What are your salary expectations for this role?
answer
- answer warmly, no flinch
- ask their budgeted band first
- if pressed, a range not a point
- tie the number to level and scope
- hand it back, keep momentum
basics
~20 sTests whether you know your market and can talk money without flinching. Ask for the band budgeted for the level first, and if pressed give a researched range tied to scope, never a single low number.
how to answer
5 beats- take the question warmly and without a pauseThe first second is most of the signal. Answer at the same volume and speed as everything else in the call, with no apology and no nervous laugh before the content starts.
- ask what band is budgeted for this levelPut the question back once, plainly, and give a reason: titles map differently across ladders, so you would rather calibrate to their structure than guess at it. Many US employers can share a posted range on request, so this is a normal ask.
- if they hold, give a researched range rather than a pointName a band whose bottom you would truly accept, because that is the number you will be offered. Keep the spread tight enough to look researched rather than hopeful.
- attach the range to level, scope and marketOne or two sentences of evidence: what you own, what you carry, one result with a number on it. Never justify a range with what you were paid before or with what you personally need.
- hand it back and keep the process movingInvite them to tell you now if the band sits differently, and say you will be straight about whether the rest of the package can close a gap. This ends the exchange collaboratively instead of on a demand.
your answer
4 story prompts- Write down your range, floor included, and confirm you would genuinely accept that floor.
- Name the two pieces of evidence about scope you would cite to justify that range.
- Draft the one sentence that asks for their budgeted band, and say it aloud until it sounds relaxed.
- Decide now what single number you give if a recruiter refuses to move without one.
draft and rehearse your own answer in a learn session
go deeper
This screens for market awareness, composure under a money question, and whether you can advocate for yourself without turning the conversation adversarial. A strong answer shows you have benchmarked the level, can hold a range you would genuinely accept, and treat the exchange as joint calibration rather than a contest to win.
Happy to talk about it, and thanks for raising it early — it saves us both time. Before I throw a number out: what band have you budgeted for this level? Titles move around a lot between companies, so I would rather aim at your structure than guess at it. If you would rather not name it yet, I will go first. For an infrastructure role at my level I have been benchmarking a base range of about one hundred and five to one hundred and eighteen thousand in a major US metro, with the usual equity and bonus on top. That is a range whose bottom I would genuinely accept, not a wish list. What I am anchoring it to is the last year of work. I maintain the restore-verification job on an open-source backup project, and I rewrote how it walks the manifest so a full fixture restore finishes in nineteen minutes instead of fifty-one. I also review incoming patches on that path now, which was not in my remit when I joined. But I would much rather calibrate to you than anchor on myself. If your band sits somewhere different, tell me where and I will be honest about whether it works. Neither of us wants to find out after four rounds that we were in different universes.
Read this as two turns, not one: ask the band question, then stop. Everything after it is only what you say if the recruiter hands it back. Figures are illustrative of one US metro at one level; substitute your own benchmark. An apologised range, or one justified by tenure, would downlevel it.
Sure — is there a range approved for the level you are hiring at? I ask because ladders differ enough that the same title can be two bands apart, and I would rather talk about your level than my title. If you would rather not name it, then I will start: for a mid-level infrastructure role in a major US market I am working toward one hundred and fifty-two to one hundred and sixty-eight base, and I care about the shape more than the base line alone. I would trade a few thousand of base for a larger grant, or for a real budget behind on-call. What puts me in that band is the scope rather than the years. On the storage project I run, I took the restore path from something one person understood to something the community maintains: I ran a thirteen-week program for twenty-two contributors, and afterwards the median time from a reported restore bug to a merged, reviewed fix dropped from six days to under two. That is the part I would be doing for you as well. If the top of your band is under that, say so now rather than at offer stage. I will tell you straight whether the rest of the package can bridge it, and if it cannot, no hard feelings on either side.
Three moves carry it: asking for the level rather than the title, naming which components are tradeable, and justifying the band with scope that outlived them. The band is only spoken if the recruiter declines to name theirs — stop after the question and let them answer. Figures illustrate one US market at one level; use your own benchmark.
Say a range you can defend rather than a number you hope for, and let the bottom of it be one you would genuinely accept. Nobody expects you to negotiate hard here; they expect you to have looked something up and to stay comfortable while saying it.
