How to negotiate your Amazon job offer

salary-negotiationamazonequity-compensationbig-tech-careers

Abstraction: Strategies for negotiating Amazon's unique compensation structure

Key points:

Amazon RSU vesting is back-loaded: 5% year 1, 15% year 2, 40% year 3, 40% year 4 — unlike typical linear vesting — creating strong incentive to stay past year 2
Base salary cap around $320k; beyond that, Amazon compensates via equity and sign-on bonuses rather than increasing base salary
Sign-on bonuses (larger in year 1, smaller in year 2) exist to bridge the gap while equity is sparse in early years
Never disclose current salary or expectations; let Amazon make the first offer and negotiate from there
Counter on base salary first; if near the cap, focus negotiation on equity and sign-on bonus; on average, negotiation coaching yielded an extra ~$69-74k in year-one compensation

Connections: Amazon · Salary Negotiation · Equity Compensation