Career Negotiations Podcast

Program Manager Salary Negotiation - How to Negotiate Program Manager Compensation

• Brandon Bramley

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Do you know how to negotiate Program Manager compensation? In this episode, I cover Program Manager compensation packages, my proven step-by-step Program Manager salary negotiation strategies, and some common mistakes to avoid during a Program Manager offer negotiation.

That way you have negotiation advice that is based on hundreds of salary negotiations and actually work for Program Managers.

SALARY NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED

PROGRAM MANAGER SALARY NEGOTIATION RESOURCES

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WHO AM I

I'm Brandon, the Founder and Lead Negotiator at The Salary Negotiator®. As a former corporate negotiator, I now help employees increase their compensation. Through hundreds of salary negotiations, I've helped career professionals secure over $200 million in additional compensation. My expertise is backed by more than 150 five-star reviews from career professionals on Google and Trustpilot.

Why Program Managers Should Negotiate

Brandon

Program managers typically receive competitive compensation at perks, but how are you gonna know if your program manager job offer is competitive before you accept it? In this episode, my goal is to cover everything you're gonna need to confidently navigate a program manager's salary negotiation. I'm first gonna cover the compensation package structure for most program manager roles so you know more about the program manager's base salary, bonus, equity package, and sign up bonuses. That way you know exactly what to expect in an offer. Then I'm gonna walk you through my five recommended steps for negotiating a program manager's job offer that are proven through real program manager's salary negotiations that I've led from my clients. That way you can filter out some of the bad advice out there and use salary negotiations that are actually gonna work in your career. And then I'll close out with my episode with highlighting three common mistakes you should avoid in a program manager's salary negotiation. That way you don't risk the opportunity and you do actually secure competitive compensation. So let's dive right into it. Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Brandon Bramley and I'm the founder and lead negotiator at the salary negotiator.com. I provide professional job off for negotiation coaching and salary negotiation courses and tools to professionals like you to help you navigate the salary negotiation process and secure competitive comp. I'm not just a career coach or a recruiter giving out generic salary negotiation advice. There's already enough bad advice floating around online. Instead, I've actually led hundreds of salary negotiations across various roles and help my clients to secure hundreds of millions more in compensation. My background is actually in strategic negotiations, and my goal is to debunk some of the bad advice out there to give you proven negotiation strategies that will actually help you earn more in your career. So if you're a career professional and you're looking to earn competitive pay, subscribe here for some of my actionable tips. And when you're ready to take your negotiations to the next level, visit me at thesalarynegotiator.com for my coaching courses and tools that are designed to help you get the best package possible. Okay, so before we dive into how to negotiate a program manager's salary, let's first talk about the compensation components because I want you to know that it's very important to understand the difference between your base salary and your total compensation. Way too many program managers that I speak with only focus on the base salary, but it's one piece of the puzzle when it comes to comp. Okay, especially if you're gonna be working at a tech company. When considering a new company as a program manager, you really need to look at the whole picture, which is your total monetary take-home pay, which is also called your total compensation. As a program manager, this is gonna include hopefully your base salary, your bonuses, equity, and any sign-on bonuses at that company. So I really want to talk through the four compensation components that you might find in your program manager offer package. All right. So the first one, super easy, it's your program manager's base salary. Okay, this isn't anything new. It's your consistent guaranteed pay that you're gonna see in every paycheck for a salary role. It's honestly only gonna change your promotions or merit increases since it's a set rate, and it shouldn't be new since you should all have it in your career. Okay, so I don't want to spend too much time there. But second, you're hopefully gonna have a performance bonus as a program manager, which is usually a percentage of your base salary. This is really gonna range depending on your program manager role level, and it's gonna be based on either personal or company performance and typically paid out annually, but it can be paid out at different times. While the program manager bonus is tied to your base salary, it's generally not negotiable. But if you do negotiate a higher base salary, your bonus is gonna increase with that, so keep that in mind. The third item you're hopefully gonna get, especially if you're going to a tech company as a program manager, is gonna be equity. This program manager equity is gonna come in the form of either RSUs, which are restricted stock units, or employee stock options. RSUs represent actual stock, which means you're actually gonna get shares that company stock outright once it vests. Stock options, on the other hand, are gonna give you the right to purchase that stock at a predetermined price. So you're either gonna have to pay for it or exercise those options to receive the actual shares. So always keep that in mind. Your program manager equity grants will come with a stock vesting schedule. This is gonna mean that you're gonna have to wait for your equity to best according to that schedule before you actually own the shares or options. Most stock vesting periods that we see are either three to four years with equity vesting increments over that time. Okay, it's either gonna be a stock vesting schedule that's gonna be evenly distributed over that time period or staggered. So when you think about it as a program manager, if you were to move to Meta, their RSU vesting schedule is a four-year period with equal annual vesting, meaning that 25% best each year. However, if you go ahead and go to say Amazon as a program manager, their RSU vesting schedule is gonna be staggered. You're gonna get 5% at the end