I am evaluating a Director of PM role, reporting to a GM. - What can I expect to make as Director? - What is the comp at GM level? - Some GMs are VPs and others are Directors...but either can have a Director report to them...is that right? I have ~20 years experience, and VP / CxO titles at startups; I want to understand the leveling. And compensation philosophy at AWS. I’m not in a career or family stage to take a hit on cash comp.
Should be at least $500k, maybe more. I think many VPs in AWS are $850k, director could be anywhere from 500-650, depending. Your base will be 150-160, due to cap. First year bonus will determine effectively what your TC is, with RSU’s filling in the rest later. Directors and above get more frequent stock awards too I think.
Thanks. Can you clarify a bit. What does the TC number include - base + cash bonus? So if it’s 500, it’s 160 base, 340 cash bonus? So RSUs are on top of that?
Total comp includes: base + bonus + RSUs
Also can you comment on the salary cap? That seems low given they are recruiting senior people who would have to take a cut in base to join. Eg a VP Product at a Series C, 200 person startup makes 200-250k salary (75th percentile is 275k base) and 300-350k total with bonus (375k at 75th), with On the equity side, 1% of the company might be “worth” $2.5M over 4 years. Far less liquid of course. If you lop off 2/3 of its value, it’s worth 200k/year.
The salary cap is truly that low and it’s problematic for the situation you mentioned. Explaining to experienced people that their salary will start with a “1” can be a hurdle. Where have you worked in the past? You seem like a straight-shooter and somebody who’d be great to work with.
Thanks for the info. I’ve been a startup CEO and worked at one of the leading cloud companies. I’m Bay Area. AWS seems interesting because of its entrepreneurial culture and the types of people it has attracted. I’m not at offer stage yet — asking now so I don’t waste anyone’s time. Both the TC and especially the salary cap you mention are non-competitive. (Haven’t been at 160k in 8 years! And I suspect same is true for anyone with 15-20 yrs experience). That might mean I just stick to startup exec roles. Or perhaps they can level me appropriately when the time comes...
Amazon is based on ownership. Everyone to the top of the chain maxes out at $160k base. The rest is in RSUs. Since you don't see much vesting the first two years, you'll get a cash bonus that essentially represents what the RSUs would have been worth if they were vested. Assumption is that stock price increases 15‰ yoy, so if it beats that it's all gravy. If you've been a CEO you should be able to focus on total comp and not get hung up on which part is stock and which part is cash. FYI, cash limit in the Bay Area is 180 or 185
Interesting. This makes sense. I wasn’t aware this is how they do comp. Seems quite creative to incentivize everyone on the value of the company. Comp wise, Guaranteed is guaranteed. What most people call base amazon calls base + sign on for first 2 years.
I think they can do up to a million tc, seeing other posts. They have sign on bonuses to add to the low base.
Is being a startup ceo the same level as being a GM of a business unit at one of these tech companies ? What usually pays more and what do you prefer ?
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500k+ TC.