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Before you set a founding engineer or senior AI/ML offer, define the work the hire will own and the compensation your company can sustain. A seed-stage engineer building the first product carries a different scope from a Series A hire joining an established engineering group. Set a salary floor that the candidate could reasonably accept and that your runway can support. Then set the maximum equity grant you can approve within your hiring plan.
Express that equity budget as a percentage of fully diluted ownership, not just a share count. A share count tells the candidate little without the total shares it represents. A current company valuation offers no reliable conversion of an employee’s options into cash. Future financing may dilute the grant, and the employee may have no way to sell the shares for years.
For each role, compare the proposed salary with your cash budget and the proposed grant with your remaining equity budget before discussing a headline package. Founders can offer a different cash and equity mix within those limits, but they should not present a larger option grant as an equivalent replacement for salary. The candidate can spend salary now. Options carry exercise costs and an uncertain outcome.
At seed, build the offer around a cash salary you can sustain through the planned hiring period, then decide how much ownership the founding hire’s scope warrants. A larger equity grant may help when cash is constrained, but it cannot replace a salary the candidate needs to accept the role. Reserve enough of the equity budget for future hires before you approve the grant.
At Series A, revisit both budgets rather than carrying forward the seed offer mix. A larger team may give a founding engineer narrower responsibilities, while a senior AI/ML hire may bring a specialization you still struggle to recruit. Define the role before setting its cash and equity mix. Neither funding stage establishes a reliable percentage or salary band on its own.
At either stage, set a separate band for each founding hire. A founding engineer who will build the first product and a senior AI/ML engineer hired to improve an established system may need different offers, even at the same company. Once you have a proposed band, test it against current offers for comparable roles.
Public sources can help you find comparisons, but neither of these establishes a verified salary or equity band for either role.
Check each comparison before it influences your band. Confirm the company’s stage when the offer was made, the role’s scope, location policy, and whether the equity figure uses fully diluted ownership. If those details are missing, use the example as a conversation prompt rather than a pricing anchor. At seed, a proposed cash floor also needs a runway check. At Series A, revisit the band against the company’s current hiring plan rather than assuming its seed-stage trade-offs still apply.
A founding engineer equity offer should state the grant as a percentage of fully diluted ownership, alongside the share or option count and the date of the calculation. Confirm that the denominator includes the option pool, including shares reserved for future grants, and shares issuable from outstanding convertible securities. If the board has not approved the grant, say so.
Set vesting terms before you present cash and equity choices. The offer should spell out the vesting schedule, any cliff, and what happens to unvested equity if the hire leaves. Address whether an acquisition or termination can accelerate vesting. Ask counsel or your cap table provider to confirm the terms rather than describing a particular schedule as an industry rule.
For options, disclose the strike price and the fair market value used when the grant receives approval. Explain that exercising options costs money and that the window to exercise after departure may affect whether a hire can keep them. ISO and NSO tax treatment can differ, including when taxes arise. Qualified tax and legal advisers should review the grant and explain its implications to the candidate.
Finally, describe what you can and cannot promise about future ownership. A financing round or an increase in the option pool can dilute the grant. If you expect to consider refresh grants, explain who decides and when, without presenting a future grant as guaranteed. Give candidates these terms early enough to compare the offer with their cash needs and other opportunities. For budgeting grants against your option pool across all planned hires, see How to Plan Stock Option Grants for Startup Hires.
Set the role level and location policy before pricing a founding engineer or senior AI/ML offer. At seed or Series A, “senior” can describe very different jobs. An engineer who owns production infrastructure may compete for a different candidate pool than one who trains models and puts them into production. Write down the work, decision authority, and skills the hire needs, then compare offers for similar roles.
Choose whether your cash band follows one national market or varies by hiring location. Remote hiring gives you access to candidates in more places, but candidates still compare offers against their local alternatives. A single-location policy is simpler to explain. Location-adjusted bands may protect runway, but you should document the locations, adjustment rules, and treatment of existing employees before making exceptions.
