When to negotiate the title during the interview process?

Closing the loop on this one - I signed the contract and joining the new company pretty soon. Super excited about the work they are doing!

To be honest, their initial offer was already better than my current total comp. Alex, you were absolutely correct; the staff-level negotiation was a completely different discussion. I didn't press too much on the Staff title, but, with your guidance I was able to negotiate a more than 50% salary increase and a 20% bump in stock options. That's definitely a win 😊

I don't think I would have achieved this without your insights on leverage.

Thank you so much!

I think you should make it clear that you're really targeting a staff offer as soon as possible in the process.

Companies have much more leverage and far less patience in the current market where good candidates are a dime a dozen. I've seen offers rescinded from too much back-and-forth, so I would save the company that extra iteration cycle and not automatically reply to their senior offer with "Sorry, can I get a staff one?".

In terms of leverage, you can try using the following:

1. Your progress towards staff (if you have been getting far above average ratings in past performance reviews, share those)
2. Your compensation if it's top-of-band (if you're already top-of-band L5, then bottom-of-band L6 isn't a huge stretch)
3. Your inertia for staying - If you like your current position, you can tell this other company so they understand it will take an extra special offer to get you to undergo the thrash of switching jobs.

For extra resources on negotiation:

• The #1 Rule Of Negotiation - How To Avoid Giving A Number
• How to Negotiate a Big Tech Offer as a Software Engineer - Pragmatic Engineer and Rahul