2026 Salary Report by Role

PLAN2FOLIO Editor

2026년 3월 30일

Salary Benchmarks Series

2026 Salary Report by Role:
The Full Picture

Most salary benchmarks are built from last year's data, massaged into a range too wide to be useful. This report cuts through: real numbers by function, level, and market — plus the variables that actually move your comp.

📅 Updated January 2026 ⏱ 12-min read 📍 US-focused · Global context included

How to Use This Report What Moves Your Number Tech & Engineering Marketing & Strategy Sales & RevOps Beyond Base Salary FAQ

Here's the uncomfortable truth about salary data: by the time it gets packaged into a clean report, aggregated across industries, smoothed for outliers, and published, it's already a snapshot of the past. The company that paid you $95K two years ago and the company offering $140K today are operating in the same labor market — they've just been reading different benchmarks.

This report is built for 2026. It draws on compensation data from major employers across tech, finance, and professional services — supplemented by publicly disclosed salary bands (Colorado, New York, and California pay transparency laws have made a surprising amount of real data available) and self-reported figures from Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn Salary Insights.

All figures are in USD. If you're in the UK, Canada, or Australia, the percentile logic — which roles sit above or below market, which variables drive premiums — applies directly. The dollar amounts don't, so I'll flag purchasing power anchors where it helps.

📊 A Note on the Numbers

Salary ranges here represent the 25th–75th percentile for each role/level combination in US major markets (NYC, SF, Seattle, Chicago, Austin). The top of a range isn't the ceiling — it's where 25% of comparable professionals actually land. Location adjustments, equity, and bonuses are addressed separately.

How to Use This Report

This is a pillar document. Think of it as the map — it tells you which territory to explore. Three deep-dive reports cover the detail:

💻

Tech & Engineering

SWE, PM, Data, AI/ML — by level and specialization

Read C-3-C1 →

📣

Marketing, Strategy & HR

Brand, content, ops, people — the full range

Read C-3-C2 →

🎯

Sales & Revenue Ops

AE, SDR, RevOps, CS — base + OTE explained

Read C-3-C3 →

Use this page to calibrate your overall market position, understand the variables driving comp differences, and identify where you sit relative to the total rewards picture. Use the deep-dives to get the specific number for your role.

If you're actively negotiating, pair this with the Salary Negotiation Playbook (C-1-P) — the numbers only matter if you can actually get them on the table.

What Actually Moves Your Number

Before looking at any benchmark, understand what makes the same title worth $90K at one company and $160K at another.

🏢

Company size and funding stage

Series A startups pay lower base but grant more equity (and carry more risk). Public companies at scale pay market or above, with fewer surprises. FAANG and equivalent hyperscalers (Microsoft, Salesforce, Stripe) run compensation models that most employers simply can't match on cash or RSUs. Being inside vs. outside that tier isn't a judgment — it's a different comp philosophy.

📍

Location (or lack of one)

San Francisco and New York run 30–45% above national median. Seattle, Boston, and LA run 20–30% above. Austin, Denver, and Chicago cluster around 10–15% above. Remote-first companies have largely converged on a tiered model — you're paid to your location's market, not your employer's headquarters. A fully remote role at a SF company paying "SF rates regardless of location" is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.

⚡

Specialization and current demand

In 2026, AI/ML engineering, security, and certain fintech specializations command premiums of 20–40% over generalist counterparts. The same is true in non-tech: revenue operations (RevOps) pays meaningfully above traditional sales ops; marketing roles with demonstrable attribution and growth skills outpace brand generalists. Scarcity pricing is real. If you have a skill that companies are actively competing for, your title's average means little.

📈

Level — and whether your level matches the market's label

Levels are not standardized across companies. A "Senior" at a 50-person startup may do the work of a "Staff" at Google. When benchmarking, calibrate by scope and output — not by what's on your business card. L5 at Google, Staff SWE at Stripe, and Senior SWE at a Series C startup occupy entirely different comp bands despite overlapping job descriptions.

