Refery blog
Compensation
Base, equity, and variable pay, kept separate and sourced.
AI Engineer Salary in 2026: Public Posting Examples for Hiring Teams
Three verified AI and applied AI engineering salary postings, plus a role-scoping framework for founders, CTOs, and heads of talent.
How to explain customer-linked incentives to technical hires
Clarify controllable work, shared credit, delivery quality, timing, and exceptions before offering customer-linked variable pay to an engineer.
Forward Deployed Engineer Salary in 2026: Three Public Examples
Verified FDE salary postings, with locations, equity disclosures, and questions founders should answer before setting a forward deployed engineering budget.
More in compensation
9 guidesFounding Account Executive Salary and OTE in 2026
Two verified founding AE postings show why base salary and OTE need separate columns. A compensation planning guide for founders and heads of talent.
How to check whether a sales OTE plan fits the role
Connect on-target earnings to the seller's responsibilities, targets, support, ramp expectations, and written compensation plan.
How to set a startup hiring budget using comparable roles
Build a defensible hiring budget by matching role scope, location, pay definitions, and source dates before comparing compensation figures.
How Refery Checks Startup Salary Data
The source selection, compensation definitions, verification steps, and limits behind Refery’s September 2026 salary guides.
Founding Engineer Salary in 2026: Public Pay and Equity Examples
Three verified founding engineer job postings in San Francisco and New York, with advertised salary, equity, sources, and a framework for setting your hiring budget.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Senior Engineer at a Startup?
A cost model for a senior engineering hire: base, equity, recruiting fee, benefits, onboarding, and your team's time, with a labeled worked example you can replace with your own numbers.