Treat an AI/ML pay premium as a question to test, not a fixed percentage to add. Public figures often mix base salary with total compensation or combine engineers with different specialties and levels. Check current, comparable offers and candidate expectations where you can obtain them, then price the role within the cash and equity budget you can sustain.
Before you negotiate, set a cash band and equity budget for each role level. Check both against runway and the compensation of people doing comparable work. A founding engineer and a senior AI/ML hire may need different bands because their scope and required skills differ. Record the reason for any exception, including who approved it and how you will handle internal pay differences.
Compare the full package when a candidate brings you a competing offer. Ask about benefits, severance, expected refresh grants, and the time available to exercise options after leaving. Ask whether the other company has held secondary sales or tender offers, but do not treat a past sale as a promise of future liquidity. A lower-equity offer with a credible opportunity to sell shares may suit a candidate who cannot wait years for a possible exit. More equity without a liquidity path should not be presented as equivalent to cash.
Give founders and Talent leaders a clear approval route before negotiations begin. Greenhouse’s offer-approval guidance, updated March 2, 2026, describes how to track approval time. It does not establish a suitable pay band. Use your approval record to capture the candidate’s priorities, the proposed exception, and its effect on runway and internal pay consistency.
Build three choices for the same role and level before you enter final negotiations. Set a cash floor that protects runway and an equity budget that fits the company’s grant policy. Each choice should stay within those limits, so the candidate can express a real preference without triggering a new approval process. Ashby describes offering two or three compensation options in its own practice. That example does not establish a market-wide standard.
Present each grant on the same ownership basis and terms described above, and do not present a larger option grant as a cash equivalent. For a founding engineer or senior AI/ML hire, the right choice may depend on the candidate’s cash needs, risk tolerance, and confidence in a future liquidity opportunity.
Before you approve the three choices, check them against current, stage-specific compensation data for comparable roles, not just a filtered list of companies at the same stage.
Public benchmarks give you a starting point, but current candidate conversations can help you test whether a seed or Series A offer will attract the founding engineer or senior AI/ML hire you need. Ask which cash expectations recur for candidates at the same level and location, and which equity terms candidates question. Treat competing-offer details as useful signals only when candidates choose to share them. A few conversations should prompt a review of your band, not become a new benchmark.
Invenio Talent can support that review while sourcing and speaking with candidates inside your existing hiring workflow. Its recruiters can bring current candidate feedback to a discussion of your approved cash range, equity budget, and three offer choices. You still need to decide which choices fit your runway and pay policy.
If your own recruiters already have recent, relevant candidate feedback, use it before adding outside support.
A documented offer method will serve you better than a single salary or equity benchmark. Before each financing round or hiring surge, revisit your cash bands, equity budget, and three approved cash-and-equity choices against runway and current candidate expectations. Apply the same approval rules to comparable roles, and document exceptions before extending an offer.
How should we set a seed or Series A band for a founding engineer? Define the role’s scope and level first, then set a cash range your runway can support and an equity budget you can approve. Check current offers for comparable roles at the same stage and location. Do not use a generic “founding engineer” figure without checking whether the job includes technical leadership or people management.
Should we give candidates three offer choices? Offer three preapproved choices only if each fits the same role level and compensation budget. A lower-cash, higher-equity option, a balanced option, and a higher-cash, lower-equity option give candidates a meaningful trade-off. Do not present option equity as cash with a predictable future value.
How much equity should a founding engineer receive? Set the grant against the role’s scope, company stage, existing ownership commitments, and room for future hires. State the proposed percentage on a fully diluted basis, then disclose vesting, the exercise price, and what happens if the employee leaves. A share count alone cannot tell a candidate what they would own.
When should we adjust pay for a senior AI/ML hire? Adjust the role definition before adjusting the band. A hire who must build production ML systems or lead a specialized research effort may face a different candidate market than a general senior engineer. Check comparable current offers and document any exception to your pay policy.
Can we promise more equity now and fix the salary later? You can propose a future salary review, but specify when it happens and who approves a change. Do not describe a raise or refresh grant as guaranteed unless your company has approved its terms.
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