A job post with a bigger compensation number does not automatically offer more dependable cash. Before you rank two startup pay bands, work out what each number includes. Base salary, on-target earnings and a separate bonus field are different disclosures.
The practical rule is simple: keep the employer's label, read the surrounding text, and get the offer's components in writing. A field called Salary is useful evidence of what a company published. It is not, by itself, proof that the entire figure is guaranteed base pay.
Start with the label, then read the whole block
A base-salary range usually describes the fixed cash component for the stated role and location. A public band still does not tell you the salary an employer will offer you. Level, location, experience and the approved offer can matter.
OTE means on-target earnings. It generally combines base pay with target commission or bonus, conditional on the plan's target. It does not tell you how often employees reach that target. Ask for the base/variable split, quota, ramp period and payout rules before treating it as dependable cash.
Salary and Annual Salary need a fuller read. Those words can be labels in an applicant tracking system rather than a complete explanation of the package. A role's paragraph or individual pay tier can qualify the number, even when a board summary leaves that detail out.
Separate commission and bonus fields also need conditions. A published range does not establish the payout schedule or whether the maximum is a target, a ceiling or something else. An equity label without a grant size is another unanswered question, not a value you can add to annual cash.
Four forward deployed disclosures, four different reads
Raydar checked these primary postings again on October 10, 2026. The observations below describe those pages on that date, rather than employee earnings or guaranteed future offers. The figures are in U.S. dollars.
Snorkel's Senior/Staff FDE, CUA posting explicitly lists a base salary range of $180,000 to $320,000, with an additional variable compensation opportunity. It says the mix depends on level and work location, and most offers include equity and benefits. The variable amount is not specified in that disclosure.
Firecrawl's Forward Deployed Engineer, Revenue posting has a San Francisco tier labeled OTE $209,000 to $265,000, with commission and equity labels. Its public API's top summary omits the OTE prefix, while the individual tier retains it. Reading only the summary would miss the most important word in the range.
Footprint's Forward Deployed Engineer posting lists an annual Salary component of $170,000 to $205,000, plus an equity label. Retain Salary unless the employer confirms the offer's fixed and variable components. Do not infer those components from another Footprint role.
Confido's Forward Deployed Engineer posting lists an annual Salary component of $200,000 to $270,000 and says a performance bonus of up to 40% annually sits on top of base. The posting also labels equity. The ceiling on that bonus is not evidence of the amount you will receive.
These examples extend Raydar's September 30 FDE pay comparison. Comparing their highest numbers as if every one were guaranteed cash would discard the distinctions the employers actually published.
Sales disclosures make the difference harder to miss
Footprint's Account Executive posting explicitly describes base of $120,000 to $140,000 and OTE of $240,000 to $280,000, plus equity. Its compensation components also show a separate $120,000 to $140,000 annual commission range. Here the employer states OTE; a reader does not have to invent that label by adding fields.
Hubble Network's Senior Account Executive posting describes salary plus commission of $110,000 to $184,000 with a 50/50 base/commission split. That combined range is not all base salary. The page does not print separate dollar ranges for the two parts, so this guide keeps the combined disclosure rather than presenting calculated figures as published numbers.
Namespace's Account Executive posting has annual Salary of $80,000 to $120,000 and a separate Bonus of $80,000 to $120,000, plus an equity label. The compensation disclosure does not state OTE. Ask what the bonus depends on and what the approved target package is. Two fields with matching ranges do not supply those answers.
Mecka's Account Executive, Data Partnerships posting lists annual Salary of $100,000 to $110,000 and separate Commission of $20,000 to $30,000, plus an equity label. The compensation block does not establish quota or payout conditions. Preserve the two components when you compare it with another sales job.
Anthropic's Account Executive, Startups posting displays Annual Salary of $222,800 to $290,000. The accompanying paragraph says the displayed range for sales roles is OTE, including annual base salary and target commission or bonus. That qualification matters more than the block's heading. It does not justify relabeling every job in Anthropic's Sales department or every technical customer-facing role as OTE.
The useful comparison is the fixed component alongside the conditions attached to variable pay. A large OTE endpoint and a smaller explicitly stated base range cannot be ranked as equal units.
Currency does not follow the office automatically
Mecka's Research Scientist, Body Pose Detection posting is Toronto GTA-primary but discloses annual Salary of USD150,000 to USD200,000. An office label alone does not establish currency. Confirm the employing entity, payroll currency and the location-specific offer before comparing it with a Canadian-dollar range.
Keep the observation date too. A public page can change, close or be refreshed. A posting timestamp does not establish new headcount, and a nearby funding announcement does not prove the round created that seat.
Get the comparison onto one page
Before choosing between packages, ask the employer to identify the fixed cash amount, target variable amount and conditions, location, currency, level and equity grant. For variable pay, ask how ramp works and what recent attainment looks like. For equity, ask for the grant size, vesting, exercise terms and enough valuation context to understand what is being offered.
Separate what the employer has confirmed from what remains unknown. If a range is estimated, confirm the current approved amount. If a page uses conflicting labels, keep the conflict visible until someone responsible for the offer resolves it.
Founders can remove much of this friction before an interview: publish the components, label the target and explain the conditions. Candidates can do the same on their side by asking what each number represents before negotiating its size. A clearer label makes the conversation about the actual offer.
