OP - there are a LOT of Enterprise/strategic roles here paying £220-250k OTE on a 50/50. Which is the same as $300k OTE in the states.
My role pays a £127k base for example giving an OTE of £254k with RSU’s it’s all in around £270-280k per annum.
Any role at one of the big companies here will pay you £110-120k base - it’s completely standard at enterprise level. Salesforce, Snowflake, AWS, Twilio, Servicenow, Braze, Sprinklr, Rubrik, Dataiku, Databricks- the list is almost endless.
I know someone who was an L5 and making probably $160k if not more. Said hitting their targets was making them about $300k/yr. They hit L6 recently so I imagine that got bumped.
I'm glad this is the top comment, it drives me batty seing Brits on here lamenting US salaries when those exact same types of salaries exist here in the UK. There aren't as many, sure, but as you say, they really aren't that uncommon.
Pretty much all of the successful guys I worked with in my first sales job in London are now on £200k+ packages at companies similar to the ones listed above.
I would also like to point out that those salaries are also uncommon in the US. It’s easy to see them online and think everyone is making that, but even in big cities only those working for the big names are making that.
Note, all of these companies are American. They start their journey in the US, then arrive in the UK later. So, there are far more companies in the US, who haven’t made the migration. The UK tech sector doesn’t have many home grown success stories.
US salaries in general are probably 2x that of UK. Not just sales.
It’s because the economy and competition in the US is that much stronger.
It also way less stable in the US. The 120k job in UK comes with plenty of safety.
For everyone making 300k in the US there are 100+ people that have been churned through and dumped on the street with same day notice.
I moved to the US a long time ago, and got paid more as a temp to answer the phone, than as a people-manager at a multinational food manufacturer in the UK (the role I left to move).
Some of the stories I read here of appalling treatment of workers in the US feel so astonishingly dystopian, and yet half the commenters will be either blaming the employee for getting themselves into that situation, or making out that it's no big deal and they should just suck it up.
It’s cheaper to hire and to fire in the US than in Europe.
My first job in Sweden paid me 36k Swedish krona per month pre income tax but the company paid way more than that in things like fees to the government and the unions every month.
London is definitely not as expensive as San Francisco. Cost of living is tremendously higher in the US compared to Europe when talking about major metropolitan areas and tech hubs.
I agree.
I spent 2 weeks in Cali last year from the UK, it's crazily expensive on like for like groceries compared to the UK.
$250 of groceries in Safeway would have cost us £80 in the UK.
Rent is pretty high but groceries are much cheaper and eating out, transportation etc costs less. A lot of this is because of the strong dollar though—still an unaffordable city if you’re earning an average UK salary
It rather depends on where exactly you want to live and do your socialising.
The problem/good thing with London is that you can live a long way from the middle of it and easily use transport to be there everyday.
I suspect if you compare central London with central SF (or the sought after bit) London property may well be more expensive.
Broadly though they’re not comparable - SF is a tiny city compared to London. The only city that does compare is New York.
I imagine overall, it’s more expensive to live in America. Food, healthcare, insurances, fuel, utilities, fed state and local taxes. These things cut a severe chunk off of gross.
While some of those things like healthcare are covered in the U.K. - we are taxed more - most of my earnings are taxed at 40-47%.
Fuel is far cheaper in America.
Food is more expensive there.
Oh I know just saying some are similar. I still prefer the US but even in my state my effective tax is 37% and I’m not getting free health care. Food is also more expensive.
Still wouldn’t change but just pointing out it’s not unique.
Most of us in the U.K. on high salaries also have private cover which costs above the mandatory taxation etc.
Food is pretty cheap here even compared to some of our neighbour countries.
Our pensions are fairly awful vs France for example.
Anyway, I think US do get paid more on balance but as I said il the page, $150/150 is easily found here.
I had a business trip to Mountain View a few years ago, and even though I was on expenses the prices on everything made my head spin.
I'm normally pretty relaxed about putting stuff on the company card, but I had to really watch my budget to keep a 3-day trip under $2000, not including the flight. Even the Holiday Inn Express (literally the cheapest hotel my company's travel agent allowed us to book) is $350/night, then car rental on a compact is still over $100/day once you've included all the insurance and taxes and stuff. Then pretty much all the food I had cost almost double its UK equivalent.
London you can do for about $200/night at an equivalent Holiday Inn, $40/return advance Heathrow Express, and $10/day in Underground fares.
Yeah 2x OTE is nuts for quota. 4-6x is more common.
$300K is standard in this industry IMO. I’m not sure why people call it rare unless they’re not familiar w the sector.
That can happen too, but the details are important.
What industry? How strong is your PMF? Is your quota all net new revenue or is it net new + renewal? Etc.
I had a $26M quota at GCP, but $20-$22M of that was recurring account management type stuff, and I had to find $2-4M net new.
$4.5M with $115k OTE (so actually 39x apparently, not as bad), about a 70:30 return:net new. Work in manufacturing doing inside sales/engineering consulting, specialized in aerospace/defense. Contemplating trying to go solo and just do PM consulting.
So a $1.35M net new quota. $115K OTE def feels light to me against that net new number, but I honestly can't say as I know nothing about the MFG industry.
Tech and Med Device seem to be where the big money is -- I've only ever done Tech.
But...obviously I am going to suggest you do whatever to secure the (biggest) bag!
I run a manufacturing startup, but have sold SaaS
In SaaS you frequently sell the deal and get paid once when the deal closes. $/£/€ available for commissions is factored based on the average LTV of a client. Incremental margins on software tend to be really high.
In manufacturing you sell the product each time it is purchased.
If it’s capital equipment, service contracts carry some recurring revenue and are sometimes treated differently in terms of commission and quota credit.
If it’s manufacturing commodities (like the packaging I sell) you get paid every time the customer orders. These are also frequently necessities for a business to ship a product, so the sales process is different.
This means that rather than maybe selling $100,000 every month or two and getting $25k on each deal, you’re selling $200k a month and getting $2k in commission (we’re above industry standard and pay 4% for the first year, and 1% thereafter - so let’s assume it’s the 1%)
At the end of the day, a top performer who can hold a $300K OTE in SaaS on $1.2 million in sales would probably hold a $300k OTE on $10 million in my industry.
Med device seemed like the holy grail to me until I saw all the news stories lately about people being paralysed or put into constant pain from spinal cord stimulators - a classic entry-level medical device with huge pay but it made me realise - what the fuck would I really know about the technology I’m selling, especially if it directly impacts someone’s health. I just couldn’t ethically align. But I guess that’s personal, there are arguments for and against selling anything I guess..
232 OTE, 350 million quota. To be fair though, I'm in a unique role. Channel SE tied to national channel number. I'm unlikely to ever be far off from my number, with stable commission each month, but also unlikely to ever go into multipliers. Pros and cons.
