We've negotiated many Box offers this year. Don't leave $100K+ on the table.
Box is willing to negotiate, but they tend to have narrower pay bands. However, like many companies, they've been struggling in the current hiring market, and we've seen some bigger increases than usual for candidates where we can create strong leverage.
- Base Salary
- Box Equity Package (see Box’s vesting schedule below)
- Box Signing Bonus (not included in all initial Box offers)
- Stock Refreshers
Box offers performance-based refreshers but they are not as consistent as other companies like Facebook. Most of the time only top performers (top 5-20%) get these grants. Recruiters at Box are generally hesitant to share this information, but you should ask about 1) % of people at your level that receive these grants and 2) average grant size. These stock refresher grants vest over 4-years just like the initial equity grant.
Box's total compensation doesn’t include cash performance bonuses unless you are at the senior staff level or above. When comparing a Box offer to other companies like Google that have very consistent performance bonuses, you should factor that into the total compensation of the offer.
Box is a remote friendly company. Though you should keep in mind that some roles might be expected to come into the office every once in a while. As for Box remote salary bands, they differ based on location, and base salary will even be adjusted if you move after joining.
Since Box is a remote-friendly company, not many situations require you to move and relocation packages are unlikely. However, if Box does need you to move, you should push for a 10k+ relocation package + corporate housing benefits.
Equity is the most negotiable component of the Box compensation package, which is quite standard in the industry. The next most negotiable component at Box is base salary. Normally signing bonus is the second most negotiable component, but the Box sign on bonus has narrow bands relative to top paying companies in the industry.
Box does not usually require proof of a written offer when negotiating. That said, it's important to make sure you are being honest as recruiters often ask for details like offer breakdowns, location, level, etc.
In the current hiring market it is possible for Box to go above band. However, it's very difficult and requires playing all your cards right during the negotiation.
It is always beneficial to have a strong relationship with your hiring manager. However, hiring managers at Box have less control over the negotiation vs. at companies like Amazon.
Box’s hiring process typically has 4 stages: assessment (not required for all roles), recruiter interview, onsite, and offer stage.
The difference in pay between the two companies is quite significant. As a general rule of thumb, Dropbox usually pays better than Box for every component. For instance, a Box Staff Software Engineer top of band is ~$410k per year and an IC4 SWE at Dropbox top of band is ~$500k per year.
A unique benefit at Box is unlimited PTO. This can often be a double edged sword as at many companies it's tough to take advantage of unlimited PTO. However, Box is known to have a good culture for this with many people reporting that they take more PTO than in previous jobs. The other benefits are pretty standard at Box.
Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer
Senior Staff Software Engineer
Principal Software Engineer
Equivalent Level at Google
L3
L4
L5
Between L6 and L7
L8
Our Clients Love Rora
Coming from a non-FAANG background, I was shocked to find out how much I could be earning. Before I signed up with Rora, I made the mistake of telling Amazon my current compensation. Thankfully, Rora knew exactly how to fix it and ended up getting me an offer that was 2.3X what I previously made and more than $600K higher than Amazon’s initial offer!
Through several weeks of interviews, Ganesh was always available to make sure I knew what to say for each conversation. I interviewed with start ups, Google, Facebook and Amazon and was really impressed that Rora knew the comp ranges and were able to give me tailored advice for each – even the start ups.
There ended up being two particularly complex moments in my negotiation. One of the start-ups I had a personal relationship with and I wasn’t sure how it would affect the negotiation. I like that there was a focus on my individual circumstances and that they were leveraged to get me a higher offer. The other situation is that Amazon made a mistake on my written offer and initially wouldn’t rectify it. Ganesh was able to guide me through a challenging conversation to get it resolved.
Box
has a unique set of negotiation policies. If you don’t have experience negotiating with them, you risk losing out on large amounts of money because of very small mistakes.
There are many of these rules you need to know to get the highest
Box
offer possible