🎯

Whether you negotiated

This one rarely shows up in benchmark reports, but it might be the biggest variable. Research consistently shows that professionals who negotiate at offer see base salary 7–15% higher than those who don't — and that gap compounds. Two people in identical roles at the same company can be $15–20K apart simply because one asked and one didn't. The benchmark is the floor, not the target.

2026 Salary Overview: Cross-Functional Snapshot

25th–75th percentile base salary in USD. Major US markets. See deep-dive articles for full breakdowns by level and specialization.

Role / Function	Level	Salary Range (Base)	Notes
💻 Tech & Engineering
Software Engineer	Mid	$120K – $165K	+equity at scale cos
Software Engineer	Senior	$155K – $215K	Wide range by employer tier
AI / ML Engineer	Mid–Senior	$165K – $260K	High demand premium
Product Manager	Senior / Principal	$145K – $210K	Bonus often 15–20%
Data Scientist	Mid–Senior	$125K – $185K	ML skills push upper end
📣 Marketing, Strategy & HR
Marketing Manager	Mid–Senior	$85K – $130K	Growth/demand skews higher
Director of Marketing	Director	$135K – $190K	Equity common at startups
Strategy / BizOps	Associate–Manager	$100K – $160K	Consulting background lifts floor
HR Business Partner	Mid–Senior	$90K – $140K	Undervalued vs. scope
🎯 Sales & Revenue Ops
Account Executive (SaaS)	Mid-Market	$75K – $110K base	OTE $150K–$200K
Account Executive (SaaS)	Enterprise	$110K – $160K base	OTE $220K–$320K+
Revenue Operations	Manager	$110K – $155K	Fastest-growing function
Customer Success	Enterprise CSM	$85K – $130K	Expansion quota adds upside

* OTE = On-Target Earnings (base + full commission at quota). Sales comp structures addressed fully in C-3-C3.

Tech & Engineering: What's Driving Comp in 2026

The full breakdown is in C-3-C1. Here's what's changed and what to know before you negotiate.

The post-2022 correction in tech hiring is behind us. By mid-2025, demand had rebounded — selectively. Generalist software engineers at mid-level saw only modest comp recovery. AI/ML, security, and infrastructure specialists saw compensation move to levels that looked anomalous two years ago and are now table stakes.

The employer tier gap has widened. A Senior SWE at a top-10 tech company (Levels.fyi L5/E5 equivalent) earns $250–350K+ in total compensation when you include RSUs. The same person at a well-funded Series C startup might take $185–220K all-in — with meaningful equity upside that may or may not materialize. Neither is "wrong." They're different bets.

📌 The AI premium isn't cooling

Roles requiring hands-on experience with LLMs, RAG systems, fine-tuning, or AI infrastructure command a 20–40% premium over comparable generalist roles. This premium is not a bubble moment — enterprise AI adoption means this demand is structural through at least 2027. If you're adjacent to this space, leaning in is a career finance decision, not just a technical one.

For role-level breakdowns including Staff, Principal, and Distinguished Engineer tiers — plus PM and data science — see the full tech salary report (C-3-C1).

Marketing, Strategy & HR: The Gap Between Title and Value

These functions have the widest comp spread of any group — same title, 2× difference in pay is not rare.

The marketing function has bifurcated. Generalist brand and content roles pay at or below inflation-adjusted 2020 levels at most companies. Performance and growth marketing roles — where you can demonstrate a direct line from your decisions to revenue — are getting priced more like sales. If you're a marketing professional and you can't currently tell the story of how your work drove pipeline or revenue, that's worth fixing before your next comp conversation.

Strategy and BizOps continues to attract professionals coming out of consulting. Entry-level BizOps at a tech company often pays better than a second-year associate consultant position, with the added benefit of having equity and faster scope expansion. The ceiling is real: at the VP/Director level, BizOps leaders at scaled companies routinely earn $200–275K total comp.

HR and people operations remain structurally undercompensated relative to the complexity of the role. The exception: HR Business Partners (HBPs) at large tech companies, where the HRBP — an HR professional embedded with a business unit rather than sitting in a central people team — earns $130–175K and handles work that would require three specialists at a traditional company. Full breakdown in C-3-C2.