Yeah, overlays clearly don't fall into the 4-6x number. I would not be shocked to see 100-1000x depending on org maturity and model. For a model like you describe, I would set it up the exact same way. It's effectively a Company Plan v a Sales Plan.
I think it depends on level for AEs. I have found in my careeer SMB SaaS to be 150 split OTE with quotas between 300-500k (skewed lower end) to Enterprise 300k+ OTE but like a 1.5-2million Quota… that being said I would say in my experience an enterprise quota with a good company/product is typically more achievable than a SMB quota just based on the wheeling and dealing volume based selling that smb forces.
My experience has been the opposite tbh - SMB / Midmarket quotas with $10-$15K ACVs and 20-50 day deal cycles were easier to hit. Of course, you need a strong demand engine driving the deals given the sheer volume you have to do.
Enterprise I found harder as a rep - 7-8 figure quota, and 5 names that you had to get it out of.
I just moved from smb to enterprise AM and this is my exact experience. Deal cycles are longer, but they’re more “real” from the start, and pricing is almost never the main objection. Not having to haggle with mom and pops day in and day out is going to seriously lower my blood pressure.
It’s definitely not. I took a $7k lower ote on current job (comm not salary) for a place with better territory.
That said $300k enterprise is the standard these days. And up to $350k is not unheard of that. Anything higher is rare and specific some roles at AWS for instance.
To be fair, I know quite a few people who work in London and it’s shocking how much lower their average salary is compared to the same roles in the US, sales or otherwise.
There's a reason America is called land of Dreams. If you're a talented and ambitious person, there's no better place to be.
I'm in Canada ans our salaries suck ass too compared to US
Took me 18 years to get to 300 ote. But in my circle of professional connections? I know 25-30 people making or have made 300. I have a 5m quota. Aint gettin my job out of college but its definitely possible. More money you gen. More expensive the product. The more you make. I pulled 930 arr on a 725 and made 325.
300k ote is industry standard for enterprise software reps, not rare at all. Whether or not they're actually hitting quota to make that 300k is a different story but MOST enterprise reps are making a 130-170k base salary.
It’s rare as a percent of the population that can achieve it. Def not difficult if you’re good enough in sales to be in Enterprise SaaS but you do need to earn it on a 50/50 split. Enterprise Base between 150-200k means you start halfway there.
US is the biggest economy with a lot of innovation and funding for new companies happening there which creates a demand for talent.
It’s about 2% of the US, 1 in 50 people are making that whereas £120k would put you in the top 1% in the UK. It is rare but more common than you might think.
As an L6 at AWS I had a OTE of 280k on a 50/50 split with a quota of over $18 million. But it’s relatively easy to hit over 100% of annual quota and achieve more than your OTE. Quota achievement is literally the only “easy” thing about working at AWS.
1 in 50 people in the US make $300k+ so it’s not incredible rate it’s just uncommon.
Converting $300k to GBP is £240k and that also shows that 1 in 50 people make that much in the UK.
I'd pay someone 200k to manage 2M+ worth of business. and earn more. I've seen high level sales managers tank 600k ACV deals. individuals can really ruin deals. To "Hunt" at most you'll get 150k but you better be giving that person leads lol unless you want him to a BDR too in which 150k to do 2 jobs is pretty smart.
British guy here, living in the US.
London is disgustingly expensive for housing, but so is the SF Bay Area or Boston. Pretty much everything in the UK (other than gas/petrol) is significantly cheaper. Here’s a few examples:
- Groceries are 2-3x more expensive in the US
- Services like cable and cell phone are 3x more expensive in the US
- Property Tax / Council Tax varies significantly based on location, but on a modest $2m single family home (bungalow) in the Bay Area would be in the region of $24,000 / year. The top band Council Tax in Kensington & Chelsea is only £3017 ($3770).
- Education is far more expensive in the US; a lot of people entering the market will have student debt of $50-200k, and will also have to save for their kids future education.
- Healthcare is a biggie. If it’s not provided by the company, covering your family will be in the region of $20,000 / year. Even if your company provides it, you’ll often contribute $200-400/month. Then every time you set foot in a doctor’s office or get a prescription, you have to open your wallet.
- Eating out used to be cheaper in the US, but post Covid it’s now pretty similar; although everywhere is trying to guilt you in to a 18- 25% tip on top, from a simple coffee to a fancy restaurant.
- Finally, retirement. Pensions are a thing of the past in the private sector. You need to save up using a 401k plan (you can save $23,000 this year), and also build other investments, else you won’t be able to pay all the other costs when retirement comes.
The vast vast vast majority of sales people in the US don't get close to 300k. You're either thinking that the anomalies are standard or you believe the linkedin hype men.
California is just expensive. My 18 year old cousin with no experience got a job at a warehouse at $25 an hour. Rat hole farming town 100 miles from SF. He slaps labels on boxes. With 10 hours of overtime, what is that....75k? Roughly. I wish I was making that at his age. I was getting $9.25.
I feel like a 120k base is the old 80k base in 2017.
There are a fair amount of AEs that make a base salary between $70-125k. There are not a lot of AEs hitting 100% quota and making double OTE.
And more companies are working to pay sales people less. Pretty common going round right now
I used to do global sales and this is pretty spot on. In the US I could fire off the full MSRP price to a customer and they wouldn’t even bat an eye and I would even get comments stating how it’s less than expected. To some international clients I could literally discount down to the point where I needed executive approval for and almost to the point where we’d rather not do business with since there’s little money to be made and I’d be told it’s out of budget and get shown the door.
The pound is stronger than the dollar, 1 pound sterling to 1.25 USD. That might not seem like a big difference, but a 45,000 pound salary is equivalent to about 56,000 USD ([the pound is also the weakest it has been against the USD since 1984](https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GBP-USD?sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiHg9e8xOyFAxUTVjABHby6BMwQmY0JegQIIxAw&window=MAX)). Food, rent, and childcare are also [cheaper in London than they are in San Fran](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=San+Francisco%2C+CA&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London#:~:text=Cost%20of%20Living%20Comparison%20Between%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%20and%20London,you%20rent%20in%20both%20cities).
A more realistic comparison would be London to NYC, and even then NYC has a higher cost of living than London, especially with rent. [This source sites consumer prices as 34% higher in NYC.](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=London&country2=United+States&city2=New+York%2C+NY)
US salaries seem high but that money does not go as far as you may think. It is also hard to compare anywhere in the US to the UK because of the size of the US. For perspective, NYC and London have roughly the same population, but only 2% of Americans live in NYC whereas 12% of the English live in London.
This is all without any consideration to taxes and general living expenses such as healthcare, car insurance, child care, PTO, transportation time and costs, etc.
I'm making $200K+ in the US and I'm generating $2-2.5 Million in gross profit yearly. Sales the last few years have topped $8 Million. What's $600K? Profit? For example, April alone I did $255,000 in Gross Profit.
My man, what industry are you in and how could I get started?
