Comment by eganist
3 years ago
From the article:
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Level 70:
Base pay: $231,700 to $361,500
On-hire stock awards: $310,000 default to $1.2 million with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $945,000
Level 69:
Base pay: $202,400 to $316,000
On-hire stock awards: $235,000 default to $1.1 million with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $750,000
Level 68:
Base pay: $186,200 to $291,000
On-hire stock awards: $177,000 default to $1 million with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $490,600
Level 67:
Base pay: $171,600 to $258,200
On-hire stock awards: $168,000 default to $700,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $336,000
Level 66:
Base pay: $157,300 to $236,300
On-hire stock awards: $75,000 default to $600,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $160,000
Level 65:
Base pay: $144,600 to $216,600
On-hire stock awards: $36,000 default to $300,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $90,000
Level 64:
Base pay: $125,000 to $187,700
On-hire stock awards: $24,000 default to $250,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $60,000
Level 63:
Base pay: $113,900 to $171,500
On-hire stock awards: $17,000 default to $200,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $44,000
Level 62:
Base pay: $103,700 to $156,400
On-hire stock awards: $11,000 default to $125,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $32,000
Level 61:
Base pay: $92,600 to $138,100
On-hire stock awards: $6,500 default to $75,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $24,000
Level 60:
Base pay: $83,500 to $125,000
On-hire stock awards: $4,500 default to $50,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $16,000
Level 59:
Base pay: $74,400 to $110,800
On-hire stock awards: $3,000 default to $30,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: $0 to $12,000
Level 58:
Base pay: $70,300 to $92,600
On-hire stock awards: $2,500 default to $20,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 57:
Base pay: $63,800 to $83,000
On-hire stock awards: $1,500 default to $10,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 56:
Base pay: $60,700 to $77,900
On-hire stock awards: $1,500 default to $10,000 with approval
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 55:
Base pay: $55,200 to $71,300
On-hire stock awards: N/A
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 54:
Base pay: $51,600 to $67,000
On-hire stock awards: N/A
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 53:
Base pay: $46,600 to $59,700
On-hire stock awards: N/A
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
Level 52:
Base pay: $42,500 to $54,600
On-hire stock awards: N/A
Annual stock award range: "By career stage"
I'll add this from the article:
Microsoft uses a system of levels to denote seniority. Higher levels come with higher offers, according to the guidelines. Levels also vary by field and location, but generally, "senior" starts at level 63, "principal" starts at level 65, and "partner" starts at level 68, according to insiders. Not all types of roles go up to level 70, but in engineering, an employee at this level would be considered a "distinguished engineer.'" There's also a level 80 for a "technical fellow," which is typically one of the highest-ranking executives at the company.
Other than the really granular levels, this is typical for a large corporation.
I started off at MSFT over a decade ago and though I haven't worked there in quite a while I'll say that these numbers look very old to me - there's no way Level 59's base salary range is 74-110k today (e.g. about 3 years ago, a new-hire Lvl 59 friend of mine said he was on $115k base and he said he felt he was in the middle)
The publicly disclosed numbers on Levels.fyi are much closer to reality, IMO.
74k is definitely too low. In 2019, 59 was 98k. Usually goes up 1-2% each year. 115k sounds high. Each level technically has a 20% range up and down from the compa mid-point, but most offers are made dead-center. Intern return offers tend to be the juiciest 59s. In some cases college grads returning from their internships make more than those with 15-20 years of experience at 64. It's wild.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. I came in to level 59 in 2008 and my base was 80k-ish. These numbers seem really old.
Am a manager at Microsoft so I can see where the policy-based midpoints are once regional adjustments are made. The base numbers look low by a rough 20% compared to what a Redmond HQ dev would get paid at the given level number. Bonuses are based on a level-dependent target percentage which you can find if you search for it.
And yeah, the Levels.fyi base pay distributions are closer to the truth.
> Am a manager at Microsoft
Are you on a cool product team and hiring? I'm considering rejoining the mothership
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What is level 59 equivalent to in terms years of experience?
Zero. Fresh-faced just-graduated college-hires are Level 59.