of the year one, 15% at the end of the year two, 40% in year three, and the remaining 4% in year four. So companies are always gonna have their own specific vesting schedules for program managers. So make sure you understand that. So with the vesting schedule, you don't get the value of the equity up front, but you do share in the value fluctuations over that period, which is pretty cool. Okay, so if the stock price goes up, so does the value of your equity. But the flip side is if the stock price drops, your total compensation goes down as well. So remember that there's always risk with having equity in your package. It's also important to note that if you leave for a new job before your equity vests, you are gonna forfeit the unvested portions of your program manager equity. So always keep that in mind. The other thing that a lot of companies offer to program managers if they're offering equity is an annual equity refresh. These are additional grants that you might get each year of additional stock that are gonna have their own vesting schedule. I usually don't include these in total compensation because at most companies they're not always guaranteed. The recruiters usually don't share how much they'll be. So it's an additional perk you should always ask your recruiter for to see if they have it at the new company you're considering as a program manager. And the final item are gonna be sign-on bonuses for a program manager. Okay, this is a one-time cash payment, typically paid out 30 days after you start. It's usually the sign to offset maybe lost incentives or equity from your current company or just as an incentive to join. So your program manager sign-on bonuses are not always gonna be included in the initial offer. These are one of the biggest items that are gonna require negotiation, and I've always had great success in securing them for program managers that I work with. Okay, so keep that in mind and be ready to negotiate with these because you really should not move forward with a job if you're not getting one. Okay, I can help you gather one if you need, but don't skip this item. So, with those items, right, there's four main program manager salary components that we talked through your base salary, your bonus, equity, and a sign-on bonus. That's gonna make up your total compensation as program manager at any company. So, to visualize this, I'll walk through a program manager example of how this might look. So if you go over to our free total compensation calculator on our site, you can see that I'll input a program manager's base salary, bonus percentage, equity grant, and sign-on bonus to see your estimated compensation over the vesting period, both on a total basis and an annual basis. You can all easily access our free total compensation calculator at thesalarynegotiator.com so you can walk through your compensation that you see in your next offer or your current role. And I'll go ahead and link to the episode below this below so you easily have access to this total compensation tool. Okay, so cool. So we covered program manager's compensation structure. Now let's get to the meat of it, right? The program manager's salary negotiation process. These are the salary negotiation strategies that I've successfully used to negotiate many program manager job offers, and I'm gonna recommend you obviously all follow them in your next negotiation, but not until you actually have an offer in hand. So once you have a program manager job offer, the first step to negotiating is to make sure you understand the compensation components and the benefits in your program manager offer package. The biggest takeaway from that is I want you to understand your program manager total compensation before negotiating. That way you know exactly how to value the offer and what to negotiate. Because through this process, we want to increase your base salary, your bonus, your equity, and your sign-on bonus, not just one of those components. So keep that in mind. All right. And the second step is what I call doing your due diligence and asking strategic questions. Okay, this is where you want to review your program manager offer and come back with a list of questions from the recruiter, right? It helps you clarify any questions you still have about the role, about the benefits, about the comp, but also strategically fit some in that are gonna show that the offer might not be as competitive as what you currently have or what competitors offer, which is gonna increase your leverage in the negotiation and it makes it so you're not coming out of left field when you send a counteroffer. Okay, there's a specific way to draft these to make sure they are strategic. So if you want to go ahead and grab the questions that I have on my templates page or in my course, feel free to do so. But don't skip this step, okay? I want to make sure that you're actually getting aggressive compensation. And this is the biggest part where you can start to screw some freebies and build leverage before you negotiate. And once you're done with that, the next step is doing your program manager compensation research to find both the base salary and the total compensation ranges for your specific role, location, and level at the new company. You can use a lot of resources online, just make sure you average across those and make sure you're getting a solid compensation range because what we're trying to do here is see where your initial offer sits on that range. Um, and then we're gonna target negotiating the top of it. So you come in at the top of the range before you begin, both on a base salary basis and a total compensation basis, because most companies are gonna try to hire their program managers in at the lower and mid end of the ban. So you're always gonna need to negotiate to make sure you're getting competitive pay. So once you wrapped up the program manager compensation research, gotten all your questions back from the recruiter, you're now ready to negotiate, or not just negotiate, but send the program manager counteroffer. Okay, this is where I want you to take a database approach and craft a program manager counteroffer to send to the recruiter team. You're gonna present the range that you're targeting based on your research and call out any items that weren't competitive based on your due diligence questions. I'm gonna always suggest that you do this by email. That way you give your recruiter everything they need to advocate for you, and you can simply send your points to the comp team because if you do decide to counterverbally, they're gonna cut you off, they're gonna try to deter you from negotiating, and what you say might not actually make it back to the comp team and the decision makers. They negotiate