Across the 312 technology mandates our practice is running right now, VP of Engineering base salary in the US clusters between $220k and $280k, with the spread driven almost entirely by company stage rather than city. A Series B startup and a public company in the same metro can be $60k apart on base and still land the same candidate — because the conversation was never only about base.
Total cash — base plus target bonus — typically adds another 10–15% on top of base at growth-stage companies, and closer to 20% at public companies with formal bonus plans. Equity is where the real variance lives, and it is also where most hiring managers underprepare for the negotiation.
Canada runs roughly 15–20% below equivalent US bands on a currency-adjusted basis, though total comp gaps narrow when benefits and cost of living are factored in. The UAE offers tax-free base pay that often lands close to US cash comp once you remove the tax differential — but equity is rarer outside VC-backed local players. India VP Engineering roles at global-capability-center scale now command comp that would have been unthinkable five years ago, with the widest range of any market we track.
The gap between markets is widening, not narrowing, largely because US and Canadian equity culture hasn't fully transplanted into the other two markets yet — which changes how a candidate should think about total comp, not just cash.
Most VP Engineering offers at venture-backed companies include an equity grant vesting over four years, typically with a one-year cliff. What varies enormously is the strike price, the 409A valuation at grant, and — critically — whether the company will let the candidate exercise options after departure on anything other than the standard 90-day window.
We walk every VP-level candidate through the mechanics before an offer is even extended, because a candidate who doesn't understand their own equity grant is a candidate who negotiates badly, accepts anxiously, and is more likely to leave once they actually read the paperwork.
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