Recomputed every morning · 2026-10-20
AI job compensation:
salary, equity and bonuses
An advertised salary is only part of an offer. Learn how to compare equity and bonuses, then explore what our live postings disclose. 205 of 566 comparable paid roles mention equity in their pay text or stored summary; 1 quantify it in those fields.
36%
of comparable paid postings mention equity in collected pay text or stored summaries. In those fields, 1 attach a figure to it.
What employers actually write
Examples of equity wording in pay text. These phrases establish no grant size or realizable value.
| What the posting says | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| $225K – $400K · Offers Equity | That a grant exists. Nothing about its size. |
| $150–300k with significant equity | That someone considers it significant. |
| $200,000 – $280,000 + equity + benefits | That it is part of the package. |
| $250,000 to $400,000 OTE + equity | That the cash figure already includes variable pay. |
Companies that flag equity on every posting
Employers with at least three comparable published bands, all mentioning equity in collected pay text or stored summaries. This describes disclosure in those fields, not grant generosity.
| Company | Bands published |
|---|---|
| Cohere | 15 |
| Mercor | 13 |
| AfterQuery | 9 |
| Decagon | 5 |
| Abridge | 4 |
| Baseten | 4 |
| Periodic Labs | 4 |
| Crosby | 3 |
| Deepgram | 3 |
| Gray Swan AI | 3 |
| Suno | 3 |
Companies with no equity mention in the fields we collect
At least three comparable published bands, with no equity mention in collected pay text or stored summaries. Full descriptions or offers may still include equity. Employers classified as nonprofits are excluded from this ownership-equity comparison.
10a Labs, Agility Robotics, Airbnb, Anthropic, Apollo Research, Astera Institute, Atoms, CoreWeave (Weights & Biases), Databricks, Distyl AI, Figure AI, Glean, HUD, HumanSignal, Labelbox, LangChain, Magic, Nebius, Nimble Robotics, Nuro, Reddit, Runway ML, Scale AI, Simile, Snorkel AI, Thinking Machines Lab, Waymo, Wayve, xAI.
Do the ones that mention equity pay less in cash?
The two groups have different observed cash midpoints. Median midpoint where the posting mentions equity: $300k. Where it does not: $270k. The equity-mentioning group has the higher midpoint, but differences in employer, role, location and seniority can explain the gap. This does not establish a cash/equity trade-off.
Read that as a description of who publishes what, not as advice. Startup equity can be worth more than every year of the salary combined, or nothing at all.
How much can equity add to an AI job offer?
Research reviewed . These external benchmarks are a dated snapshot; the disclosure counts above update with our job corpus.
Equity can be as large as, or larger than, base salary. That makes an advertised salary ranking an incomplete comparison of total compensation. It does not give us a reliable multiplier to apply to an individual vacancy.
| Company and level | Annual base | Annual stock component | Reported total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic — Senior Software Engineer | $328k | $263k | $591k |
| Anthropic — Lead Software Engineer | $338k | $523k | About $863k |
| OpenAI — L5 Software Engineer | $352k | $501k | $853k |
Sources: Levels.fyi: Anthropic and Levels.fyi: OpenAI, checked September 14, 2026. The Anthropic Lead row includes about $2.2k bonus; totals are rounded. These are reported benchmarks, not employer-verified promises for our listings. Roles are software engineering broadly, not necessarily evals; levels are not equivalent across employers. Submission mix, grant timing and stock valuation can affect the figures. Stock compensation is not necessarily cash received or saleable in that year.
What employers disclose about equity
Anthropic advertises salary and equity packages. xAI advertises cash and equity compensation. Cohere lists equity or stock options, and Mercor lists equity among benefits for US full-time employees. These statements establish that equity is offered in those employment contexts; they do not establish the grant for a particular vacancy or contractor engagement.
Why Redwood Research needs a different comparison
Redwood Research identifies itself as a nonprofit. In a 2021 AMA by its team, it explained that it had no equity because of that structure and that packages were generally salary. That historical statement does not establish today's bonus policy. Comparing a nonprofit's cash salary with a lab's base salary leaves out the ownership component the lab may offer.
How to compare base salary, stock and bonuses
1. Separate annual pay from a multi-year grant
Ask for the grant type, number of shares or units, vesting schedule and any cliff before the first vest. A hypothetical $1m grant vesting evenly over four years represents $250k per year at the quoted valuation, before changes in value and taxes. It is not $1m every year. Use the actual schedule if vesting is uneven, and ask whether future refresh grants are committed or discretionary. Carta's employee equity course explains grants, vesting, exercising and selling as separate steps.
2. Understand how private-company equity is valued
Ask which share price and date support the quoted dollar amount. Employees' common shares and investors' preferred shares can have different rights and values. A funding-round valuation is not automatically the value of employee shares. A US 409A valuation estimates common-stock fair market value for tax purposes; it is not a guaranteed sale price. For options, ask for the exercise price and total exercise cost. Carta explains the difference between 409A and fundraising valuations.
3. Ask when you can sell
For public-company shares, check the number vesting, the market price and any trading restrictions. For private-company shares, ask whether employees have been permitted to sell, who was eligible and how much they could sell. A past sale opportunity does not guarantee another. Vesting does not by itself make equity spendable cash. Ask what happens to vested options when you leave and whether exercising requires cash before any sale is possible. See Carta's lessons on exercising and selling equity.
4. Separate performance bonuses from signing payments
Ask for the annual target, whether it is guaranteed, what determines the payout, and the actual payout history for comparable employees. Record signing and retention payments separately, with payment dates and repayment conditions, so a first-year payment does not inflate the recurring package. Bonus availability is not a universal percentage: Mercor's Product Manager listing flags a bonus without giving its amount. Fidelity's offer guide distinguishes generally fixed base pay from bonuses that can vary each year.
5. Check whether the advertised figure is already OTE
On-target earnings (OTE) combine base pay and target variable compensation. Ask for the split and attainment conditions. Do not add the target commission or bonus a second time. Our salary report excludes variable-pay figures from its annual USD base-pay comparisons. Hourly and contributor rates require their own comparison of paid work availability and engagement terms.
Bring these questions to the recruiter: What is guaranteed cash? What is target cash? What stock vests each year, at what valuation and exercise cost? When can it be sold? Which payments are one-off? General guidance cannot determine the value or tax treatment of a specific offer.
Free. One email on Thursdays.