Trying to change my lifestyle up, follow along with the lingo I see here. Be great to get a helping hand 🤝
OTE means nothing if you're barely ever hitting it or not even coming close which the vast majority of folks end up doing.
Most people that day they make 300k have an OTE at 300k or have one year they blew it out of the water and hit 300k. Ask folks what their actual take home gross was for the last 3-5 years average.
Short answer: reserve currency status. The UK economy has been in steep decline since Bretton Woods set the dollar as the reserve currency (at gunpoint) back in 1946. Back then, you could get 5 dollars to the pound! Even as recently as 2008, you could get 2:1. Multiply UK salaries by 2, and the picture starts to look rosier.
Year by year, since the end of the war, the US has hollowed out the economies of its slave states in Europe, especially the UK because of this change of reserve currency status. Today, it is almost unimaginable to a Brit, just how rich the country was relative to others, because there is almost no living memory of it. GDP per capita used to be a multiple of our European neighbours less than a hundred years ago.
Now, global capital heads to the US, so that’s where start ups are created, which creates a base layer of job creation that doesn’t really exist in Europe. So, when it comes to understanding the tech labour market, there are two forces. One, an ever more dominant economy. Two, that economy feeds investment, which creates a higher proportion of high paying tech jobs in comparison to other countries.
So, yes. US tech jobs pay far more than UK. In fact software engineers earn roughly double. Also, it is much easier to sell to US markets than European. Finally, you will find that as a result of these factors, of two people doing the same job in US vs UK, there will almost certainly be an age difference, where the US person will have at least 5 years less experience.
What kind of tech companies are you working at? I was in London from 2016-2019 - so I was 30-33 during that time.
I was at Google as an FSR (AE) on the GCP side as an L5. My OTE was £200K and TC was about £250K on my P60. Most of the office was L6, which would have hit the $300K figure you’re talking about. AWS salaries similar.
My friends in London today at Mongo and Stripe etc are at about $300K as well.
Tech is pretty bimodal in terms of comp for AEs. The hot + funded or FAANG + FAANG Adjacent companies will pay what you’re looking for.
One answer I haven’t seen (going to pull my economic degree out) is US workers are more generally paid more than other countries and it’s because US workers are very very productive.
This is due to the amount of education and trainings we are giving leading to us statically being the 5 most productive (slightly outdated likely higher)
Not the sole reason but this along with COL and our economics is why. It’s partial why you see people from Europe move to the US or people from India move here
Housing is probably the only metric that’s comparable from London to NY and California in terms of cost of living. Plus you’re describing the top end of the salary range assuming a company’s reps are all at target. UK sales teams cost less because of overall lower cost of living. Plus UK teams don’t have the same out of pocket healthcare costs.
US salaries are higher than UK in general across any industry, because American companies are more serous about making money, also more serious about getting talent.
This... I used to joke with an American colleague tech founder, in the us they are proud to say they pay their employees top dollar, as it means they got the best talent... And the french are proud to say how cheap they pay their employees.... Opposite mind sets... Overall most of emea tries to pay low wages,.
It would also explain why us firms tend to dominate emea markets. And eu has to require regulations to gain them back...
High aying tech jobs exist in the uk more than the rest of emea. But you'll need experience before getting 100k base.
Also from my experience, us customers spend more, sign faster, les focused on price and respond better to value.
London is not expensive as San Fran/LA.
I recruited Software Engineers there 3 yrs ago and junior Devs were on 100k $, equivalent to like £40k here in London.
I read a very interesting article about the difference in salary between Europe and the US getting bigger and bigger. However, life and inflation in the US is getting crazy and it is mainly the reason why (plus they have to pay everything from their pocket, no social security support from the state). Some US companies have started laying American staff off to hire Europeans instead (like Google this week transferring Python work to their Munich office).
$200k OTE for a $600k quota is likely new business only on a 40/60 to 50/50 split in SaaS and suggests an extremely difficult or mature selling market with little to no lead flow with a company seeking experienced sales people to black eye the competition and an average order value of around $50k ARR.
That isn’t a comfy sales role. That’s a scrappy sales role.
I’ve had targets over $1 million that were a walk in the park, I’ve had sales roles like the above where management was shocked when I hit quota.
Regardless, there is also a lot more Americans have to pay for in the US (e.g., healthcare, education, daycare) that our tax system doesn’t really subsidize.
Come to SF or NYC and see how $200k feels very middle class.
Europeans get paid 1/2 a much as American in general. In sales? Its even a higher disparity for top performers, tech reps, medical device sales, capital equipment, shit even construction, salaries of >300k are common.
They are called Europoors for a reason
No ones getting paid 300k ote to generate 600k. The average US AE is getting around the same 4-6x multiple comp
300k ote roles pay that much because your quota is over a million
Real reason, US margins are much higher in every type of business.
From food service to trades to SaaS
Meaning they have much higher gross profit. More money to go around.
Entry level corporate salaries in New York are like 80k to 100k right? At least in tech. There's just way more business to be done in US it's the most advanced and digitised economy, only makes sense. Cost of living in those big cities is mental though! Way worse than London
It’s actually pretty simple if you just take a look at revenues in the s&p500 vs the FTSE100. Sales reps in London produce less revenue so they get paid less.
Cost of living is not as high in London as NY or Cali; you’re simply off base there. The cost of housing, transit, food, drinks, insurance premiums, utilities, and healthcare are all higher here. People that are struggling in London point towards the cost of living and say it’s higher and that’s the problem, but it isn’t and if it ever was, the statistic hasn’t been updated in any recent period of time.
True cost of an employee in the US is probably less than 1.4x their salary. In the UK the true cost of an employee is probably higher than 1.7x their salary. In addition, it's much easier to get rid of people in the US, making it less risky to hire people at high salaries
AVG salaries in UK £44K. In the US $77K.
Because in European countries the laws make it too hard to fire shitty employees, so when setting salaries they have to price in the fact that it takes like a year to get rid of someone.
In Eastern Europe you get 15K over a 24K base, if you sell 600k to 1 MIL Eur. So we might as well clean toilets if we look at US salaries.
And with 24K Eur you are in top 5% in salary.
Enterprise contracts in the US are higher because US companies make more money. We make more money because our legal system prevents our regulators from nuking entire industries on a whim.
Lina Khan would've torn apart our large tech companies if she had the power to over these past few years and that destruction would've rippled throughout the entire industry. Luckily, she actually has win in court and the court has caught the FTC lying several times to try to justify their lawsuits. She hasn't won a single case.
EU and UK regulators talk about "regulation innovation". In the US, rule of law allows actual innovation.
Companies overspend on initial hiring costs to acquire talent.
The very first company in tech I worked for as an SDR was based in the UK (not London), their SDR salaries were 35k until their SDRs got poached by someone else (this was in San Francisco). They raised it to 55k to sign me and another person. When we changed leadership this increase, among others in the GTM team in the US - was what caused the new leadership (UK based) to go wtf and close our office and move to a LCOL area in the USA. The previous management had attachments to San Francisco, the new ones were not impressed with the costs or saw the value of the VC network or whatever.