Sales & Revenue Ops: Read the OTE, Not Just the Base

Sales comp is constructed differently from other functions. Comparing base salaries is comparing the wrong thing.

In sales, your base salary is usually set to cover living costs and provide stability — the real comp story is the On-Target Earnings (OTE), which includes your commission at full quota attainment. A $90K base AE role with $200K OTE is a very different conversation from a $90K base marketing manager role. This is not complicated math, but it trips up a lot of people when comparing across functions.

Revenue Operations has become the highest-growth function in the go-to-market stack. RevOps professionals — who sit at the intersection of sales, marketing, and customer success, managing the systems, data, and processes that drive revenue — are now commanding comp that reflects their leverage. A strong RevOps Manager at a $50M–$500M ARR company is often more valuable than the person's title implies, and the comp is catching up to that reality.

⚠️ The quota attainment problem

OTE is meaningless if quota is set above what's achievable. Before accepting a sales offer, ask: "What percentage of the team hit quota last year?" A healthy number is 60–70%. Below 50% is a red flag — either the quota model is broken or the product isn't selling. Either way, that OTE is aspirational, not realistic.

Full OTE breakdowns by role, segment, and product type are in C-3-C3.

Beyond Base Salary: The Rest of the Comp Stack

At many companies, especially in tech, base salary is less than half the story.

BONUS

Annual Performance Bonus

Typically 5–25% of base for individual contributors, 15–40%+ for managers and directors. Usually tied to company performance + individual rating. At companies with formal calibration cycles, your performance rating directly gates your bonus percentage — one of the most financially consequential outputs of a performance review that people consistently underestimate. See C-2-C2: Bonus Structures Decoded.

EQUITY

RSUs and Stock Options

RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) at public companies vest over 4 years and are taxed as ordinary income when they vest. The annual RSU grant at large tech companies for a Senior SWE can easily be $50–100K+. This is real compensation, not a lottery ticket. Options at private companies are a different story — your strike price, the company's last valuation, and the likelihood of a liquidity event are all variables. Don't let a large option grant substitute for a fair salary unless you genuinely believe in the outcome and can afford to wait.

BENEFITS

The Benefits Layer

Health insurance in the US is not a perk — it's structural compensation with real dollar value. Employer-sponsored health coverage for a family can be worth $15–25K annually at cost. A 401(k) match of 4–6% of salary on a $120K base is $4,800–7,200 per year in free money. Remote work equipment stipends, learning budgets, and FSA/HSA contributions add another $2–6K. For a full methodology on valuing your benefits package, see C-2-C3: Benefits as Compensation.

SIGN-ON

Sign-On Bonus

Sign-on bonuses are negotiable in a way that base salary often isn't — particularly at companies with rigid salary bands. A $10–30K sign-on is common at senior roles in tech, and is sometimes used to bridge the gap when an employer can't move the base. Important: most sign-ons have a clawback clause if you leave within 1–2 years. Read the fine print before treating it as guaranteed income.

The Total Comp Math

Always benchmark on total compensation, not just base.

A $140K base role with 20% bonus, $40K in RSUs, and generous benefits can be worth $220K+ annually. A $160K base role with no equity, a thin bonus, and employee-paid health insurance might come out behind. Comparing base-to-base without accounting for the rest is how people accidentally take pay cuts while chasing higher salaries.

Location Adjustments: A Quick Reference

US figures are the baseline. Use these adjusters as a rough guide if you're calibrating for other markets.

Market	vs. US National Median	Context
SF Bay Area	+35–45%	Highest base comp globally for most tech roles
New York City	+30–40%	Finance premium; strong for non-tech functions
Seattle	+25–35%	Amazon, Microsoft, and their ecosystems
Austin / Denver	+10–18%	Growing hubs; lower cost of living offsets gap
Chicago / Atlanta	+5–12%	Strong for finance, consulting, enterprise SaaS
UK (London)	~60–70% of US equiv.	NHS and pension offset some gap; equity less common
Canada (Toronto/Vancouver)	~55–65% of US equiv.	CAD figures; US remote roles increasingly accessible
Australia (Sydney/Melbourne)	~65–75% of US equiv.	AUD figures; superannuation adds ~11% effective comp

These are rough adjusters, not precise conversions. Cost of living, tax structure, and benefits systems differ significantly — a UK or AU professional earning the "lower" figure in USD equivalent may be doing better in real purchasing terms after accounting for healthcare, public services, and retirement contributions.

