What % increase for salary from manager to C-Suite? (employee, percentage, employers)

[flyingsaucermom]

My husband is a program manager for a large American tech company. He is negotiating an offer to become a C-level employee at a large firm overseas. This is a rare opportunity and doesn't have many contacts he can discuss the offer with, nor many that he knows that have dealt with such a situation. He is being asked what kind of percentage increase he'd like in his base salary. We do not know what is apporpriate.

Any advice?

[macroy]

I became a CIO not too long ago. The biggest difference was the bonus/benefit structure. But the negotiation was no different than any other job. Albeit I was promoted, so there wasn't as much room for negotiation than if I was switching employers.

In general, I don't think there is any strict "rule of thumb". Like any other job, there are a lot of factors that can come into play - the industry, location, size of organization your husband background/qualification, the actual position, who he knows, who the competition are, etc..

Since you mentioned this job is overseas, one factor I'd also look at is the work culture in said country. How salary is negotiated may differ from the US.

If he is on LinkedIn, he can see if he can use his connections to find someone closer to the company or position that can provide insights.

[G-fused]

It'll be a pretty rare find for someone here to give you any sort of advice you can do anything with on this topic. Negotiating a C suite offer (overseas no less!) is not really all that common. It's not the typical "they haven't called me and said they would" question.

I would bet that your husband has many more resources he can tap for this than you think, and definitely better resources than CD. If his current professional level isn't anywhere near the position he is being offered or if he doesn't have colleagues he can bounce these things off of , then I really don't get why he was extended the offer and doubt he is anywhere near ready. This doesn't really make sense to me. I mean I'm not C suite but if I were miraculously offered that level (and miraculously accepted something like that) form a good and reputable org, I would not have a problem approaching C suite execs at my current org - which is large (20k+ employees on site and easily over 40k total) and prestigious. Because I've worked with them. Has this man who was offered this position never had a taste of what it means? Has he never worked with any C level people? He's presumably very experienced and must have had a good deal of exposure. This doesn't pass the smell test to me.

But thanks for bragging!

[ElectronicOverlord]

Hmm... offhand I'd probably think about tax, risk, and exit plans. Compensation can be in several forms (salary, dividends, equity participation) and each will have different tax consequences and risk profiles (e.g. salary you know what you're supposed to get; equity means more variability, but can have a bigger upside).

Exit package is important since he will have two bosses - the board of directors, and the market - and either can fire him for things that may or may not be his fault. Exit events probably deserve some thought too - what if the company collapses, what if it just limps on for 10 years, what if it gets bought cheaply, what if it gets bought at a premium, etc.