(Asking on behalf of my friend as he is not on blind.) My friend got a confirmation that he got selected for a VP tech role. He is in compensation negotiation phase. The recruiter said he should be aiming for about 180-190k base and total comp around 210-220. The recruiter wants him to now give a number. Can you help with these questions? 1. It looks like a lowball to him. What should be the ideal base and TC? 2. What constitutes the variable component (RSU/Bonus etc)? How much of it will he actually end up getting given an average performance of self and company? YOE: 13 as software developer Current TC: 150ish as a consultant. Location: NYC #morganstanley #techcareer
Vp! Thats interesting salary for a vp. Is this just base pay or tc?
Finance title inflation. VP is a low to mid level IC role.
Yeah VP is more like a Sr Developer or SDM.
This is accurate. I saw about the same. 1. Not really a lowball, bank tech just pays meh 2. Usually no RSU below Director/ED - it’s purely a base + bonus play. And since VP Tech is not a front office role the incentive is in staying employed for the base
Your logic is mostly correct. There are Front Office Tech VPs. Their base salary is generally much higher than BO, most don't get RSUs but may get generous cash bonus (sometimes more than 200% base). Nevertheless, WLB is generally terrible and money isn't as great as in hedge funds.
Thanks for the value add. Good point on the FO VPs
Where, NYC? Depending on the team you can negotiate a fixed percentage first year bonus. My team had a fixed 25% bonus, which was great since a lot of people in the UK got nothing or close to nothing due to the pandemic. Stock is not common for tech VPs, bonus is all cash. There's generally a plan to buy discounted company stock as well. In the UK you also get 6% pension contribution and 6% pension matching, no idea about US.
Thanks. It is NYC. Edited to include location.
Morgan sucks. Getting to ED is nearly impossible unless you’re friends with your MD. Tech stack is terrible. The documentation is terrible and the code base is highly silo’d. Almost everything is reinvented even if there are popular open source alternatives. Do yourself a favor and run.
All of the above applies for both Morgans BTW :).
And GS (:
Yes It is low ball based on yoe. There won’t be any RSU at this level and pay band.
Location is important. It's lowball for VP BO in New York. Not too bad for Alpharetta.
Ah, updated with NY, so yes, lowball.
I generally don't like Glassdoor but unfortunately there are very few entries in Levels.fyi. See: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/Morgan-Stanley-Vice-President-New-York-City-Salaries-EJI_IE2282.0,14_KO15,29_IL.30,43_IM615.htm?experienceLevel=TEN_TO_FOURTEEN. Keep in mind that Glassdoor's average includes a lot of non-tech and people with 4 to 7 YoE. It also includes FO people making $500k year so I wouldn't go by the average salary but I would also not aim for the high end. For 13 YoE, and assuming a chilled BO position without much pressure, if your "friend" don't have previous experience in IB but is both good technically and have some experience leading small teams, I would aim for at least $250k TC. After he works at MS for a couple of years other banks will probably try to poach him from MS for a bit more money.
Thanks. Your TC estimate is inline with what he has been able to find from other sources so far. 180-200k base and 30-50k variable. How will this variable component be paid? Is it all cash based on performance or they count things like 401k match and standard employee benefit in TC? How much of this 30-50 k people are usually able to get?
I have heard this variable amount never declared in Offer letter which may be big problem and somebody technically good in NyC got 23K only as bonus. So may be its reasonable to ask base more and variable less ? assuming with yearly bell curve atleast if you don’t get bonus or get less it would not be impacted?
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Location matters. Where is he located.
NYC. Updated