35m / SoCal / TC $140k (all cash)
I work at a startup that's grown from about 5 employees to just under 100 in the 7 years I've been here. I'm currently underpaid, and the company owner knows it. He actually came to me yesterday, and said we're going to renegotiate my compensation package and that I'll be very happy. I'm not sure if he knows what it would take to make me truly happy, but I would appreciate some opinions on what everyone thinks I deserve.
I'm in a hybrid executive / engineer role, where I'm director of 2 different departments and coding whenever I'm not stuck in a meeting. I'm running multiple ecommerce sites (both B2B and B2C) that are each generating around $10M per year and quickly growing. I'm thinking some rev share from the sites might be in order. I have no equity in the company, and doubt this is even an option.
The logical progression here would have me promoted to VP of Digital or a similar title. How should I best approach this situation to get my measly TC as high as possible? I'm meeting with him tomorrow, and would appreciate any advice I can get.
If your best advice is to switch companies, how easily could I get a position with higher TC with the skill set mentioned below? I code at a LC easy level, so a high paying dedicated SWE job is not an option.
Resume excerpt of what I'm currently doing at my job:
Ecommerce/IT Director & Lead Software Engineer
2011 - Present
Managing development teams, evaluating stakeholder business requirements, architecting and deploying web-based software solutions. Full stack developer, building custom enterprise ecommerce, business intelligence, reporting, and IT infrastructure applications.
Director of ecommerce department, managing internal team and contractors. Strategic planning and deployment of multiple ecommerce websites. Overseeing digital marketing for all retail and wholesale channels. Built xxxx’s successful and rapidly growing retail and wholesale ecommerce businesses from the ground up.
Director of IT department, managing internal team and contractors, overseeing all aspects of corporate technology infrastructure, including on-site and cloud data centers, business continuity and security.
comments
I would listen to the offer and ask if you could have some time to consider it. Based on the offer, you can come back with an equity share for participating in liquidity events, revenue split or revenue-based bonus, title change, etc.
So basically, TC up from 140 to 230 with a conversation. Thank you guys again for all the info, and for encouraging me to stand up for what I deserve. 👍🏻
For entertainment, I can share my gut numbers with you (take it for what it is...based on working for smaller B2B company and at Amazon, and working with leaders that have similar scope to what you describe).
No equity: $200-$250+25% performance bonus+multiplier for beating your metrics.
Less than 1% equity: $180-$200 + 10-20% cash bonus.
At Amazon Seattle: you can shoot for a “senior manager” L7 (10 to 50 person team). $165K + stock/cash combo that would get you to $350-$400K TC range. $400 would be on the higher end, but L7 dev managers from Amazon can likely share more informed comp details.
What prompted him approaching you? Have you expressed your unhappiness to others?
Are you willing to relocate if necessary?
What was your experience prior to this company?