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Negotiation goes badly for a boring reason more often than a dramatic one: the candidate hasn't worked out their own numbers before the conversation starts. Knowing your take-home figure, what a raise compounds to over a few years, and how two offers compare once the benefits are priced in turns a stressful exchange into arithmetic you already did.
Compare offers on total value rather than base salary. Equity vesting schedules, employer pension contributions, health cover and commute cost routinely reorder two offers that looked a fixed distance apart on the headline number.
The scripts matter less than knowing when to stop. Ask once, clearly, with a number and a short reason for it. If the answer is a firm no on base pay, move to the things that are easier for the other side to say yes to, like a signing amount, a review date, or start date flexibility.
The tools
Work out your numbers before the conversation
Three figures are worth knowing cold before anyone asks about money: the take-home amount you'd actually receive each month, the total value of your current package once employer contributions are counted, and the number below which you'd decline. Having the third one settled in advance is what keeps a negotiation from turning into an improvisation you regret.
The gap between a headline salary and take-home pay surprises people constantly, particularly across countries or when moving between employment types. Run the number rather than estimating it, because a 15% raise that moves you into different territory on tax or loses you a benefit can be worth far less than it looks.
Comparing two offers properly
Price the whole package. Employer pension or retirement contribution, health cover and what it would cost you privately, equity and the schedule it actually vests on, bonus structure and whether it's discretionary, paid leave, and the cost in money and time of the commute. Two offers that look a fixed distance apart on base pay routinely swap places once these are counted.
Equity deserves particular scepticism at private companies. A number expressed in dollars is a number somebody chose. What matters is the percentage of the company, the vesting schedule, the strike price, and what has to happen for it to be worth anything.
Asking, and knowing when to stop
Ask once, clearly, with a specific number and a short reason grounded in the role rather than your personal circumstances. Then stop talking and let them respond. The most common self-inflicted wound is filling the silence by negotiating against yourself.
If the answer on base pay is a firm no, move to the things that are easier for the other side to approve: a signing amount, an earlier review date, a title, start date, or leave. Budgets for those often sit in different places, which is why a no on salary isn't a no on everything.
What each role actually pays
The calculators above work on a number you supply. These pages supply the number: the full distribution of advertised salaries for 43 roles across India, the UK and the US, with the sample size and measurement date on every figure, plus who is posting the role right now.
Related guides
Common questions
Should I give a number first?
If you have a well-researched figure, going first anchors the range in your favour. If you genuinely don't know the market, it's reasonable to ask what they've budgeted. In several jurisdictions employers must now disclose a range, so it's worth checking whether you can simply ask.
How much should I ask for in a raise?
Anchor on market rate for the work you're doing now rather than a percentage of your current pay, because a percentage compounds whatever underpayment already exists. Bring evidence of scope that grew since your salary was last set.
Is it risky to negotiate a job offer?
Having an offer withdrawn for negotiating once, politely, with a reasonable number is rare. What causes problems is renegotiating repeatedly after agreeing, or negotiating aggressively on something already stated as fixed.
Do these calculators send my salary anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is transmitted or stored on a server. There's no account and no signup.
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Equity mathematics: vesting schedules and what actually lands in your pocket
Equity is often the largest component of a tech package, and it's also the most misunderstood. A $400K offer that's 'half salary, half stock' sounds like $200K salary and $200K equity. What it actually means depends entirely on the vesting schedule. Stock vesting is usually four years with a one-year cliff, meaning you get zero of that equity for the first year, then one-quarter after year one, and the rest quarterly over years two through four. If you leave after eighteen months, you have half a year of additional vesting, so you're at roughly 37.5% of total equity. That $200K of equity becomes $75K. The headline $400K is misleading; your real year-one guaranteed comp is $200K salary, and your actual equity value depends on tenure.
This is where equity math becomes crucial. If Company A offers $200K salary plus 0.5% equity in a billion-dollar company, and Company B offers $250K salary plus 0.25% equity in a ten-million-dollar startup, the total value is the same in year four if both companies perform well. But Company B exposed you to the startup risk, and Company A is the safer bet. A simple calculation: 0.5% of $1B = $5M divided by four years = $1.25M per year. 0.25% of $10M = $25K per year. Company A's equity adds $1.25M annually. Company B's adds $25K. If the startup fails, Company B's equity is worthless. If it succeeds and grows to a billion-dollar valuation, that changes. But the expected value calculation today is clear: base salary plus conservative equity assessment.
