dropping comp since nobody else has done it recently.
Role: Software Engineer, L5 equivalent. Backend focus, video infrastructure team. Location: San Jose HQ, hybrid 3 days/week.
My offer: Base: $195k Annual bonus: target 15% ($29k) RSU: $280k total, 4-year vest, 1-year cliff Sign-on: $30k
Total year 1 with sign-on and RSU tranche: roughly $330k. Year 2-4 without sign-on drops to around $300k depending on stock.
Recruiter said base is "near top of band" for L5 but there was some negotiation room on RSUs. I pushed and got $20k more in RSU grant. Not huge but something.
This is lower than FAANG for the same level. Probably 15-20% below Meta/Google L5, closer to Salesforce territory. Trade-off is lower interview intensity and from what I hear, less brutal review cycles.
4 replies
contractor_kai
the RSU gap vs FAANG is real but the vesting schedule matters a lot. is it monthly vesting after cliff or quarterly? and is there acceleration on acquisition/layoff?
numbers_only
quarterly vesting after the 1-year cliff. no double-trigger acceleration in the offer I received, which I tried to push on and got nowhere. standard for public companies not in acquisition mode.
corp_refugee
15-20% below FAANG L5 is probably right. I'd also factor in that Zoom's stock has been... a journey since the pandemic peak. the RSU value is real money but check the trajectory before anchoring on the grant number.
returner_ren
the sign-on being $30k is decent, especially if you're taking a gap between leaving somewhere and starting. good to know that RSU negotiation is possible even when they say base is topped out.