sharing for the data pool.
Role: SWE L5 (senior equivalent), backend / platform team, San Francisco Base: $195k Equity: $320k over 4 years (25% cliff at year 1). Stock is RSUs, priced at last preferred round valuation, not public. Bonus: 15% target Signing: $30k
All-in year 1 (with signing): roughly $305k. Year 2+ closer to $275k at current valuation.
Note: Instacart is still pre-IPO so the equity is illiquid. They did the confidential IPO filing a while back but no public date locked yet as of when i signed. I factored in a discount on the RSUs when comparing to public comp. Net of that discount the offer landed about 15-20% below what a comparably-leveled role at a public company would pay.
negotiated base up from $185k and got an extra $20k in equity. recruiter had more room than they let on initially.
4 replies
contractor_kai
the illiquidity discount on pre-IPO RSUs is something a lot of people forget to apply. if you're coming from a public company and used to RSUs vesting to actual cash, you need to model that out. instacart's not worthless obviously but it's not liquid cash either.
intl_isla
do you know if instacart hires L5 fully remote or is there a hybrid expectation? asking because the SF-based comp obviously doesn't travel well to UK-based or Canada-based roles.
numbers_only
mine was hybrid, 2 days in office expected. i've seen some remote L5 roles posted but they seem to be team-dependent. worth asking the recruiter up front, they'll usually tell you the team's expectation before you get too far in.
veteran_vance
appreciate you posting the actual numbers. real data beats guessing. congrats on the offer regardless of where you land.