Salary negotiation for women in tech

Tech pay gaps run wider than the economy-wide average in most European markets — recent industry compensation data puts the unadjusted gap in European tech at over 20%, even though the "same job, same level" adjusted gap is much smaller. That gap between the two numbers is the story: women in tech aren't usually underpaid for the same role, they're underlevelled — hired in or promoted into lower bands than equally qualified men, which then compounds every year through equity vesting and level-based raises.

That changes what you should actually be negotiating.

Negotiate the level before the number

In most tech compensation structures, your level determines your entire band — base, bonus target, and equity grant size. A senior engineer negotiating a 10% higher offer within the wrong level will still end up behind someone hired directly into the correct level with no negotiation at all. If your experience matches the level above what you've been offered, that's the conversation to have first.

“"Based on the scope of this role and my experience with [specific comparable responsibility], I'd like to revisit whether this should be levelled as [higher level] rather than [offered level] — could we look at the levelling guide together?"”

Treat equity as a real, negotiable number

Equity grants are often quoted as a single headline number at hire, calculated against a share price that may not reflect actual liquidity value, vesting cliffs, or refresh policy. Ask directly: what's the vesting schedule, is there a cliff, and what does the refresh grant policy look like after year one? These questions signal you understand equity as compensation, not a nice-to-have.

For a promotion or levelling review, bring concrete scope evidence

Tech promotion cycles are usually scope-and-impact based rather than time-based. "I've been here three years" carries much less weight than "I led the migration that reduced infra cost by X%, which is [level]-scope work."

The script for a counter-offer that includes equity

“"I'm excited about this offer. Before I accept, I'd like to revisit two things: the base salary, and the vesting structure on the equity grant. On base, I was expecting something closer to [X] based on my research into comparable [level] roles. On equity, could you walk me through the refresh policy after the first year?"”

Asking about equity mechanics in the same breath as base salary reframes the entire negotiation as "full package," which is where the real money usually sits in tech offers.

If you want the general playbook this builds on, start with how to negotiate your salary as a woman, and use the counter-offer calculator to get a target base number before you go in. Our statistics page has the underlying pay gap data by region if you want to bring specifics to the conversation.