Layered into this is tax treatment. Equity grants are usually in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) or options. RSUs are simpler: they're taxable at vesting as ordinary income at the fair market value at vesting time. Options can be more tax-efficient if they're incentive stock options (ISOs), but that depends on complex rules around exercise timing and holding periods. A compensation offer with $200K salary and $200K equity spread over four years needs to account for the fact that when equity vests, you'll owe taxes on the vested amount. If your tax bracket is 40%, you'll actually net $120K from the $200K equity after taxes, not $200K. The take-home math changes substantially.
Benefits pricing: the hidden component that reorders offers
A salary comparison that ignores benefits is incomplete and often wrong. Health insurance costs vary wildly. A company that subsidizes 100% of health premiums versus one that subsidizes 70% creates a $3K-$8K annual difference for a single person, more for families. Pension or 401(k) matching is pure money. A company that matches 6% of salary is adding $12K per year to someone earning $200K. A company that matches 3% is adding $6K. This difference is real, vests immediately in some cases, and directly hits your net wealth. Disability and life insurance are also benefits you pay for if your employer doesn't. These aren't luxury items; they're financial risk management that costs money if you self-insure.
Paid time off (PTO) is similarly quantifiable. A company offering fifteen days PTO annually versus twenty-five days is a difference of two-and-a-half weeks per year. If you value your time at your hourly rate (salary divided by 2000 working hours annually), that's worth calculating. Someone earning $150K with fifteen days of PTO is earning effectively less than someone earning $150K with twenty-five days, because the latter person works fewer hours. Stock purchase plans, commute benefits, gym subsidies, and learning budgets are real money that varies by company. Some offer all of them; some offer none. The difference accumulates.
The reason to price all this is that when you compare two offers, one might have higher base salary but lower benefits, and the other might be the opposite. An offer with $180K base salary and comprehensive benefits might be worth more than $200K base salary at a company that's stingy on everything else. The tooling to calculate this exists because the difference is real and material. A person who factors in benefits before accepting makes a decision on total value rather than headline salary, and that's more likely to produce long-term satisfaction.
Negotiation regret minimization: the framework that works
Most people negotiate badly not because they negotiate but because they negotiate anxiously. They ask for a number, get told no, and immediately back down. The framework that works is regret minimization: decide in advance what you'd regret not having, then commit to asking for it once, clearly, with a reason. Not begging. Not repeated asking. One clear ask. If it's a firm no, move to the next thing. This removes the emotional noise and the sense that you've failed. You know what you want, you asked for it, and the answer is what it is.
The specifics matter more than most people think. 'Can you improve the offer?' is vague. 'I'd like the base salary to be $200K. I'm comparing this to another offer at that level, and it would simplify my decision' is concrete. You named a number, named a reason, and gave context. That's a professional ask. The hiring manager has to make a yes-or-no decision. If it's yes, you got what you wanted. If it's no, you have clarity and can decide to accept or negotiate on something else. If the answer is 'we can't move on base, but we can accelerate your review to month six', that's useful information. You can accept or counter. The regret minimization is that you asked once, clearly, and didn't leave the conversation wondering whether you should have asked differently.
Where most negotiations fail is in the follow-up. You asked for base salary and heard no. Do you ask again? No. Do you ask for a signing bonus instead? Yes. Do you ask for an earlier review date? Yes. Do you negotiate the start date or work-from-home terms? Those are usually easier moves for the company than salary. The sequence matters: ask for the hard thing first, get told no, then ask for the easier things. The company is more likely to grant three small things they'd initially said no to than to grant the one big thing. By the end, you've moved the offer on multiple axes, the company feels like they've compromised, and you feel like you've been heard. That's usually where the best outcomes live.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my equity grant is worth anything?
Check your grant value (shares or units times share price at time of grant) and your company's stage. Pre-IPO private company equity is speculative; public company equity has a public value. Divide by four (typical vesting period) to get annual value, then discount by tax treatment and your personal assessment of company risk.
Should I negotiate equity if the salary is already high?
Yes, if the equity is low relative to the company's stage and your level. Equity is deferred compensation and is often easier for a company to adjust than base salary because it doesn't immediately hit payroll.
What's a typical benefits package?
Health (medical, dental, vision), retirement matching (usually 3-6%), fifteen-to-twenty-five days PTO, and some combination of parental leave, disability, and life insurance. Tech companies often add stock purchase plans, mental-health support, and commuter benefits.
If I move between markets with different costs of living, how do I adjust my ask?
Use a cost-of-living calculator for the new market, then scale your target salary accordingly. San Francisco salaries are higher than Midwest salaries for the same role, and that's normal. Don't anchor to your previous market.
I negotiated once and they said no. Should I negotiate again at the offer letter stage?
Not on the same item. But if they've added detail to the offer (like clarifying benefits), the offer letter is a final checkpoint to verify everything is as discussed. If something's wrong, address it then, not in the next negotiation.