The Scoop: Microsoft’s Compensation Numbers in India and Europe
An overview of what the Big Tech giant pays its employees in India and Europe.
The Scoop is a bonus series, covering insights, patterns and trends I observe and hear about within Big Tech and at high-growth startups.
This issue is an excerpt from this week’s The Scoop: Microsoft’s Compensation Numbers - Exclusive which goes into more hard numbers – and graphs! – than any previous issue of The Scoop has covered compensation topics. That issue analyzed numbers and statistics, reviewing and validating more than 2,000 self-reported data points, and details from managers working at the company, a week after Microsoft’s raises for 2022 were communicated.
Microsoft has more than 8,000 employees in India, from its global workforce of over 200,000 people. Of these 8,000 staff members, I estimate more than 2,000 work in tech functions. The company operates three engineering offices in the country, in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Noida. In this self-reported data set, India has the most data points for offices outside of the US. Here’s how compensation numbers add up in India.
The data below is not just for the software engineer role, but also includes product manager, data scientist and designer compensation points. Because compensation is nearly identical across these groups, these numbers are directionally correct for most tech functions within the company.
When receiving compensation outside the US, the base salary and bonus are always in the local currency, while the stock refresher and special stock award are in US dollars. In the above chart, I’ve added total compensation numbers converted to USD as well, to be able to compare the total compensation across the region.
In India, the earning differences vs the US are especially pronounced in the lower levels:
~5x difference between an L60 in India and one in the US
~3x difference between an L62 in India and one in the US
~2x difference between an L66 in India and one in the US
It’s worth plotting how base salary and total compensation changes through the levels. ₹50 lakh (1 lakh equals 100,000 rupees, the currency of India) is roughly $60K USD.
In western Europe, self-reported compensation numbers are as follows:
The above locations are Dublin (Ireland), Munich (Germany) and Paris (France.) Total compensation is roughly 40-50% below the same levels in the Seattle area. Similar to India, the gap narrows at the higher levels.
Read this week’s The Scoop for more details on:
Salary raises at Microsoft. More than 2,000 self-reported data points, and details from managers working at the company. Which regions got the highest raises and which places missed out? What percentage raises did people who were promoted get, versus those overlooked for advancement up the ladder?
US and Canada: software engineer compensation. More than 700 data points, aggregated. Base salary, cash bonus, stock refresher and special stock award (SSA) numbers. How does the Seattle Area compare to other US regions?
US: data scientist, designer and hardware engineer compensation. A peek at these, based on more than 100 data points. How do they compare to software engineers?
US: PMs, marketing and finance in the US. Product manager, program manager, finance and marketing numbers, with more than 250 data points. Are these functions paid less than what software engineers make at the same level?
Takeaways for hiring managers for budget reviews. How do Microsoft ranges compare to the rest of the market? If you’re responsible for budgets, what learnings can you take from how Microsoft has conducted its raises?