Director Salary Negotiation: How to Negotiate a Director Job Offer
If you’ve been extended an offer for a Director level role at a new company, congratulations! You should be proud of such a major accomplishment.
Whether in tech, finance, healthcare, or any other industry, working as at the Director level can be an incredibly fulfilling role. However, as excited as you may be about your role, there’s still one thing you need to think about: negotiating your Director salary.
In whatever field you’re in, Director careers require expert leadership, communication, and management skills—and your compensation should reflect these values you bring to the table.
If you’ve never negotiated a job offer before, we are here to show you how. Regardless of if you are negotiating a Senior Director salary, an Engineering Director salary, a Google Director salary, or even a TikTok Director salary, our negotiation strategies will help you secure competitive compensation.
In this article, we are going to share with you our step-by-step negotiation process that has helped Directors across many companies successfully negotiate their job offers and increase their total career earnings. Our strategies and key insights will help prepare you to approach your Director salary negotiation with confidence and success.
Don’t go through the director software engineering salary negotiation process alone! We have additional resources to help you negotiate director salary.
Get offer-specific advice from a Salary Negotiation Coach to guarantee success in your director product management salary negotiation or any other director level salary negotiation.
Take our Salary Negotiation Courses or download our Salary Negotiation Templates to receive our strategies, preparing you for all aspects of a director compensation negotiation.
Understanding the Compensation Components of a Director Salary
At the end of the day, every successful job negotiation comes down to the same thing: having a deep and detailed understanding of your total compensation package.
Even if an offer seems great, it’s impossible to know how competitive it really is without breaking down each of its different elements. Almost all compensation packages—including those for an IBM Director salary, Salesforce Director job, and Google Engineering Director salary—include multiple components that need to be evaluated and reviewed closely.
In addition to a base salary, many Directors will also be offered an annual performance bonus, initial equity package, sign-on bonus, and other benefits like remote work flexibility. An effective negotiation depends on understanding each of these components and the value they bring to your total compensation.
For example, here is what the total compensation for a Salesforce Director salary in product management may look like in the initial offer:
Salesforce Director Salary
If you’ve taken a look at your current offer and are a little unsure how each of the individual elements work, no worries! In the following section, we will go over some of the most common Director salary components—including software engineering director salary and product management director salary components—in more detail.
DIRECTOR SALARY
Out of your entire compensation package, you’ve probably spent the most time thinking about your Director base salary. As you know, your base salary is the fixed guaranteed pay that you receive in exchange for the work you do. It shouldn’t change based on your performance or any other external factors.
However, have you ever stopped to consider how your director level base salary is determined? The answer to this question is key to a successful negotiation.
In most cases, the company you work for will have different Director roles that each have different base pay ranges associated with them.
For example, the pay range for a Senior Director salary would be different from the range for a Senior Product Management Director salary at the same company—and the same goes for roles across different companies (i.e., an Amazon Director salary range will differ from an Apple Director salary range).
So why is identifying these pay ranges essential for your negotiation? Since initial offers rarely come in at the top end of their pay bands, if you know what the pay range for your specific role type is, you can try to negotiate to the top end of that range.
DIRECTOR PERFORMANCE BONUS
Most Director salary packages will also include an annual performance bonus.
A Director’s performance bonus is typically a percentage of their base salary. That specific percentage is almost always dependent on both your personal performance and the performance of the company you work for. So unlike a base salary which is fixed, your performance bonus could fluctuate based on the targets you or your company hit.
While it’s possible that you or your company could outperform your goals and exceed the target percentage of your annual performance bonus, it’s not something to bet on before you work there. Instead, you should assume the average bonus payout when evaluating and negotiating this component of your compensation package.
While the targets in a Director performance bonuses are typically non-negotiable, that doesn’t mean that they won’t increase with the negotiation. Don’t forget that your performance bonus is usually a percentage of your base salary—so the higher you negotiate your Director base salary, the higher your bonus could be.
DIRECTOR EQUITY PACKAGES
Another huge compensation component you need to consider is your Director equity package. Director equity is a highly sought-after compensation component in these types of roles.
If you receive equity in your initial job offer, it could be offered as either RSUs (restricted stock units or restricted stock awards) or stock options. This grant will include a bundle of shares or options that vest over a defined timeframe (i.e., four years), called a vesting schedule.
The good news is that Director equity packages can make a huge difference in your total compensation. However, it’s important to note that the value of this equity can change based on the market value of the company you work for.
For example, in a Microsoft Director salary package you’ll benefit if Microsoft’s share value goes up, but you’ll take a loss if their share value goes down. So when evaluating this aspect of your total compensation package, make sure to keep these fluctuations in mind. And also always remember that if you leave the company before the equity vests, you risk forgoing your unvested equity.