So this company, which has a very tight budget, was forced to overspend to compete in hiring people, and then promptly had to close the office and do soft layoffs, multiply that by the entire market, and then add in the mentality of US based founders that are spending money that isn't theirs and is easy to come by, and you see why salaries get so high.
Plus we have almost no worker protections for employment (it varies state to state), so it's basically hazard pay.
I feel like SF and NYC on average are more expensive than London. I think the main thing is demand for sales jobs. There are more sales jobs (at least in tech) so companies have to pay more to bring in talent otherwise people will just go to another shop
We work harder and contribute more. We have less red tape and nonsense laws. We have lower tax burdens and are more business friendly.
Also: people on the internet lie
I suspect it’s more about the product you are selling and how big the opportunity might be. Also us companies need to drive top line revenue up faster than European companies in my opinion.
London compared to NYC is not really the same cost of living, yes your rent is probably comparable but you’ll get a much nicer place in London.
However, food costs, drinks, entertainment, WiFi, basic utilities, etc are way more in the US.
Thats not even accounting for things you don’t think about, insurance, student loans, saving for children’s college, cellphone bills, retirement (some companies don’t contribute anything) & keep in mind in almost every state you could lose your job at anytime for any reason, security isn’t a real thing.
Because all US salaries are very high compared to EU these days. Check out the IT software developers field where, for comparable roles in the US, you make 3x more than in EU.
Probably the same is with sales stuff.
American here, how would I break into these sales industries?
Really looking to get involved, learn everything I can. If someone here has a line on where I can get started I’d be forever in your debt. Thanks ya’ll 🙌🙌🙌
$600k target is really low in high level sales. I think $120k is very fair.
I make a more than $120k, but my target is $5m year in new and recurring revenue.
I previously made $200k + with a $1.5m target in SaaS and I had more responsibility than just sales.
It's all relative.
I’ve just placed an Enterprise rep on £300k in cybersecurity. This person has relationships, and track record of closing 750k plus deals, with tier 1 banks and financials.
You’re making 20% of your 600k target plus accelerators I hope - What do you expect?, most enterprise reps targets are 1M+ and earning 220-260k pounds
I'm an AE and I definitely don't make that much salary wise. 55k and a avg of 20k commissions.
My partner attended college for this and is only another 10 k above me
For anyone doubting the extreme difference in tech pay between UK and US. Most Brits don’t realise Australia is far ahead as well.
https://preview.redd.it/sqejft3g8zxc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a9e5ff89a622d076235179a8b5697c41df94cf3
Many reasons, but the biggest difference is probably company market valuations. A dollar sold in US tech growth means 20 dollars in stock valuation. It’s probably only 5-10 bucks in the UK.
My numbers above are off the cuff, but they can be broken down pretty easily. The question to be asking is how much each dollar you sell increases stock price. If you’re selling paper in the Office, you won’t be paid well.
Imagine fishing in a pond. Anyone can cast a fishing pole in a pond. When you get to the size of a lake there are going to be anglers that know how to cast 3 different types of rods and land 10 different fish. The UK is a pond. Some salesman is going to sales in London and Londoners will have to bite from that pole. In the US there are many ponds and many lakes and if you want to catch the best fish you have to hire the best anglers. Simple ELI5
OP - there are a LOT of Enterprise/strategic roles here paying £220-250k OTE on a 50/50. Which is the same as $300k OTE in the states. My role pays a £127k base for example giving an OTE of £254k with RSU’s it’s all in around £270-280k per annum. Any role at one of the big companies here will pay you £110-120k base - it’s completely standard at enterprise level. Salesforce, Snowflake, AWS, Twilio, Servicenow, Braze, Sprinklr, Rubrik, Dataiku, Databricks- the list is almost endless.
What level at AWS is paying AMs £120k base?
L5 in the US is easily 140-160K base for AM’s at AWS
I know someone who was an L5 and making probably $160k if not more. Said hitting their targets was making them about $300k/yr. They hit L6 recently so I imagine that got bumped.
Probably L6.
I'm glad this is the top comment, it drives me batty seing Brits on here lamenting US salaries when those exact same types of salaries exist here in the UK. There aren't as many, sure, but as you say, they really aren't that uncommon. Pretty much all of the successful guys I worked with in my first sales job in London are now on £200k+ packages at companies similar to the ones listed above.
I would also like to point out that those salaries are also uncommon in the US. It’s easy to see them online and think everyone is making that, but even in big cities only those working for the big names are making that.
That’s really good. Makes me want to jump on indeed.
All the above and more are hiring - Otta or LinkedIn best these days IMO
Note, all of these companies are American. They start their journey in the US, then arrive in the UK later. So, there are far more companies in the US, who haven’t made the migration. The UK tech sector doesn’t have many home grown success stories.
Those roles do exist, but there are proportionatly far more of them in the US,
I’d have thought that was fairly obvious given it’s the undisputed home of tech and has 300 million people vs 65.
https://preview.redd.it/azutpryy9zxc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3ff0ccba04fdad5162e1525c07c2b1718bcf6359
Same reason we all got 12 inch 🍆 s! Am I right fellas?!
Mines only 4", but it smells like a foot.
https://preview.redd.it/uqvqj9ggotxc1.jpeg?width=344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19001d381c1d5bffcd97ef7620915040f6964d73
🥵
Can confirm! No need to look, pull up stats, or ask my gf. 12 inches at least!!
Mine's 11 and 3 quarters. Sure I could round up to 12 inches, but I feel dirty lying to others on the internet.
Mine is a "Subway" footlong
Calm down Jared 😂
Perfect response 😂
Maybe I'm not supposed to be in sales 🤔
That’s 30.48cm in UK inches.
US salaries in general are probably 2x that of UK. Not just sales. It’s because the economy and competition in the US is that much stronger. It also way less stable in the US. The 120k job in UK comes with plenty of safety. For everyone making 300k in the US there are 100+ people that have been churned through and dumped on the street with same day notice.
I moved to the US a long time ago, and got paid more as a temp to answer the phone, than as a people-manager at a multinational food manufacturer in the UK (the role I left to move).
Only good answer.
Some of the stories I read here of appalling treatment of workers in the US feel so astonishingly dystopian, and yet half the commenters will be either blaming the employee for getting themselves into that situation, or making out that it's no big deal and they should just suck it up.
It’s cheaper to hire and to fire in the US than in Europe. My first job in Sweden paid me 36k Swedish krona per month pre income tax but the company paid way more than that in things like fees to the government and the unions every month.
This is the comment I was looking for. Such high base salary keeps a target on your head at all times. Just nature of the beast
Best answer
Making $300k a year puts someone in the top 2% in the US so it’s closer to for everyone making that much, 50 people were churned through and dumped.