offers every day, so it's better to send it by email and then you can be prepared for the final step. Because after sending a program manager counteroffer, you should be prepared to handle any recruiter pushback. It's usually guaranteed that they'll call you and they'll try to tell you no, they can't increase it because of XY or try to get you to accept the current offer as is. So you want to be prepared to overcome those objections and handle that pushback. Essentially, the best way to do that is to let them know that you understand their concerns, but you still have your own and you appreciate if you take it back to the comp team for another look. This is probably gonna take a few overcomings and handling a few objections to get them to agree to take it back. But once they do, nine times out of ten, they're gonna come back with a better offer. And this is obviously the harder part of the negotiation. Not many people are good at handling objections or handling pushback. So I have a full listen of my objection handling responses on my templates page and in my course for download if you want those scripts on exactly what to say when you encounter this pushback because it will come up. But from here, if you did everything right, the recruiter is either gonna come back with a better offer that fits your needs, or it might still be lower than you're asking. At that point, you can decide if it's worth sending a second program manager counter offer or if you're ready to lock in the new role and start the transition process. The biggest thing I cannot highlight enough is it's not like how you negotiate a car at a car dealership or like a business-to-business negotiation when you're going through a program manager salary negotiation, right? There's not actually a lot of back and forth, and you really don't want to send more than two salary counters. Otherwise, you might come off as aggressive and jeopardize a relationship. So you always want to keep it professional and kind. And the last thing I want to cover with you is a few program manager offer negotiation mistakes before you decide to negotiate a program manager offer letter. Okay. The main item I always recommend against whether it's a program manager or another role, is do not share your salary expectations or your current pay with the recruiting team at any point during the interview process. It's only gonna work against you. If you throw out a number that's lower, you're gonna end up with a non-competitive offer, right? Or they might downlevel you, especially if it's a tech company, to a lower level than what you're interviewed for. So don't do that. If you think it's a great idea to throw out a high number, that's another silly approach. You're either not gonna get an offer because they feel they can't afford you, or they're gonna think you're aggressive and you have unrealistic ideas and you accidentally counter with the wrong amount. So don't do that. And the biggest thing to think about is this isn't a new role for them. The recruiter knows exactly how much they can pay for the program management role. So you always want to turn that question back on the team to learn both about the base salary range and the total compensation range for this role. That way you can take that into the background to have those data points. So when you do get the offer, you start doing your compensation research, you're in a better point. And the next mistake to avoid is make sure you're asking for realistic compensation about what they can actually provide in a program manager accounter offer. Way too often do I see program managers ask for way too much that just doesn't make sense. Okay, you're gonna get laughed at, it's gonna come off aggressive, and in some cases, the offer could get rescinded if you're unrealistic. So always make sure you're taking a database approach by actually doing your program manager pay research so you're not jeopardizing the opportunity and you're throwing out realistic numbers. Because at the end of the day, you should never be worried about a program manager's salary negotiation and you shouldn't feel nervous. Okay, as long as you follow proven strategies and you keep the negotiation professional, there's no reason you'd risk the program manager offer. If you do it the right way, you should secure a better program manager offer package before you begin. So have the confidence in this to make sure you're using the strategy to get the support you need. So you're getting a solid program manager offer and you're increasing your compensation over your career. All right, everyone, that wraps up this episode on program manager salary negotiations. I really hope my breakdown of your program manager compensation structure, my proven program manager salary negotiation strategies, and negotiation mistakes to avoid as a program manager is gonna help you feel more confident when you do have these discussions. But honestly, if you're serious about actually getting paid what you're worth and the best possible offer, I highly suggest you don't go into salary negotiation alone. Head over to salarynegotiate.com, either work with me directly as your salary negotiation coach, or check out my salary negotiation courses and tools. Okay, you can find all the links in the episode notes below. And honestly, if you found the episode helpful, I'd really appreciate it if you'd subscribe, leave me a comment, and share it with someone that could actually use this advice in their career. So thanks for tuning in and good luck negotiating.

Brandon

 SALARY NEGOTIATION TOOLS MENTIONED • Salary Negotiation Coaching: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/ • Salary Negotiation Courses: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/courses • Salary Negotiation Scripts & Templates: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/salary-negotiation-templates • How to Negotiate a Job Offer Course: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-negotiation-course • Salary Calculator: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/total-compensation-calculator PROGRAM MANAGER SALARY NEGOTIATION RESOURCES • Program Manager Salary Negotiation Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/how-to-negotiate-a-program-manager-job-offer • TPM Salary Negotiation Guide: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/resource-center/how-to-negotiate-a-technical-program-manager-salary • Best Salary Negotiation Resources: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/best-salary-negotiation-resources • Job Offer Comparison Tool: https://www.thesalarynegotiator.com/job-offer-comparison-tool • Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHB2KL5NwR0

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