Walking into a negotiation without a number is how you end up underpaid for years. This pulls a realistic range for your role, level, and metro, splits the package into base, bonus, equity, and sign-on, and tells you which lever to push first. You leave with a line you can actually say out loud.
THE BAR: A NUMBER YOU CAN DEFEND
"They opened at $130k like it was generous. The market said $160k, so that's where I started."
Going in without a number is how you leave money on the table. This gives you a defensible range, breaks the package into base, bonus, equity, and sign-on, ranks what to push first, and hands you a line you can actually say. The more you tell it, the closer the anchor.
This is part of the full plan
The AI tools read your actual situation each time you use them, not generic advice. The full plan unlocks this one and the rest.
Every AI tool, built around your situation
Your personalized 7/30/60/90 plan
Reminders before each deadline closes
What a result looks like
SAMPLE
example output, not your data
LOW
$135k
MEDIAN
$158k
HIGH
$182k
Total comp for a Senior Backend Engineer, 8 yrs, remote US, growth-stage. You're cash-first, so the base figure is the one that matters.
THE BREAKDOWN
Base
$135k · $150k · $165k
Bonus
10 to 15% target, paid annually
Equity
0.05 to 0.1% over 4 years, one-year cliff. Illiquid until an exit, so price it near zero.
Sign-on
$10k to $20k, common at this level but you have to ask
WHAT TO PUSH FIRST
1
Base first: it compounds every raise, bonus, and future offer, and you told us cash is the priority.
2
Sign-on bonus second: it costs them once and rarely dents the budget. Good for closing the gap to your last comp.
3
Equity last: at a growth-stage shop it's the line they'll inflate on paper, so don't trade real base for it.
Remote pay for this role clusters around the median; the high end usually means a tier-one metro or a hot specialty. Eight years puts you past the junior discount, and your last base of $148k sits right at this median, so anchor above it and let them negotiate down. With a competing offer in hand, you can name a number and mean it.
WHAT YOUR RESUME SAYS ABOUT YOUR LEVEL
Your resume reads as a Staff-leaning Senior: you've owned platform reliability and led two engineers, not just shipped features. That scope pushes you toward the top of this band, not the middle.
YOUR ANCHOR LINE
Based on the market for this role and the offer I'm already holding, I'm targeting $168k base. Where's the room to get close?