Fortunately, equity is usually negotiable for Directors which is why we typically push for more equity in our director level salary negotiations.
DIRECTOR SIGN-ON BONUS
Almost all Directors should receive a sign-on bonus in their job offers—it just might take some negotiating first. A Director sign-on bonus is a one-time bonus that incentives you to take the offer. It can also be used to cover any lost bonuses or unvested equity at your previous job.
Your company might not offer a Director signing bonus at first, which is why it’s so important to know how to negotiate for one. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on maximizing your compensation.
Over the years, we’ve had countless successes helping secure large Director signing bonuses—even when the person wasn’t walking away from money at their current company. So don’t be afraid to negotiate for a Director sign-on bonus even if one wasn’t extended to you initially.
Most Director’s sign-on bonuses are paid in one lump sum within the first 30 days of employment. However, be aware that you’ll typically need to pay the bonus back if you leave the company within your first year (or other designated timeframe).
Other companies might approach sign-on bonuses differently. For example, the Amazon Director salary package includes sign-on bonuses in year one and year two—which will be paid out monthly instead of in one lump sum payment.
DIRECTOR EQUITY REFRESHER
Another element of your Director job offer to evaluate is your equity refresher.
While it’s possible to receive an equity refresher (more stock) as a Director, in most cases the recruiters will intentionally withhold the stock refresher details. This practice is common for Google Director salary offers and other industries that offer this annual equity perk.
Due to this, you should ask the hiring team to share more about the amount and timeline of the Director stock refresher. However, be prepared for them to still withhold sharing any specific details. Because hiring teams often withhold these details, we don’t include this component in our total compensation calculation.
DIRECTOR BENEFITS AND PERKS
Like any job, a Director’s benefits and perks will look very different depending on the specific company you work for. However, some of the most common Director benefits extended in these types of roles are things like 401K retirement plans, health insurance, or even unlimited vacation.
In some cases, Directors are offered the benefit of remote work flexibility. We recommend bringing this up during the interview process if it’s important to you. Unfortunately, most other Director benefits are usually non-negotiable. However, it is possible in some cases to get changes approved via an under-the-table agreement with your future hiring manager (i.e., your manager will be more flexible with stipends and expenses).
Five Key Steps to Negotiate a Director Job Offer
Now that we’ve covered the most common salary components of not only a Director compensation package, but also other Director levels and roles (i.e., a Senior Director Engineering salary), it’s time for the part you’ve been waiting for: learning how to negotiate for an improved Director job offer.
The following negotiation steps should only be followed once you have an official offer in hand. Otherwise, you’ll be forfeiting any leverage you have.
The steps listed below have helped hundreds of career professionals negotiate their job offers successfully. While these are the key steps to a director salary negotiation, we strongly recommend directors work with a Salary Negotiation Coach to guarantee success and get all of our strategies.
1) UNDERSTAND THE COMPONENTS OF YOUR DIRECTOR SALARY
This first step should be a simple one since we’ve covered it already.
As a brief reminder, make sure to review your Director compensation package for a base salary, performance bonus, initial equity grant, director sign-on bonus, and any benefits and perks. Understanding the different elements that make up your total compensation is key to any successful negotiation.
You can use our Total Compensation Calculator to calculate your Director compensation components in this step if needed.
2) COMPLETE DUE DILIGENCE ON YOUR DIRECTOR JOB OFFER BY ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
Once you have carefully evaluated all of the different elements of your compensation package, the next step is to start asking strategic questions. Doing so can help you establish an effective Director counteroffer, and it communicates to the recruiting team that you are taking the offer seriously.
Not sure what sort of things you should ask? Start by asking for clarity on any items that the recruiter may have been vague about (i.e., What is the expected equity refresher each year for this role?). The answers you collect will include important data points you can use in your negotiation.
We suggest starting this phase of the negotiation right after you receive the Director job offer. And if you’re having trouble coming up with questions to ask, you can use our list of Strategic Questions to Build Negotiation Leverage.
3) RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY WHAT DIRECTOR SALARY SHOULD LOOK LIKE
As we mentioned before, the salary ranges for Directors will vary by company and level, meaning you’ll have to do some research to understand how competitive your current offer is and how much you should counter for.
It’s key that your research is specific to your exact role type (i.e., is it a Senior Director Engineering salary or a Product Management Director salary) and where it’s located (i.e., is it a Director salary NYC or Director salary San Francisco), whether that be in-person, hybrid, or remote.