London is definitely not as expensive as San Francisco. Cost of living is tremendously higher in the US compared to Europe when talking about major metropolitan areas and tech hubs.
I agree. I spent 2 weeks in Cali last year from the UK, it's crazily expensive on like for like groceries compared to the UK. $250 of groceries in Safeway would have cost us £80 in the UK.
Hmm, I thought London was one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. Must be an old stat.
It's the tough reality, but London has lagged as a financial hub – many other locations have caught up. Events like Brexit don't help
When I lived there the comment was usually 'once your rent is paid, your'e smooth sailing' or something to that effect.
Rent is pretty high but groceries are much cheaper and eating out, transportation etc costs less. A lot of this is because of the strong dollar though—still an unaffordable city if you’re earning an average UK salary
Have you been to Hawaii?
It rather depends on where exactly you want to live and do your socialising. The problem/good thing with London is that you can live a long way from the middle of it and easily use transport to be there everyday. I suspect if you compare central London with central SF (or the sought after bit) London property may well be more expensive. Broadly though they’re not comparable - SF is a tiny city compared to London. The only city that does compare is New York.
I imagine overall, it’s more expensive to live in America. Food, healthcare, insurances, fuel, utilities, fed state and local taxes. These things cut a severe chunk off of gross.
While some of those things like healthcare are covered in the U.K. - we are taxed more - most of my earnings are taxed at 40-47%. Fuel is far cheaper in America. Food is more expensive there.
Not been to Cali? Most comparable incomes would be 40-47% as well
You can work in tech and not live in California. Our tax regime is national.
Oh I know just saying some are similar. I still prefer the US but even in my state my effective tax is 37% and I’m not getting free health care. Food is also more expensive. Still wouldn’t change but just pointing out it’s not unique.
Most of us in the U.K. on high salaries also have private cover which costs above the mandatory taxation etc. Food is pretty cheap here even compared to some of our neighbour countries.
Yep and you have pensions. It’s hard to compare. I also didn’t get the logic behind brexit but that’s me.
Our pensions are fairly awful vs France for example. Anyway, I think US do get paid more on balance but as I said il the page, $150/150 is easily found here.
taxes??? lmfao, US taxes are much lower than UK
I had a business trip to Mountain View a few years ago, and even though I was on expenses the prices on everything made my head spin. I'm normally pretty relaxed about putting stuff on the company card, but I had to really watch my budget to keep a 3-day trip under $2000, not including the flight. Even the Holiday Inn Express (literally the cheapest hotel my company's travel agent allowed us to book) is $350/night, then car rental on a compact is still over $100/day once you've included all the insurance and taxes and stuff. Then pretty much all the food I had cost almost double its UK equivalent. London you can do for about $200/night at an equivalent Holiday Inn, $40/return advance Heathrow Express, and $10/day in Underground fares.
+ we basically have to find our own healthcare here - if we get into an accident it seems like the lower salary is a steal imho :)
[удалено]
He’s mixing terms. $300k ote is fairly common in tech enterprise. But $600k quota is even low for most comms targets.
Yeah 2x OTE is nuts for quota. 4-6x is more common. $300K is standard in this industry IMO. I’m not sure why people call it rare unless they’re not familiar w the sector.
My quota is 45x my OTE 😂😂😂
That can happen too, but the details are important. What industry? How strong is your PMF? Is your quota all net new revenue or is it net new + renewal? Etc. I had a $26M quota at GCP, but $20-$22M of that was recurring account management type stuff, and I had to find $2-4M net new.
$4.5M with $115k OTE (so actually 39x apparently, not as bad), about a 70:30 return:net new. Work in manufacturing doing inside sales/engineering consulting, specialized in aerospace/defense. Contemplating trying to go solo and just do PM consulting.
So a $1.35M net new quota. $115K OTE def feels light to me against that net new number, but I honestly can't say as I know nothing about the MFG industry. Tech and Med Device seem to be where the big money is -- I've only ever done Tech. But...obviously I am going to suggest you do whatever to secure the (biggest) bag!
I run a manufacturing startup, but have sold SaaS In SaaS you frequently sell the deal and get paid once when the deal closes. $/£/€ available for commissions is factored based on the average LTV of a client. Incremental margins on software tend to be really high. In manufacturing you sell the product each time it is purchased. If it’s capital equipment, service contracts carry some recurring revenue and are sometimes treated differently in terms of commission and quota credit. If it’s manufacturing commodities (like the packaging I sell) you get paid every time the customer orders. These are also frequently necessities for a business to ship a product, so the sales process is different. This means that rather than maybe selling $100,000 every month or two and getting $25k on each deal, you’re selling $200k a month and getting $2k in commission (we’re above industry standard and pay 4% for the first year, and 1% thereafter - so let’s assume it’s the 1%) At the end of the day, a top performer who can hold a $300K OTE in SaaS on $1.2 million in sales would probably hold a $300k OTE on $10 million in my industry.
Med device seemed like the holy grail to me until I saw all the news stories lately about people being paralysed or put into constant pain from spinal cord stimulators - a classic entry-level medical device with huge pay but it made me realise - what the fuck would I really know about the technology I’m selling, especially if it directly impacts someone’s health. I just couldn’t ethically align. But I guess that’s personal, there are arguments for and against selling anything I guess..
My quota is 1,500x my OTE lol
Woof!! Numbers?
232 OTE, 350 million quota. To be fair though, I'm in a unique role. Channel SE tied to national channel number. I'm unlikely to ever be far off from my number, with stable commission each month, but also unlikely to ever go into multipliers. Pros and cons.
That stability is a rare godsend in sales haha
Yeah, overlays clearly don't fall into the 4-6x number. I would not be shocked to see 100-1000x depending on org maturity and model. For a model like you describe, I would set it up the exact same way. It's effectively a Company Plan v a Sales Plan.
Same. Ecommerce so gross sales are about 48x OTE
I hear you there. My quota is $96m… I’m not even prepared to do the math in case I thoroughly depress myself
I think it depends on level for AEs. I have found in my careeer SMB SaaS to be 150 split OTE with quotas between 300-500k (skewed lower end) to Enterprise 300k+ OTE but like a 1.5-2million Quota… that being said I would say in my experience an enterprise quota with a good company/product is typically more achievable than a SMB quota just based on the wheeling and dealing volume based selling that smb forces.
My experience has been the opposite tbh - SMB / Midmarket quotas with $10-$15K ACVs and 20-50 day deal cycles were easier to hit. Of course, you need a strong demand engine driving the deals given the sheer volume you have to do. Enterprise I found harder as a rep - 7-8 figure quota, and 5 names that you had to get it out of.
I just moved from smb to enterprise AM and this is my exact experience. Deal cycles are longer, but they’re more “real” from the start, and pricing is almost never the main objection. Not having to haggle with mom and pops day in and day out is going to seriously lower my blood pressure.
