Taking a look at compensation insights more than halfway through 2024, compensation data for the tech sector is still muddled by extenuating factors which result in inconsistent trends. Average rates for go-to-market (GTM) jobs in technology have mostly remained stagnant or dipped slightly, but these averages are thrown off by a new direction many companies are taking with their talent acquisition.
Sourcing and hiring your right fit candidates in this new age requires following new rules for managing compensation for any given position, and Betts has the insights to help your team make recruiting cost-effective. Continue reading below to learn more about the emerging trends impacting salary changes for GTM talent in tech:
The New Rules for Tech Compensation in 2024 – GTM Jobs
The majority of technology startups we observed recruiting new candidates were seeking a specific type – their “unicorn seller,” basically a right fit sales hire coming in at the right time to help scale up revenue faster (and more effectively). This has changed the general rules of talent acquisition, and of the compensation expectations for a given role. More than location or length of experience, specific in-demand skills and knowledge are the deciding factors for what makes a unicorn sales candidate and final salary level.
It is important to note that while there will be some shared characteristics from company to company, each organization’s unicorn seller will be the best fit for their sales motions and culture, which includes factors like industries and titles sold to. This means that firms should expect to bump up their compensation pitch if they want to secure the right talent in time, and with the Betts recommended target rate with all of our comp resources, make adjustments as needed for stellar candidates. Factors like the Great Resignation 2.0 and the continuing rounds of layoffs in tech also impact this final rate – here’s by how much you should expect:
- Unicorn GTM Candidate: +20% of Betts Target Compensation
- Currently Employed Candidate: +10% of Betts Target Compensation
- Non-unicorn Candidate: -10% of Betts Target Compensation
- Recently Laid-off Candidate: -10% of Betts Target Compensation
Measuring Target Compensation by Job & Location for Tech
Leveraging the new rules for adjusting compensation above with our recommended target rates will help you source and secure unicorn talent for a given role. See a few examples of how this impacts salary ranges for different GTM titles below:
Sales
For tech sales, the frontlines are usually occupied by Account Executives (AEs), with Sales Engineers (SEs) providing more technical knowledge when it is needed to help close deals.
There are quite a few variations on AE titles in the technology sector, but for a general Account Executive with more than 3 years of experience, the average salary ranges from $85,000 – $120,000 for base and $170,000 – $235,000 for OTE (on-target earnings), or total compensation with bonuses and other benefits included. This can vary based on location, with those on the East or West Coasts earning about $5000 more and everyone else (including remote AEs) earning about $5000 less.
For a New York startup trying to source a unicorn seller Account Executive with the right level of experience and skill sets, the Betts recommended target comp rate of $100,000 for base salary and $200,000 OTE would need to be increased by up to $120,000 and $240,000, respectively.
Marketing
Talent acquisition for tech marketing has been increasingly focused on Growth Marketing in 2024, with marketers specializing in areas such as Demand Gen or Content Marketing filling in gaps.
Base salary for a Demand Generation Manager averages $120,000 – $150,000 across the U.S., with the highest range for those in NY or San Francisco at $130,000 – $170,000; OTE typically varies with the level of experience a candidate brings.
Betts recommends a target comp rate of $145,000 base salary for companies in those tech hub cities, so for a unicorn Demand Gen marketing candidate that brings Growth Marketing experience, you are looking at around $174,000 for starting comp.
The Problem Calculating Tech Compensation Rates in 2024
There is an inherent problem when trying to source unicorn sellers – they are unicorns, so by definition they make up a minority of the talent pool. While every company’s exact right fit is unique to their particular sales motion, your competitors selling to the same industries will still often be pitching the same candidates, triggering “bidding wars” over compensation offers. This means that comp will continue to evolve, and every hiring manager or team leader looking for the right GTM candidate at the right time will need to stay on top of the latest earnings data for every role that needs to be filled.
Leveraging Betts Compensation Data & Resources
Betts Recruiting keeps an eye on compensation rates and trends across all of our network, keeping track of data extracted from the field as well as our own hiring platform, Betts Connect. We provide regular updates on earnings figures regularly, including those released with our annual Comp Guides as well as a new tool we’ve launched called the Comp Engine by Betts – learn more about these resources below:
Betts Compensation Guides
The Betts Compensation Guide is an ebook we release every year with the latest information on average salary and OTE ranges for over a dozen different GTM jobs in tech. Leveraging data sourced from throughout our network and beyond, the Guide provides deep insight into the YoY (Year over Year) comp changes for each title and the trends driving them the most, along with our recommended target rates to shorten Time to Hire (TTH) for each role.
The Betts Executive Compensation Guide is another version that provides average salary ranges and bonus rates for leadership roles in tech, from C-suite officers to VPs and Directors.
Comp Engine by Betts
The Comp Engine by Betts is a new tool we have launched in 2024 that provides salary data in up to real-time, with metrics sourced directly from our Connect platform. It is directly linked to compensation information for each role featured on Betts Connect, extracting figures from placements made by the Betts team that include not only our target salary, OTE and equity rates, but also a breakdown of the candidate pool available and the expected Time to Hire according to comp offered.
Sign Up for Real-time Comp Data for Tech Jobs
The Comp Engine by Bett is a game changer for hiring managers that need to keep up with changing market salary rates for top performers and ensure that offered compensation is competitive enough to secure a unicorn seller. Register for the waitlist and get access to real-time comp data for GTM jobs in tech sourced directly from one of the largest networks in the sector.
Sign up for the Comp Engine here and gain free access to the latest salary data to help you secure your unicorn seller faster.