Negotiating Your Offer

If you're coming off a FAANG loop, an IBM offer will look low. It is. The pay sits below the big names at every band, and the package is built differently. A FAANG package leans on equity, often forty to sixty percent of the total. IBM leans on cash, with base salary somewhere between 86 and 98 percent of total comp from Band 6 through Band 9. The stock is modest and arrives late, and the bonus is small. The number your recruiter quotes is, near enough, your base.

So the room to move is in the cash, not the grant. Most candidates arrive with habits learned on other offers, and those habits point at the wrong line here. Before you counter, get the full breakdown in writing and know exactly which number you're asking IBM to change.