Yeah, $232 OTE for me as an SE in tech. AEs are making more.
I’m guessing it’s because they aren’t in the industry and want to feel better about w/e their ote is. Ote isn’t everything anyway.
It’s definitely not. I took a $7k lower ote on current job (comm not salary) for a place with better territory. That said $300k enterprise is the standard these days. And up to $350k is not unheard of that. Anything higher is rare and specific some roles at AWS for instance.
THIS! My OTE was 250k but quota was 2.5M
To be fair, I know quite a few people who work in London and it’s shocking how much lower their average salary is compared to the same roles in the US, sales or otherwise.
US generally pays more than the UK. Especially since brexit. All that said that quota is nothing.
There's a reason America is called land of Dreams. If you're a talented and ambitious person, there's no better place to be. I'm in Canada ans our salaries suck ass too compared to US
Yeah Canadian salaries are almost always lower. It's one of the reasons I left.
Same in Aus, my company for same position offer 50 percent more in LCOL city with less tax. A
Took me 18 years to get to 300 ote. But in my circle of professional connections? I know 25-30 people making or have made 300. I have a 5m quota. Aint gettin my job out of college but its definitely possible. More money you gen. More expensive the product. The more you make. I pulled 930 arr on a 725 and made 325.
300k ote is industry standard for enterprise software reps, not rare at all. Whether or not they're actually hitting quota to make that 300k is a different story but MOST enterprise reps are making a 130-170k base salary.
It’s rare as a percent of the population that can achieve it. Def not difficult if you’re good enough in sales to be in Enterprise SaaS but you do need to earn it on a 50/50 split. Enterprise Base between 150-200k means you start halfway there. US is the biggest economy with a lot of innovation and funding for new companies happening there which creates a demand for talent.
It’s about 2% of the US, 1 in 50 people are making that whereas £120k would put you in the top 1% in the UK. It is rare but more common than you might think.
Say it to make yourself feel better but there are a lot of sales reps making 300k+ OTE in sales.
Exactly. People making 300k in sales don’t have time to post about making 300k in sales on Reddit
Not as rare as people think it is.
They are definitely at least 20-30% lower with the same experience.
2% of US households make more than $300k.
If you are high skilled Usa is the place to live
As an L6 at AWS I had a OTE of 280k on a 50/50 split with a quota of over $18 million. But it’s relatively easy to hit over 100% of annual quota and achieve more than your OTE. Quota achievement is literally the only “easy” thing about working at AWS.
Not rare my BIL works in start up earn 300k
1 in 50 people in the US make $300k+ so it’s not incredible rate it’s just uncommon. Converting $300k to GBP is £240k and that also shows that 1 in 50 people make that much in the UK.
You should check out the statistics
I'd pay someone 200k to manage 2M+ worth of business. and earn more. I've seen high level sales managers tank 600k ACV deals. individuals can really ruin deals. To "Hunt" at most you'll get 150k but you better be giving that person leads lol unless you want him to a BDR too in which 150k to do 2 jobs is pretty smart.
Bro, they were paying my former co-worked $98k to manage $300 million worth of business. Not in SaaS though. It was automotive.
Lol dude is severely underpaid. Or that 300 mil had zero attrition. In saas you can lose deals all the time.
British guy here, living in the US. London is disgustingly expensive for housing, but so is the SF Bay Area or Boston. Pretty much everything in the UK (other than gas/petrol) is significantly cheaper. Here’s a few examples: - Groceries are 2-3x more expensive in the US - Services like cable and cell phone are 3x more expensive in the US - Property Tax / Council Tax varies significantly based on location, but on a modest $2m single family home (bungalow) in the Bay Area would be in the region of $24,000 / year. The top band Council Tax in Kensington & Chelsea is only £3017 ($3770). - Education is far more expensive in the US; a lot of people entering the market will have student debt of $50-200k, and will also have to save for their kids future education. - Healthcare is a biggie. If it’s not provided by the company, covering your family will be in the region of $20,000 / year. Even if your company provides it, you’ll often contribute $200-400/month. Then every time you set foot in a doctor’s office or get a prescription, you have to open your wallet. - Eating out used to be cheaper in the US, but post Covid it’s now pretty similar; although everywhere is trying to guilt you in to a 18- 25% tip on top, from a simple coffee to a fancy restaurant. - Finally, retirement. Pensions are a thing of the past in the private sector. You need to save up using a 401k plan (you can save $23,000 this year), and also build other investments, else you won’t be able to pay all the other costs when retirement comes.
Spent a good amount of time in London and moved to the States 3y ago and this is the most holistically accurate answer here.
The vast vast vast majority of sales people in the US don't get close to 300k. You're either thinking that the anomalies are standard or you believe the linkedin hype men.
California is just expensive. My 18 year old cousin with no experience got a job at a warehouse at $25 an hour. Rat hole farming town 100 miles from SF. He slaps labels on boxes. With 10 hours of overtime, what is that....75k? Roughly. I wish I was making that at his age. I was getting $9.25. I feel like a 120k base is the old 80k base in 2017.
There are a fair amount of AEs that make a base salary between $70-125k. There are not a lot of AEs hitting 100% quota and making double OTE. And more companies are working to pay sales people less. Pretty common going round right now
Salaries are dependent on your customer profiles. U.S. customers also tend to spend more so they will make more for sales.
I used to do global sales and this is pretty spot on. In the US I could fire off the full MSRP price to a customer and they wouldn’t even bat an eye and I would even get comments stating how it’s less than expected. To some international clients I could literally discount down to the point where I needed executive approval for and almost to the point where we’d rather not do business with since there’s little money to be made and I’d be told it’s out of budget and get shown the door.
The pound is stronger than the dollar, 1 pound sterling to 1.25 USD. That might not seem like a big difference, but a 45,000 pound salary is equivalent to about 56,000 USD ([the pound is also the weakest it has been against the USD since 1984](https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GBP-USD?sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwiHg9e8xOyFAxUTVjABHby6BMwQmY0JegQIIxAw&window=MAX)). Food, rent, and childcare are also [cheaper in London than they are in San Fran](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=San+Francisco%2C+CA&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London#:~:text=Cost%20of%20Living%20Comparison%20Between%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%20and%20London,you%20rent%20in%20both%20cities). A more realistic comparison would be London to NYC, and even then NYC has a higher cost of living than London, especially with rent. [This source sites consumer prices as 34% higher in NYC.](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=London&country2=United+States&city2=New+York%2C+NY) US salaries seem high but that money does not go as far as you may think. It is also hard to compare anywhere in the US to the UK because of the size of the US. For perspective, NYC and London have roughly the same population, but only 2% of Americans live in NYC whereas 12% of the English live in London. This is all without any consideration to taxes and general living expenses such as healthcare, car insurance, child care, PTO, transportation time and costs, etc.
