Hey you beautiful Blinders, I’m wondering what should be my salary expectations if I get an offer for a Sr level ux/product designer roles. Also, assuming I clear the interviews, should I come up with a number or let the recruiter tell first? My tc expectation is around $380k - $400k. Is that high/low/about right? Any help/suggestions are appreciated. Current tc - $190k Yoe - 5.5 (L5) Tia! Update: Wow! This post gained more traction than I imagined. More importantly I’m impressed by the large numbers of civil, thoughtful and helpful discussions. Thank you so much 🙏🏽 My thoughts on the salary expectation after reading all the comments: While most of you commented that my expectations are high, I believe, as designers we must get paid almost as much as our SDE friends for the same level. Just because design is misunderstood or it looks like anyone can do it, doesn’t mean it’s easy. No Product can be truly successful with the engineering/design/product working alone. If impact is what a company cares about then everyone creating the impact must be compensated fairly and equally. Let’s demand that we get paid what we deserve and not settle with the status quo.
Way too high imo. 6 yoe. You're looking at 300.
Depends on the company, but $300-$325k is more in the ballpark of where most companies would be.
Okay 👍🏽
Where do you live?
Seattle
Way too high. L5 offers at Meta are around 220-320k. Meta also expects designers to design end-to-end experiences with visual craft and polish, so many designers from Amazon get down-leveled due to low visual design skills. What you’re seeing on levels.fyi also include inflated salaries from stock growth.
Okay that’s good to know. And yes, visual design polish on most Amazon products is a joke. Would it help if I improve the visuals of the screens which I’ll be presenting during the interview if my process and impact is strong?
You just need to show good work, which entails good product thinking, good interaction design, and good visual design. Your level is also determined by the complexity of the problems you solve and how you navigate ambiguity. A senior designer will be highly generative of ideas and solutions, with deep ownership of the product vision and strategy.
If you’re an L5 UXD Amazon, you will get down leveled at most FAANG but higher tc.
Why downleveled?
Amazon has a poor design org.
Doubt any company will pay 380-400 for a senior designer
It’s possible in the Bay Area with strong interview performance and competing offers
At meta absolutely. IC6 easily earns 400k.
Jesus here I am full stack designer/engineer with 10 years UI/UX making 115k TC, I need to find a new job 😂 Good shit curburtc!! Hope you land it higher elsewhere 💰
Yeah, but location ?
The problem is “designer/engineer”
Seems out of band for Seattle L5. For reference premium plus locations (SF/NYC) L6 offers are around $380-$450k TC at FANG
What if I get promotion to L6 at Amazon and then move?
^ you should probably do this
You have a better chance of negotiating the offer up if you have 2-3 offers. Also be aware is small-mid companies and unicorns because stock prices fluctuate a lot and that can bring your TC vary greatly depending on the stock market, which of course way down right now. See how the stock measures up and its future trajectory when choosing a place. FAANGs are obviously a safer bet because hypothetically even if they don’t meet your TC expectations to the T, their stock value will probably keep rising with time (k minus Netflix). General benefits like health insurance options and wlb are also good parameters to keep in mind.
Fair point. I want to optimize for learning and growth at this point in my career and less towards wlb and stability. But financial growth is just as important to stay relevant and competitive in this highly imbalanced market and economy. In an ideal world, I would just stay where I am and be happy. The external circumstances are making me consider a change. Maybe I’m wrong. Who knows. Anyway, how do you like Asana? I wish they were more remote friendly.
I joined Asana with the intent to take a 1, max 2 year ‘break’ before rejoining the FAANG world. I’ve now indefinitely extended that timeline because the people here are too damn good. Good at what they do. Good people in general. People you actually look forward to meeting. The company’s big enough to have mature systems in place and also small enough where you can make significant impact as a designer. And I doubled my TC which was great too. (But that also happened coz I had offers from 3 FAANGs and 1 unicorn. Yes I loved to do interviews for fun back in the day.) And yes, they could do better on a couple of fronts including creating a better hybrid work structure. And then there’s the crazy stock volatility which hasn’t spared smaller companies like Asana this month. But overall I have very little to complain about.
World Conflicts
8h
343
Israeli precision-guided munition likely killed group of children playing foosball in Gaza, weapons experts say
Tech Industry
Yesterday
1182
Last good year to visit europe
World Conflicts
6h
318
Is "From the River to the Sea" So Wrong?
Tech Industry
Yesterday
3830
What happens when most of your team is Indian?
AMA
Yesterday
1128
PM Manager, early 40s, married and ENM (Ethical Non Monogamous) AMA
It’s a little high, but do you.