Pay Transparency in 2026: Use It

Laws requiring salary range disclosures in job postings have fundamentally changed how you should research compensation.

Colorado started it in 2021. New York City followed. California expanded requirements. By 2026, a significant share of US employers — including most large companies hiring nationally — either are legally required to post salary ranges or have adopted it as standard practice to remain competitive in attracting candidates.

What this means in practice: before your next negotiation, search LinkedIn and the company's jobs page for the same or similar roles. Even if your state doesn't require disclosure, a company posting for the same position in Colorado or New York will show the range. That's your anchor.

✅ The Transparency Research Checklist

Search the company's open roles in NY, CO, or CA — even if the job you want is remote
Check Levels.fyi for tech roles — the self-reported data is now large enough to be reliable
LinkedIn Salary Insights shows ranges for your exact title and geography
Glassdoor and Blind have noise, but enough signal to triangulate
If you're in the interview process: it's now normal — and often legal — to ask for the band before the offer

Knowledge is leverage. The person walking into a negotiation knowing the employer's band is simply better positioned than the person who isn't. This information is available. Go get it.

FAQ

How current is this data? ↓

All figures reflect compensation data compiled as of Q4 2025 through Q1 2026. For high-velocity roles (AI/ML, security), the market moves fast — treat these as a floor and verify against real-time sources like Levels.fyi and current job postings with disclosed ranges before any specific negotiation.

My company doesn't have levels. How do I calibrate? ↓

Benchmark by scope and output rather than title. Ask yourself: what would this job description look like at a company that does use levels? Someone managing a team of 6, owning a $2M budget, and directly presenting to VP-level leadership is operating at a Senior Manager or Director level by most frameworks — regardless of what their badge says. Then find comp data for that equivalent level.

I'm below the 25th percentile. What does that mean? ↓

It means you're being paid below what 75% of people in comparable roles are earning — and you should do something about it. Start with your current employer: come with data, frame it as a market alignment conversation, and ask for a correction. If they can't move, this benchmark data is your business case for a job search. The longer you stay below market, the harder the compounding gap becomes to recover. Don't wait for your annual review — this is a separate conversation.

Do these ranges apply to remote roles? ↓

It depends on the employer's philosophy. Most large companies now pay to location: if you're in Austin, you're paid Austin rates even if the company HQ is in San Francisco. A minority — particularly some high-profile remote-first companies — pay a single national or international rate regardless of location. If you're evaluating a remote role, ask explicitly: "Does the comp band vary by location?" The answer will tell you a lot about the offer math.

What if I'm outside the US? ↓

The US-centric figures won't translate directly, but the frameworks do. The variables that move your comp (specialization, employer tier, negotiation, level calibration) work the same way in London, Toronto, or Sydney. Use local data sources — Glassdoor by country, LinkedIn Salary Insights filtered to your market, and local industry reports — for the actual numbers. Then apply the same critical thinking: is your role below the local 50th percentile? Is your specialization in demand? Did you negotiate?

Key Takeaways

What to Do With This Data

Benchmark on total comp, not base. RSUs, bonuses, and benefits can be worth 30–60% of your base. A higher salary offer isn't always a better offer.

Calibrate your level honestly. Your title at a small company may not match the market level. Find the equivalent and benchmark that.

Use pay transparency laws. Post-disclosure data is out there. Use it as your anchor before any negotiation.

If you're below the 25th percentile, act now. This gap compounds annually. A conversation today is worth far more than waiting for your next cycle.

Specialization is comp arbitrage. In-demand skills (AI, RevOps, security, growth) command real premiums that exceed what most managers can justify ignoring.