Salary expectations and negotiation: the band first, a gross annual range you can justify, and bargaining on a written offer

Hear their range before you name yours, and give every figure as gross pay for a year, backed by market data.

Before you read: predict

A backend engineer has her first call with ExamHall's recruiter about a senior role in Lisbon (ExamHall is invented). The posting gave no pay.

Ten minutes in, the recruiter asks: “What are your salary expectations?” Going by Directive (EU) 2023/970 and Patrick McKenzie's essay on salary negotiation (both read 2026-10-15), what does she answer?

The 30-second version

Pay talk has an order. Learn what your level is paid where you would work, hear the employer's range for the role before you name a figure, and state any figure as gross pay for a year. The figure you name tends to stick, so ground it in evidence.

Hear their range before you name yours, and give every figure as gross pay for a year, backed by market data.

How it works

Step 1 of 14

Know the level's market. Pay sites list salaries by company, title, level and location; read the figures for your level and city. [S3]

In the kitchen

what illustrators of her experience are paid for a 32-page book → market data for the level (step 1)

Analogy: An illustrator agreeing the fee for a picture book

A publisher's art director asks a freelance illustrator to paint a 32-page children's book. The book's illustration budget was set months ago, in a spreadsheet she has never seen.

At the publisher	In the pay talk
the illustration budget, set before anyone called her	the role's range (steps 5, 6)
what illustrators of her experience are paid for a 32-page book	market data for the level (step 1)
one publisher quotes per spread, another per book	one unit before comparing (step 3)
“What did your last publisher pay you?”	a pay-history question (step 7)
the contract signed before the first spread is painted	the written offer (step 12)
the advance, the royalty share, the deadline, the original paintings	the parts of a package (step 13)

In real terms: before a call that may turn to money, write down your level's market figures, the question you will ask for the range, and the unit (gross, a year) you will use.

Breaks down when: a book's fee is paid once, while a salary is paid every year and each yearly raise is a percentage of it (step 10).

Contrasting case: a staff illustrator whose pay is set by her grade on an agreed scale; where a collective agreement applies to the position, the employer must tell applicants its relevant provisions too (S1 Art. 5(1)(b)).

What the sources support, and what they don't. S1 is Directive (EU) 2023/970 (read 2026-10-15); it binds the Member States, not employers directly; whether a country's law was in force when you apply is a national question the directive cannot answer, so steps 5–7 hold where it has been transposed (step 8). S2 is one practitioner's essay from 2012, written for engineers in US cities; its five-minute stories are his, not data. S3 is the levels.fyi home page: it lists what the site sorts salaries by and keys nothing. The row's claim that few states had transposed by the deadline is in none of the three, so no item keys on it.

Try it

Answer first, then check. Nothing is saved.

Question 1 of 8

A video-streaming company's posting gives the role's band as €64,000–€72,000 gross a year. Its written offer to a backend engineer reads: “€4,800 gross a month, paid in 14 payments a year. With our social contributions, you cost us €86,000 a year.” That is all the letter says about pay.

Taking pay level as the directive defines it (read 2026-10-15) in a pay-level model, where does the offer sit against the band?

Question 2 of 8

In November 2026 a backend engineer applies to a streaming company in Portugal. Take it as given that Portugal's law transposing the directive is in force by then and sets the same rules as the directive's Article 5. The online application form has a required field: “Gross pay in your current job (for our records only)”.

Going by Directive (EU) 2023/970 (read 2026-10-15), what is that field?

Question 3 of 8

A streaming company has sent a backend engineer its written offer. On the call about it, the hiring manager says: “€76,000 is the most HR allows for this level; I can't move the base.” She hoped for more.

Going by McKenzie's essay (read 2026-10-15), what does she do next?

Question 4 of 8

At the end of her last interview at a streaming company, the hiring manager asks: “If we offered you €78,000 today, would you accept?” Nothing has been sent to her yet.

Going by McKenzie's essay (read 2026-10-15), what does she say?

Question 5 of 8

A streaming company's posting gives the band as €70,000–€84,000 gross a year. Your market figures for the level and city, a synthetic sample of eight: €69,000, €72,000, €74,000, €75,000, €77,000, €79,000, €81,000, €86,000. The recruiter asks for your expectations.

Write the one line you say, starting Range:.

Your answer (optional, stays on this page)

Question 6 of 8

A friend who builds video-streaming apps plans to name a low figure on her next recruiter call, so that the company picks her.

In three to five sentences, write what you tell her.

Your answer (optional, stays on this page)

Question 7 of 8

Two written offers to a ticketing-platform engineer differ only in the starting base: €70,000 and €74,000 gross a year. Each adds a 3% raise at the start of each later year, compounding as McKenzie's essay describes (a raise model).

Over the first five years, how much more gross pay does the higher start bring in total?

Question 8 of 8

In October 2026 a payments-ledger engineer applies for a role at a company in Ireland with 40 staff. Take it as given that Ireland's law transposing the directive is in force and sets the same rules as the directive's Article 5. The posting shows no pay.

Going by Directive (EU) 2023/970 (read 2026-10-15), what does she do?

Go deeper

Pro tip

Keep one pay sheet per application: the band as given, converted to gross a year; your level's market median and where you found it; your range; and the two parts of the package you care most about after the base, in order. Bring it to every call that may turn to money (steps 1, 3, 13).

Checked against the tools and docs as of 2026-10-15.

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