Intelligence Graph Engineer — Recorded Future Salary Negotiation Guide

Negotiation DNA: Intelligence Graph Engineers at Recorded Future build and scale the intelligence graph — the massive knowledge graph connecting threat actors, malware, vulnerabilities, infrastructure, and targets — that powers the world's largest threat intelligence platform and serves as the analytical foundation for AI-driven intelligence delivery.

Compensation Benchmarks (2026)

Level	Somerville/Boston (USD)	Remote US (USD)	Gothenburg (SEK)
Mid (L3-L4)	$155,000–$218,000	$140,000–$203,000	kr575,000–kr780,000
Senior (L5)	$215,000–$285,000	$198,000–$268,000	kr780,000–kr1,080,000
Staff+ (L6+)	$280,000–$358,000	$263,000–$338,000	kr1,050,000–kr1,400,000

Total compensation includes base salary, equity/bonus ($50K-$100K/year range), and Mastercard benefits post-acquisition. Intelligence Graph roles command a 5-10% premium over general SWE due to specialized graph database, NLP, and intelligence domain expertise.

Negotiation DNA — Why This Role Commands a Premium at Recorded Future

This is the signature engineering role at Recorded Future. The Intelligence Graph is the company's core technological asset — a massive, continuously updated knowledge graph that connects entities across the threat landscape: threat actors, malware families, vulnerabilities (CVEs), IP addresses, domains, and targets. The graph processes billions of data points from open web, dark web, paste sites, technical feeds, and code repositories to create a structured, queryable intelligence model.

Recorded Future was acquired by Mastercard for $2.65 billion in 2024, headquartered in Somerville, MA with engineering roots in Gothenburg, Sweden. Intelligence Graph Engineers work at the intersection of graph databases, NLP, knowledge representation, and distributed systems — building the infrastructure that extracts entities and relationships from unstructured text, maintains graph consistency at billion-node scale, and delivers intelligence through APIs and the Recorded Future portal.

This role requires a rare combination of graph database expertise, NLP/entity extraction skills, and distributed systems engineering. Few companies operate knowledge graphs at Recorded Future's scale with real-time updates from continuously changing intelligence sources.

Recorded Future Level Mapping & Internal Titles

Internal Level	Title	Typical YoE
L3	Intelligence Graph Engineer	1–3 years
L4	Intelligence Graph Engineer II	3–5 years
L5	Senior Intelligence Graph Engineer	5–8 years
L6	Staff Intelligence Graph Engineer	8–12 years
L7	Principal Intelligence Graph Engineer	12+ years

Lever 1: Graph Database Expertise at Scale

"Recorded Future's Intelligence Graph connects billions of nodes representing threat actors, malware, vulnerabilities, and infrastructure. I bring experience building and querying graph databases at massive scale — the core infrastructure skill behind Recorded Future's competitive advantage."

Lever 2: NLP Entity Extraction Pipeline

"The Intelligence Graph is continuously enriched by NLP pipelines that extract entities and relationships from unstructured sources. I bring production NLP expertise — entity recognition, relationship extraction, and disambiguation — that directly improves graph quality and coverage."

Lever 3: Real-Time Intelligence Updates

"The Intelligence Graph must be updated in real time as new threats emerge. I bring experience building streaming data pipelines that maintain graph consistency while processing high-velocity updates from diverse sources."

Lever 4: Mastercard Integration Opportunity

"Mastercard's $2.65B acquisition opens new intelligence applications — fraud detection, financial threat intelligence, and supply chain risk. I can help extend the Intelligence Graph into these new domains, creating value across Mastercard's business."

Negotiate Up Strategy: Open at $178,000 base with equity/bonus valued at $55K-$80K/year. Accept-at floor: $235,000 total comp. Cite the specialized nature of graph database engineering, NLP expertise, and the Mastercard expansion opportunity.

Evidence & Sources

• Mastercard acquisition of Recorded Future — $2.65B, 2024
• Recorded Future Intelligence Graph documentation — 2025–2026
• Recorded Future NLP and entity extraction methodology — 2025
• Levels.fyi Recorded Future 2025–2026 compensation data
• Glassdoor Recorded Future salary data 2025–2026