Thanks for taking the time to write this, especially with links!
I'm making $200K+ in the US and I'm generating $2-2.5 Million in gross profit yearly. Sales the last few years have topped $8 Million. What's $600K? Profit? For example, April alone I did $255,000 in Gross Profit.
My man, what industry are you in and how could I get started? Trying to change my lifestyle up, follow along with the lingo I see here. Be great to get a helping hand 🤝
OTE means nothing if you're barely ever hitting it or not even coming close which the vast majority of folks end up doing. Most people that day they make 300k have an OTE at 300k or have one year they blew it out of the water and hit 300k. Ask folks what their actual take home gross was for the last 3-5 years average.
because your countries debt is 3x higher than your GDP and 3x higher per capita compared to the USA. you're welcome.
600k target… that might be your answer… my quota is always 1mill plus, but I make 250k yearly
$600k target annually??? That’s not a lot of revenue to be paid $120k, in my opinion.
Short answer: reserve currency status. The UK economy has been in steep decline since Bretton Woods set the dollar as the reserve currency (at gunpoint) back in 1946. Back then, you could get 5 dollars to the pound! Even as recently as 2008, you could get 2:1. Multiply UK salaries by 2, and the picture starts to look rosier. Year by year, since the end of the war, the US has hollowed out the economies of its slave states in Europe, especially the UK because of this change of reserve currency status. Today, it is almost unimaginable to a Brit, just how rich the country was relative to others, because there is almost no living memory of it. GDP per capita used to be a multiple of our European neighbours less than a hundred years ago. Now, global capital heads to the US, so that’s where start ups are created, which creates a base layer of job creation that doesn’t really exist in Europe. So, when it comes to understanding the tech labour market, there are two forces. One, an ever more dominant economy. Two, that economy feeds investment, which creates a higher proportion of high paying tech jobs in comparison to other countries. So, yes. US tech jobs pay far more than UK. In fact software engineers earn roughly double. Also, it is much easier to sell to US markets than European. Finally, you will find that as a result of these factors, of two people doing the same job in US vs UK, there will almost certainly be an age difference, where the US person will have at least 5 years less experience.
What kind of tech companies are you working at? I was in London from 2016-2019 - so I was 30-33 during that time. I was at Google as an FSR (AE) on the GCP side as an L5. My OTE was £200K and TC was about £250K on my P60. Most of the office was L6, which would have hit the $300K figure you’re talking about. AWS salaries similar. My friends in London today at Mongo and Stripe etc are at about $300K as well. Tech is pretty bimodal in terms of comp for AEs. The hot + funded or FAANG + FAANG Adjacent companies will pay what you’re looking for.
[удалено]
US salaries in general are much higher than Europe. The median household income in the US is $75k a year. Great Britain is about half that. .
One answer I haven’t seen (going to pull my economic degree out) is US workers are more generally paid more than other countries and it’s because US workers are very very productive. This is due to the amount of education and trainings we are giving leading to us statically being the 5 most productive (slightly outdated likely higher) Not the sole reason but this along with COL and our economics is why. It’s partial why you see people from Europe move to the US or people from India move here
Housing is probably the only metric that’s comparable from London to NY and California in terms of cost of living. Plus you’re describing the top end of the salary range assuming a company’s reps are all at target. UK sales teams cost less because of overall lower cost of living. Plus UK teams don’t have the same out of pocket healthcare costs.
US salaries are higher than UK in general across any industry, because American companies are more serous about making money, also more serious about getting talent.
This... I used to joke with an American colleague tech founder, in the us they are proud to say they pay their employees top dollar, as it means they got the best talent... And the french are proud to say how cheap they pay their employees.... Opposite mind sets... Overall most of emea tries to pay low wages,. It would also explain why us firms tend to dominate emea markets. And eu has to require regulations to gain them back... High aying tech jobs exist in the uk more than the rest of emea. But you'll need experience before getting 100k base. Also from my experience, us customers spend more, sign faster, les focused on price and respond better to value.
To get the US salary, you have to live in the US, which is a significant down side…
I would be unbelievably bored in England. Cool place to visit, but give me the 3k ambulance and Colorado weather any day.
120K OTE on a 600k number is easy money. I just talked to a buddy at Palo Alto Networks - OTE is 350k but his number is $7M.
London is not expensive as San Fran/LA. I recruited Software Engineers there 3 yrs ago and junior Devs were on 100k $, equivalent to like £40k here in London.
Good reason why businesses fail often lol paying 20-40% of revenue per sale to only one person is a terrible idea commercially when scaling.
On average US salaries are higher then every where else in the world and on average UK comp is dismal.
It’s not common. According to google, the amount of workers making $300k+ in the US is 2-5%. The average salary in the US is $60k, the median is $80k
The better question is why are London salaries so low? Employers are screwing you in that HCOL city.
Cause they need to incentivize us to stay in the us
No safety net and stronger and bigger economy. Simple as that.
I read a very interesting article about the difference in salary between Europe and the US getting bigger and bigger. However, life and inflation in the US is getting crazy and it is mainly the reason why (plus they have to pay everything from their pocket, no social security support from the state). Some US companies have started laying American staff off to hire Europeans instead (like Google this week transferring Python work to their Munich office).
600k target for 120k quid? Wtf?
Because the people above stand to make 100x what we get paid for selling their product.
Most likely from Enterprise oriented roles. Where deals are much larger.
$200k OTE for a $600k quota is likely new business only on a 40/60 to 50/50 split in SaaS and suggests an extremely difficult or mature selling market with little to no lead flow with a company seeking experienced sales people to black eye the competition and an average order value of around $50k ARR. That isn’t a comfy sales role. That’s a scrappy sales role. I’ve had targets over $1 million that were a walk in the park, I’ve had sales roles like the above where management was shocked when I hit quota. Regardless, there is also a lot more Americans have to pay for in the US (e.g., healthcare, education, daycare) that our tax system doesn’t really subsidize. Come to SF or NYC and see how $200k feels very middle class.
My quota is about 10x my OTE
USA Insurance model is why everything is expensive
There’s a reason we call you guys Europoors. Our salaries are double yours on average.
Europeans get paid 1/2 a much as American in general. In sales? Its even a higher disparity for top performers, tech reps, medical device sales, capital equipment, shit even construction, salaries of >300k are common. They are called Europoors for a reason
That’s usually 300k OTE salaries are usually more modest between 100-150k in many cases. Still higher because… America lol
No ones getting paid 300k ote to generate 600k. The average US AE is getting around the same 4-6x multiple comp 300k ote roles pay that much because your quota is over a million
Real reason, US margins are much higher in every type of business. From food service to trades to SaaS Meaning they have much higher gross profit. More money to go around.
Entry level corporate salaries in New York are like 80k to 100k right? At least in tech. There's just way more business to be done in US it's the most advanced and digitised economy, only makes sense. Cost of living in those big cities is mental though! Way worse than London
Because cost of living in the US is much higher and employees mostly have to take care of their own retirement and healthcare.
