Is it worth the move for more money? Thinking about the move if the offer is at least 40% more of my current TC? TC: $800K , L7 at FANG
40% increase is going to be tough to get unless you’ll be managing other MDs.
Are there levels within the MD position as well?
It’s a flat title but I’d say there’s 3-4 levels. My MD is the lowest rung and has 4 people above him before executive suite and even then there are still a few levels. For reference the hiring interview results are sometimes public. One VP level candidate was noted for wanting MD level TC, and he only wanted 500k.
Titles at banks work very differently than rest of the industries. MD is the highest title. Even CEO holds an MD title. There are many levels of VPs, SVPs, Directors, and MDs.
They’re not gonna offer you 1M+ dollar TC, at least definitely not recurring comp. Tech at Goldman does not generate revenue so it’s very hard to make business impact from the tech side, the only exception being you’re a ML researcher that develop trading strategies. Most tech MDs make 400k - 600k TC and their job content is just project management, playing politics, evaluating vendors, and occasionally defining tech strategy. The base is 300k-400k depending on location, bonus usually is 20% - 50% of base. For FAANG L7, they usually will give a generous “whisper bonus”, which will inflate the first year TC. But this whisper bonus is not recurring. Recurring bonus is completely variable based on your performance, and remember that performance is not quantifiable because tech people don’t have measurable business impacts, so your performance is really just how much you bootlicks your boss So Goldman definitely isn’t the place to make money. But you can coast here if you’re good at politics. You don’t need to do any real work because there’s no real tech work most of time
Mostly right but the comp for tech MDs can easily go up to 850k. The median would be 600k.
Not as a new MD hire. To reach 850k you gotta play politics for several years and boot-lick the senior MDs.
What’s your YoE?
MD at GS is pretty decent. Pay can be from 600 - 850
Tech MDs who run groups on their own go up to 1.5M easily. Old IMD had a bunch in the 1-1.5 range
If you ask for an insane package you might get it. But the expectations are also going to be unattainable and you’d be laid-off in a year or 2. I say “unattainable” because GS is nothing like a tech company. We are just support here. This is not a money making role. They don’t really need most of us. If they laid-off 80% of the ppl, things will still work with little or no impact to the main business. I once worked on a simple project that could’ve been done by 4 ppl in a week’s time. But, we involved 2 sister teams, over 3 time zones (25 ppl in total) and took a whole quarter. No matter where you endup, there most likely won’t be enough things for you to do or show your impact in. In my experience there’s not enough impactful work to go around period. And office politics is next level here. So unless you’re a pro in licking bums and can make work out of thin air, stay away. Tech stack sucks too. There is nothing useful you’ll learn here. Plus, they’re trying to save money they spend on tech workers. Most of these roles are moving to Texas and Utah. A lot of ppl have been given ultimatum to move or kiss their jobs good bye. Bottom line - they don’t need rockstars. They just need ppl for support and they can get that for cheap. A lot of tech teams here are also increasing their presence overseas.. just another measure for them to save money.
Yep, correct. This is not an environment where tech people can sustainably contribute business value that make it worthwhile for firm to pay 1M TC. To OP: you may get that TC because you have a FAANG halo, but once you’re in here, the highly political and slow environment will tie your hands and you won’t be able to prove your value no matter how competent you are, and that’s why you’ll likely eventually get laid off or undergo huge pay cut.
spot on. This is the most accurate comment I’ve seen
What's your YOE ? has GS confirmed they will present you the offer or are in negotiation phase ? Depending on your skills , they might be willing to pay more but as many are saying GS technology is not like product companies unless you are in few new set ups CTO is pushing for. If you are from Amazon , there are lots of new leaders who are from Amazon , I am guessing you are indeed from Amazon given they way they are bringing people from their own groups in prior firms.
There are few fine prints about comp recruiters leave out in their communications. TC would be base + bonus. Assuming use comp is expected to be 1.2M: For MD base would be 400k + 800k target bonus. Bonus is not guaranteed and variable. First year they might give you 100% of target bonus (whisper). Subsequent years it may not be the case. Say year 2 your bonus is 700k (tc 1.1) this now becomes your target bonus. not 800k you started with. Now bonus is not fully paid in cash. 25-30% would be paid in stocks, that vest in 3-4yrs. You have to be employed to get those stock. This is effectively deferred comp. If they give you RSUs while joining (make whole) to cover what you are leaving behind, it is considered part of your TC. Don’t expect your end of year comp would be 400k base + 800k + Vesting RSU. It actually is 400k + (800k - vesting rsu), assuming you are getting target bonus.
Make whole/equity buyout can be counted separately from PATC if negotiated. I managed to get it. Also OP def knows how RSUs work and probably has a slightly shittier vesting schedule currently. Excellent advice otherwise!
And that 800k whisper bonus is not recurring, Recurring comp is discretionary
Depends on the role and your current wlb.