There are many resources you can use in your research, such as PayScale or Comparably. However, keep in mind that ranges on these types of sites are publicly reported by current or past employees, meaning the pay they indicate could be different from what is now offered to new employees. Comparing pay data from different resources can help you identify the most accurate information. You can also use our Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool to help you with your compensation research and identifying the pay ranges for your role.
And if you’re ever surprised by the pay data you uncover, here’s something to remember: in any job offer you accept, you’ll ultimately be expected to manage the same responsibilities as anyone hired for that same position. You should almost always push for at least the mid- to top-end of the total pay range for your Director role regardless of your experience or background.
4) SEND A DIRECTOR COUNTEROFFER TO THE RECRUITER
Now comes the exciting step in the process: sending over your Director counteroffer.
By following the first three steps above, you should now be prepared to present your Director salary counter to the recruiter with references to your pay data findings and how the benefits in your offer differ from other companies and/or your current role.
While you can present your new ask over the phone, we always recommend that you do so through email. Drafting an email gives you the time and space to write out exactly what you want to say, minimizing the chance of going off-topic. It also gives the recruiter something they can easily forward on and share internally with their team.
Whatever medium you choose to present your counter in, always do so professionally and kindly—this is your first chance to showcase what you would be like to work alongside. To ensure proper communication, use our Counter offer email templates for examples to help you formulate a strategic counter.
5) HANDLE ANY OBJECTIONS AND KNOW YOU ACHIEVED THE BEST DIRECTOR SALARY
In rare cases, the hiring team will immediately respond to your counter with an updated offer package. However, it’s much more likely they will come back to you with a list of reasons why they can’t make any increases or changes to the Director compensation package.
If this happens, don’t panic—this is very normal. Respond professionally by stating you understand their constraints, but ask again if they could take your counter back to their team for one last look (You can use our Objection Handling Scripts for help on the specific responses to use). The bottom line: you should still ask even if they insist their team will just say no.
Once they agree to take your thoughts back to their team, they should return with a better offer. If the updated compensation package aligns with the pay bands you researched and meets your needs, you should be ready to send an offer acceptance email to lock it in!
Mistakes to Avoid During Your Director Salary Negotiation
Even though we’ve just explained how you can negotiate effectively, there’s still one more thing we need to go over: common mistakes made during Director salary negotiations. Below we’ve listed some of the top things you should make sure to avoid when you negotiate your Director job offer.
AVOID SHARING SALARY EXPECTATIONS BEFORE YOU GET A DIRECTOR JOB OFFER
Many Director’s don’t know that sharing salary expectations before you receive an official offer often works against you.
Here’s how this scenario could play out: If you share a lower Director Product salary or Director of Product Design salary than what the company could offer, they will be incentivized to possibly offer you that lower compensation or down level you. On the flip side, if you share a number higher than what they could offer, there is a chance that they could become disinterested and choose a different candidate over you. During any job search or negotiation process, never forget that recruiting teams are working for the company, not you.
Practically speaking, it also doesn’t make much sense to discuss your salary expectations—even for an Apple Senior Director salary or a Google Senior Director salary—before you learn more about the specific Director role, its compensation package, and whether those aspects feel like a good fit for you. After all, you’re also interviewing them to see if this role is something you want to pursue. If you feel pressured to share your salary expectations, be sure to overcome these tactics by responding like this.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO NEGOTIATE A DIRECTOR SALARY
Many job seekers shy away from negotiations because they fear offending the recruiting team or losing the job offer altogether.
However, you’ll be encouraged to know that we’ve helped facilitate hundreds of successful salary negotiations and we’ve never seen a company rescind a Director level job offer because of an attempted negotiation. Don’t let salary negotiation myths keep you from negotiating for improved compensation.
BE REALISTIC BY DOING YOUR DIRECTOR SALARY RESEARCH
Even though Directors are in high demand and their roles pay well, you should still be realistic about what compensation you ask for in your negotiation.
To do this, make sure that your pay data research is specific to your exact role. You only want to push for compensation that the company can realistically provide. For example, the compensation for an Nvidia Director salary might look different than the compensation for a Meta Director salary.
The Bottom Line: Negotiate Your Director Salary
Ultimately, we believe that all Directors—regardless of background or experience—can and should negotiate their job offers. If you want to guarantee success in your director salary negotiation, get Salary Negotiation Coaching from us. Our experience helping directors negotiate job offers will ensure you negotiate competitive director compensation.
We also have our How to Negotiate a Job Offer and How to Negotiate Current Salary courses, and Salary Negotiation Scripts & Templates if you prefer to learn at your own pace and want to gain the confidence and tools to negotiate your compensation confidently and successfully.