Talk about the package rather than base alone, and show you know titles map differently across ladders by asking what level the band is for. Your range should be justified by the scope you already carry, not by what you were paid last.
Set the frame before they do: name the level you are interviewing for, then the range that follows from it. Signal which components you would trade against each other, so the recruiter can see a closable shape rather than a wall.
The number is downstream of the role definition, so negotiate the role first — scope, reporting line, mandate — and let compensation follow from where that lands. Be explicit that a band built for a different scope is the wrong band, not a low one.
saying these in an interview costs you the question
- Naming one number with no range and no reasoning behind it
- Apologising for discussing money, or going quiet when the question lands
- Refusing to engage at all after the recruiter has already shared their band
- Quoting a number far outside the level with nothing to justify it
- Saying anything you offer is fine, which invites the bottom of the band
- Treating the recruiter as an adversary rather than the person routing you to a band
- Is that range flexible?Do not collapse to the bottom on reflex. Say what would make it flexible, in components: a stronger equity grant, a sign-on that covers something you are walking away from, a title or level that matches the scope. Flexible on structure, firm on the bottom you named, is the honest and strongest answer.
- Our band tops out below that. Should we keep going?Answer straight, because pretending wastes weeks. If the gap is small, say which components could close it and ask whether there is room at the top of the band for the level. If it is genuinely far off, thank them, say so plainly, and leave the door open — bands move when levels are re-scoped.
- I need a single number before I can submit you. What is it?Give one, but choose it deliberately: the number you name should be at or above the middle of your researched range, not its floor, and you should say what it is anchored to. Then add one sentence keeping the rest of the package open, so the single number does not read as a full stop.
## The variants are one prompt The same screen, wearing different clothes: - "What are your salary expectations?", - "What range are you targeting?", - "Do you have a number in mind?", and - "What would it take to get you to say yes?" The recruiter is doing one of two things: - checking whether you fit a band that already exists, or - trying to buy cheaply by letting you anchor first. You cannot tell which from the outside, and the good news is that the same three moves — **deflect, anchor, redirect** — work either way. ## Deflect once, not twice The single best sentence you can say is a question: "What band have you budgeted for this level?" This is a normal, professional thing to ask, and in a growing number of US states and cities employers post ranges or share them on request, so the answer is often already public. Ask once, warmly. If they answer, you have won the exchange without naming anything. If they deflect back, do not deflect a second time — a candidate who dodges twice reads as either uninformed or difficult, and the recruiter still has to put something in a field. ## Anchor with a range, and mean the bottom of it When you give a number, give a band whose floor you would genuinely accept, because you will be offered the floor. - **Anchoring low** is the expensive mistake here: no later negotiation recovers a number you volunteered in week one. - **Anchoring absurdly high** is the cheap one — it costs you credibility rather than money, and it is usually recoverable with a justification. Between the two, err upward, but stay inside what the level supports. ## Justify with scope, not history - The evidence that moves a range is what you own and what it is worth: systems you are responsible for, on-call you carry, people whose work you unblock, a result with a number attached. - Evidence that does not move a range: what you were paid before, how long you have been in the industry, how much you need. Two candidates naming the same number sound entirely different when one attaches it to the surface area they cover and the other attaches it to their tenure. ## Redirect, so the conversation continues Close by handing the exchange back — "if that sits outside your band, tell me now and I will be straight with you about whether the rest of the package can close it." This converts a test into a **joint calibration** and takes the adversarial edge out of the room. It also gets you an honest answer early, which is worth more than winning the exchange. ## Weak versus strong, in one line each - **Weak**: "I am flexible, whatever is fair." That is not modesty, it is an instruction to offer the minimum. - **Also weak**: a number with no band, no justification, and a nervous laugh after it. - **Strong**: a question first, then a range, then one sentence of evidence, then the ball back in their court — delivered at the same speed and volume as everything else you have said in the call. ## How the bar shifts - **Earlier in a career**, the whole test is composure plus evidence of having looked something up. - In the **middle**, the recruiter expects you to think in packages rather than base, and to notice that levels differ across ladders. - **Further up**, you are expected to set the frame yourself and to name the trade space out loud. - At the **most senior end** the number is downstream of the mandate, and negotiating compensation before the scope is settled is the actual error. ## One practical rule 1. Decide your range before the call, 2. write it down, 3. and read it aloud twice. The number you can say without your voice changing is the number you will actually get.