Glossary
Tech compensation and leveling glossary
Every tech offer is written in jargon: TC, RSUs, a one-year cliff, an L5 band, a refresh grant. The terms below are the ones that actually decide what you are paid. Each definition is plain English with a worked example and a note on how it affects your offer, so you can read a package, compare two of them, and negotiate from a position of understanding.
Compensation
Base salary
Base salary is the fixed, guaranteed cash an employer pays you for your work, before bonus, equity, or any other variable component.
Salary band
A salary band is the published or internal pay range a company attaches to a level, defining the minimum, midpoint, and maximum base salary for everyone at that level.
Total compensation (TC)
Total compensation, or TC, is the full annual value of a job offer: base salary plus the annualised value of equity, the target bonus, and any amortised signing bonus.
Equity & stock
Equity refresh
An equity refresh is a new stock grant given to existing employees, usually annually, to top up vesting equity and prevent your total compensation from dropping after the initial grant runs out.
RSU
An RSU, or restricted stock unit, is a promise from your employer to give you company shares on a future schedule, with no cost to you when they vest.
Stock options
Stock options give you the right to buy company shares at a fixed strike price; they have upside if the company grows but can be worthless if the share price never exceeds the strike.
Vesting cliff
A vesting cliff is an initial period, usually one year, during which you earn no equity at all; reach the cliff and a first chunk vests in one go, after which the rest vests gradually.
Leveling & titles
Engineering levels (L3-L7)
Engineering levels like L3 through L7 are a company's internal ladder that maps a role to a scope of impact and a pay band, from entry-level engineer up to staff and principal.
Individual contributor (IC)
An individual contributor, or IC, is an employee who delivers work directly rather than managing people, and most companies run a senior IC track that pays as well as management.
Staff engineer
A staff engineer is a senior individual contributor (often L6 or E6) whose impact spans multiple teams, setting technical direction rather than just shipping features.
Offers & negotiation
Put the terms to work
Once the jargon makes sense, the next step is the numbers. Check whether an offer is competitive, compare markets, or read the full negotiation framework.