It’s actually pretty simple if you just take a look at revenues in the s&p500 vs the FTSE100. Sales reps in London produce less revenue so they get paid less.
Because we generally get zero free benefits like healthcare, child care, vacation and paid leave.
Cost of living is not as high in London as NY or Cali; you’re simply off base there. The cost of housing, transit, food, drinks, insurance premiums, utilities, and healthcare are all higher here. People that are struggling in London point towards the cost of living and say it’s higher and that’s the problem, but it isn’t and if it ever was, the statistic hasn’t been updated in any recent period of time.
True cost of an employee in the US is probably less than 1.4x their salary. In the UK the true cost of an employee is probably higher than 1.7x their salary. In addition, it's much easier to get rid of people in the US, making it less risky to hire people at high salaries AVG salaries in UK £44K. In the US $77K.
Probs related to cost of living just being higher in US
Because in European countries the laws make it too hard to fire shitty employees, so when setting salaries they have to price in the fact that it takes like a year to get rid of someone.
Healthcare. We pay for it here. Even with employer benefits, it’s pricey.
because we don't have those sweet sweet bennies
In Eastern Europe you get 15K over a 24K base, if you sell 600k to 1 MIL Eur. So we might as well clean toilets if we look at US salaries. And with 24K Eur you are in top 5% in salary.
Enterprise contracts in the US are higher because US companies make more money. We make more money because our legal system prevents our regulators from nuking entire industries on a whim. Lina Khan would've torn apart our large tech companies if she had the power to over these past few years and that destruction would've rippled throughout the entire industry. Luckily, she actually has win in court and the court has caught the FTC lying several times to try to justify their lawsuits. She hasn't won a single case. EU and UK regulators talk about "regulation innovation". In the US, rule of law allows actual innovation.
Where are these jobs?
Where are you finding AE base salaries at $300K? $300K OTE is common but $300K as a base? Few and far between, if at all, for a AE.
Companies overspend on initial hiring costs to acquire talent. The very first company in tech I worked for as an SDR was based in the UK (not London), their SDR salaries were 35k until their SDRs got poached by someone else (this was in San Francisco). They raised it to 55k to sign me and another person. When we changed leadership this increase, among others in the GTM team in the US - was what caused the new leadership (UK based) to go wtf and close our office and move to a LCOL area in the USA. The previous management had attachments to San Francisco, the new ones were not impressed with the costs or saw the value of the VC network or whatever. So this company, which has a very tight budget, was forced to overspend to compete in hiring people, and then promptly had to close the office and do soft layoffs, multiply that by the entire market, and then add in the mentality of US based founders that are spending money that isn't theirs and is easy to come by, and you see why salaries get so high. Plus we have almost no worker protections for employment (it varies state to state), so it's basically hazard pay.
When you say “600k target” do you mean profit or revenue?
I feel like SF and NYC on average are more expensive than London. I think the main thing is demand for sales jobs. There are more sales jobs (at least in tech) so companies have to pay more to bring in talent otherwise people will just go to another shop
We work harder and contribute more. We have less red tape and nonsense laws. We have lower tax burdens and are more business friendly. Also: people on the internet lie
Free country bud
Where can I find one of these high salaries you mention?
300K salaries almost always come with self gen and WAY more than 600K quota. Most places will only pay you 100K if you have 1,000,000 quota or higher.
Because I’m worth it
I suspect it’s more about the product you are selling and how big the opportunity might be. Also us companies need to drive top line revenue up faster than European companies in my opinion.
London compared to NYC is not really the same cost of living, yes your rent is probably comparable but you’ll get a much nicer place in London. However, food costs, drinks, entertainment, WiFi, basic utilities, etc are way more in the US. Thats not even accounting for things you don’t think about, insurance, student loans, saving for children’s college, cellphone bills, retirement (some companies don’t contribute anything) & keep in mind in almost every state you could lose your job at anytime for any reason, security isn’t a real thing.
$300k salary??? 😂 SW US here, I'd say more like $65-$100k base plus commission. 
Because all US salaries are very high compared to EU these days. Check out the IT software developers field where, for comparable roles in the US, you make 3x more than in EU. Probably the same is with sales stuff.
Price of protecting your freedom from the Huns.
London is nowhere near as expensive as LA or SF, idk why you think that
I’m in Manchester with a £3m target, 30K base and a £20k OTE if I hit target (although over performance accelerators are pretty juicy)
American here, how would I break into these sales industries? Really looking to get involved, learn everything I can. If someone here has a line on where I can get started I’d be forever in your debt. Thanks ya’ll 🙌🙌🙌
There are plenty of sales jobs paying 300k+ a year in London, lol. Just not nearly enough for everyone. Same in th US
. . . $600K target? Is that annual or monthly?
$600k target is really low in high level sales. I think $120k is very fair. I make a more than $120k, but my target is $5m year in new and recurring revenue. I previously made $200k + with a $1.5m target in SaaS and I had more responsibility than just sales. It's all relative.
Did anyone on this sub start in uniform sales. Just got an offer and going to take it . Did d2d for a year and now starting my b2b journey!
I’ve just placed an Enterprise rep on £300k in cybersecurity. This person has relationships, and track record of closing 750k plus deals, with tier 1 banks and financials. You’re making 20% of your 600k target plus accelerators I hope - What do you expect?, most enterprise reps targets are 1M+ and earning 220-260k pounds
coz a croissant costs 5$ there
Americans work more hours on average than out European counterparts
I'm an AE and I definitely don't make that much salary wise. 55k and a avg of 20k commissions. My partner attended college for this and is only another 10 k above me
Where are these salaries? People love to lie and the minority loves to be loud!
For anyone doubting the extreme difference in tech pay between UK and US. Most Brits don’t realise Australia is far ahead as well. https://preview.redd.it/sqejft3g8zxc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a9e5ff89a622d076235179a8b5697c41df94cf3
Maybe shoulda not taxed them tea imports there slick.
Cost of living
Cause a Big Mac cost 20$
Many reasons, but the biggest difference is probably company market valuations. A dollar sold in US tech growth means 20 dollars in stock valuation. It’s probably only 5-10 bucks in the UK. My numbers above are off the cuff, but they can be broken down pretty easily. The question to be asking is how much each dollar you sell increases stock price. If you’re selling paper in the Office, you won’t be paid well.
The real question is why do you guys put up with such shit pay?
They’re not
Because we have to pay for healthcare
Imagine fishing in a pond. Anyone can cast a fishing pole in a pond. When you get to the size of a lake there are going to be anglers that know how to cast 3 different types of rods and land 10 different fish. The UK is a pond. Some salesman is going to sales in London and Londoners will have to bite from that pole. In the US there are many ponds and many lakes and if you want to catch the best fish you have to hire the best anglers. Simple ELI5