come up much in negotiation. market rate for L5 Bay Area SWE is somewhere around $240-280k total so this feels about right for eBay specifically, they're not FAANG money but not bad.
the search relevance team works on some genuinely hard ranking problems if you like that kind of thing.
4 replies
contractor_kai
that's a solid L5 number for eBay. i was looking at them earlier this year, their total comp tends to run 10-15% below FAANG L5 but the work is less grindy and the politics seem lower. search relevance team specifically has a good rep technically.
market_realist
the 1-year clawback on signing is aggressive. most places i've seen are 6 months or pro-rated monthly. worth flagging if you're negotiating with them.
numbers_only
yeah i tried to get it down to 6 months, they didn't move on the clawback structure. not a dealbreaker for me since i planned to stay but worth knowing going in.
brand_ben
thanks for sharing. do you know if they're similarly flexible on RSU vesting schedules? i'm in negotiation now for a different team and trying to figure out what's moveable.