An interesting observation across the tech job market: The rise of...
Gergely Orosz@GergelyOrosz
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Apr 21, 2026
~2 min read
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An interesting observation across the tech job market:
The rise of the "top tier, remote-first, equal pay" companies.
These are ones that pay ~$140-170K/yr base for sr engineers, ~$160-240K/yr for staff, plus equity.
They are hiring away from FANG... in places like EU & India.
The rise of the "top tier, remote-first, equal pay" companies.
These are ones that pay ~$140-170K/yr base for sr engineers, ~$160-240K/yr for staff, plus equity.
They are hiring away from FANG... in places like EU & India.
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They hire pretty much for the same expectations, skillset and heavyweight interview process as e.g. Google, Meta and others do.
BUT they end up paying a lot more at lower-cost regions where Google and others adjust salaries downwards.
It really is happening, and happening fast.
BUT they end up paying a lot more at lower-cost regions where Google and others adjust salaries downwards.
It really is happening, and happening fast.
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I talked with a few people working at these companies. They are typically Series A-E ones.
A lot more of their workforce is based outside the US - as in the US it's still harder to hire with this base salary. But they have very strong teams.
Everyone is happy with this setup.
A lot more of their workforce is based outside the US - as in the US it's still harder to hire with this base salary. But they have very strong teams.
Everyone is happy with this setup.
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I've talked with people who left Google in a smaller location who said:
"It's been fantastic. Not only is my salary higher, but my career progression as well. I was stuck at promotion at G, but got promoted here. And the scale I work in is the same, but I have more autonomy."
"It's been fantastic. Not only is my salary higher, but my career progression as well. I was stuck at promotion at G, but got promoted here. And the scale I work in is the same, but I have more autonomy."
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People asking for examples: Sourcegraph, Vercel, Gatsby, PagerDuty, Datadog, Shopify, Stripe, Twitter, Netlify, Webflow, Zapier, Doist, Bowery, Replit, Wave Money
Some sometimes advertise here: pragmatic-engineer.pallet.com/jobs
There are many more. All hard to get into. Do your research!
Some sometimes advertise here: pragmatic-engineer.pallet.com/jobs
There are many more. All hard to get into. Do your research!
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For subscribers I shared a systematic approach of finding companies like this and a long list of others. newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/finding-the-…
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Others include RevenueCat, CloudKitchens, DuckDuckGo, Discord, Intercom, Lightbend, Noom, Pivotal Labs, TrueLayer and others I probably don't know about.
It's a growing group: you just need to look out for them.
x.com/jeiting/status…
It's a growing group: you just need to look out for them.
x.com/jeiting/status…
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The caveat I warn folks is don't expect it's easy to get into these places. Competition is similar to Big Tech... as is the interview process.
Most people I knew who got positions would have likely gotten it at e.g. Meta or Google as well.
Prep advice: blog.pragmaticengineer.com/preparing-for-…
Most people I knew who got positions would have likely gotten it at e.g. Meta or Google as well.
Prep advice: blog.pragmaticengineer.com/preparing-for-…
