Negotiation Guide

Software Engineer | Adept AI Global Negotiation Guide

Negotiation DNA: Growth Comp + Pre-IPO Equity | $1B+ Valuation (Amazon Acquired Team) | San Francisco | AI Agents Platform

Region Base Salary Equity (Pre-IPO/4yr) Bonus Total Comp
San Francisco $160K-$220K $80K-$250K $180K-$283K
Seattle $155K-$213K $80K-$250K $175K-$276K
Remote US $144K-$198K $72K-$225K $162K-$254K

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Negotiation DNA Software Engineers at Adept AI build the platform and product infrastructure for AI agents — the agent execution environment, the software interaction layer, the workflow orchestration system, and the enterprise deployment platform. SWEs at Adept work on uniquely challenging problems: building systems that can reliably interact with arbitrary software, handle errors gracefully, and execute complex multi-step workflows autonomously. Amazon's involvement provides infrastructure and enterprise distribution advantages.

Level Mapping: Adept SWE = Amazon SDE II = Google L3-L4 = Meta E3-E4

The Amazon Partnership Premium Amazon's acquisition de-risks the equity and provides enterprise distribution for AI agents.

Global Levers

  1. AI Agent Platform Engineering: "Building the execution environment for autonomous AI agents is fundamentally different from traditional software engineering — it requires handling non-deterministic software interactions at scale: $215K base and $240K equity/4yr."
  2. Amazon Distribution Leverage: "Amazon's enterprise relationships create unique distribution for Adept's agents. My platform work enables that distribution: $210K base."
  3. Competing Offers: "Google offers $195K / $250K RSU. Amazon SDE II at $180K / $220K RSU. Adept's agent mission: $215K base."
  4. Startup Impact with Enterprise Backing: "Adept offers startup-level impact with Amazon-level resources: $210K base."

Negotiate Up Strategy: "I'm a software engineer excited about building AI agent platforms. Holding Google at $195K / $250K RSU. Adept's focused agent mission and Amazon backing: $215K base, $235K equity/4yr, and a $30K signing bonus. Floor is $190K."

Evidence & Sources

  • Levels.fyi Amazon and AI startup compensation (2025-2026)
  • Glassdoor Adept AI salary reports
  • Blind verified Adept AI SWE offers (2025-2026)

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