Amazonians: need your help. I have an offer for L6 PM. The offer is lower than I could get elsewhere, but I don’t have other offers lined up quite yet. I would probably take the offer, if push came to shove, because Amazon is my top choice. So how do I negotiate? Do I work with the recruiter only? Hiring manager? How much influence do either have? Or does it have to go to a compensation person or the VP? Do I have to gin up a FB or Google offer to get Amazon to put their best foot forward? If the first offer the recruiter made is X, is it likely that they have Y% of wiggle room? I am supposedly already at the top end of my level (which blind data confirms). I’d like the TC to be 10% more. I had already set their expectations at a number that 16% more than they offered, but they said they can’t do it as it gets into the next band. Thanks!
Numbers
Recruiter does the negotiation but the Mgr has to sign off. I’d play hardball and tell them the current offer just isn’t good enough. Unless you’ve already been negotiating a while, chances are they still have room to budge. Perhaps the good old ‘let’s meet in the middle’ from your current offer and the target comp you gave them. The worst that happens is they say no.
Thanks. That’s very helpful. How much latitude does the recruiter have? They’ve indicated they already had to get some sort of exception approved for the offer.
Once you hit the top of band the pressure will be very high to keep from going over. It will also cause headaches for you in the future. Were I to do it over again I would forget about pushing for base salary and get as many RSUs as I could. While they don’t hit in earnest until year 3, that’s where the money is. Good luck.
Hi I joined Amazon in Aug, I was in same boat as u r. I tried to stretch as much as I could but Amazon didn’t increased single penny ....If you have competing offer that might work but if you don’t have they will not or it depends on the group
Maybe Amazon's office is 5-min walk from his house? It's the only logical explanation.
As a PM I like Amazon’s focus on customer obsession. Google is definitely more tech-driven. Plays better to my strengths (deep experience building products but not a CS major). Also AWS is the #1 player by a 3:1 margin at least, so there’s something to be said for working for the market leader. But Google is still definitely the most respected company in tech. Would love to work there as well. Let’s see if the recruiter moves fast enough. As far as FB - digital ads is pretty effin boring. Chaotic environment. Lots of overlapping matrix shit vs ownership. But I’m speaking with the recruiter.
If you think Amazon is cheap with salaries wait to see the rest. Forcing you to fly coach on 15+ hours business flights, zero corporate swag (you can buy it tho, yay!), reviewing (and contesting) every penny of business expenses... Cheapest company I’ve ever worked for.
Not in my org brah! I just expensed north of 13k from a business trip, went all the way to VP for approval but no questions asked and was approved. Guess you’re in an org that’s frugal!
Agree with both comments here - depends on your org. Better get status if you are flying to Asia/Pacific.
Guys, when will you come to terms with the fact that NOT EVERYONE gets a rockstar salary package? Every company has bands and no one will pay above band unless they DESPERATELY need the person. Amazon bands are about 15-20k less than Google, but that’s about it friends!
Ask for more RSUs. That’s the easiest thing to get more of.
All they can do is say no, negotiate until they say that the number is beyond their ability to do on their own and they need to go get approvals, I got 15% more doing this.
15% more TC? Impressive. What Level and role?
L6 AWS non-tech it’s possible that they started at the low end of the band with me though, everyone is a little different. They didn’t budge on base, it all came through sign-on and RSU though.
And what’s your best guess at the value of Z?
can you share your offer? this openness is a mutual benefit to everyone and is pretty common when asking these qs. it will help people tell you where its at on the spectrum