What is a typical RSU package for amazon new grad?
I'm trying to understand how the math works. Amazon offers a 5/15/40/40 split
So im confused when I see on levels.fyi theres 30k stock options at amazon where is that coming from? does that mean year 2 theres 90k? and 250k years 3/4?
![Mid-Level Software Engineer [SDE 2] at Amazon company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Famazon_logo.jpg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Dff5f2302-08be-43bc-b7b1-d381ba508d99&w=48&q=75){kind=logo}
Discussion
(5 comments)- 223 days agoEntry-Level Software Engineer [SDE 1] at Amazon
In addition to the great points everyone mentioned here, Amazon backloads their stock grant because they essentially want to filter out only those who can make it from SDE 1 -> SDE 2 in ~2 years.
What you are seeing on levels.fyi is probably an average or some sort of calculation based off of the four years vesting.
- 1a month agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
For those who aren't familiar, the 5/15/40/40 split means:
- 5% of the equity package vests in year 1
- 15% of the equity package vests in year 2
- 40% of the equity package vests in year 3
- 40% of the equity package vests in year 4
(See this video which explains common compensation terms: Understand What You’re Negotiating For)
This differs from most companies (Meta, Google, etc) that vest an equal amount, 25%, each year. Amazon does this to incentivize people to stay at the company for a longer period of time.
To your question about what you see on levels.fyi: (screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/Zot8YYb) -- this is likely the aggregate data for how much equity the SDE 1 position gets. You'll have some SDE 1s who are in year 1, some in year 2, and probably a few in year 3 or 4. So $30K/year is the avg comp for an entry-level eng at Amazon.
$250K equity for an SDE 1 would be insanely high, I'm quite sure that is not the case. Amazon generally pays less than Meta and Google, so you can use the equivalent level compensation to sanity-check the results.
- 0
a month agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroFor FAANG junior, you usually don't get much equity, with most of your pay being salary. In the US, the typical package is between $175k - $200k and will look something like this:
- $150k salary
- $35k RSUs per year
Amazon is weird due to its backloaded vesting. To offset this and make your TC normal, they will give you a big signing bonus that vests across the first 2 years.
On a side note, I recommend learning more about equity as you won't get stock options at Amazon, just RSUs. Stock options are particularly for startups. Check out our tech pay explainer masterclass here: [Masterclass] Understanding And Optimizing Your Pay In Tech
- 0
a month agoSoftware EngineerTaro Communitywhen you say 35k/yr? is that an avg over the 4 years? so ur first year equity package is more like 5-10k?
- 0a month agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Yeah, in Amazon's case, the $35k/year would be an average (so it would be like ~$150k total across 4 years).
Your first year comp would be very cash heavy:
- $150k salary
- $7.5k RSUs (5% of $150k)
- $25k cash from a signing bonus which is prorated
Amazon should just get rid of their infamous backloading honestly. It's a nasty way to convince people to stay longer (assuming good stock growth), and it's so, so confusing.
