By FDE Interview Prep, a SourceStrongAI company

In this post11 sections
  1. Why the biggest number misleads
  2. What offers are made of: reported structures
  3. Annualize the equity
  4. Bonus at target, and OTE at risk
  5. Travel as a cost
  6. A worked comparison
  7. The questions that break a tie
  8. Before you call the recruiter back
  9. Questions people ask
  10. Keep reading
  11. More from the blog

You have two offers on the table. One pays more base; the other promises more equity and puts you on customer sites for double the travel, and each recruiter has told you theirs is the stronger offer. This post is the arithmetic for settling it. For what the pay bands themselves look like, and what they do and don’t measure, read the forward deployed engineer salary guide; here we stay with the comparison.

The short answer to “how do I compare FDE offers”: put both on one yearly basis, year by year for the whole vest, not as a single headline figure. Count base, bonus at target, the equity that vests in each year on that offer’s own schedule, and any sign-on in the year it is paid. Then write the risks beside each line (private equity, a variable part tied to a target, travel) and price the ones you can. The larger headline can lose once you do.

Why the biggest number misleads

A single headline number for an offer is a total: base, plus bonus, plus the equity grant divided by the vesting years. Each of those three parts hides something.

  • The equity may not vest evenly, so the average says nothing about year four.
  • The equity may be in a private company, where the value on the offer letter is a price you can’t sell at yet.
  • The bonus may be a target, not a promise, and an figure may include pay that depends on someone else’s number.
  • Nothing in the headline carries the cost of being away from home.

The worked comparison below shows a 31,000 headline lead turning into a 47,900 deficit.

What offers are made of: reported structures

FDE offers don’t share a template. Three reports, each from a single poster, show how much the parts vary. For what these roles pay, see the salary guide; here the point is the shape.

  • Front-loaded RSUs, a bonus and a sign-on. One poster on Blind reported, in May 2026, a Google Forward Deployed Engineer offer at L5 made of base, RSUs on a 38/32/20/10 vest, a 15% bonus and a sign-on bonus. Source 1Google (FDE) vs NVIDIA (AI Infra) – Offer comparisonPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind
  • No sign-on. One poster on Blind reported, in September 2026, a remote Databricks Staff FDE offer of base, a bonus and RSUs over 4 years, with no sign-on bonus. Source 2Databricks staff FDE offerPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind
  • Cash in place of equity. One poster on Reddit reported, in October 2025, a remote Scale AI FDE offer made of base, a joining bonus, cash in lieu of equity and a performance bonus; the poster did not state the currency or location. Source 3Need Help with Offer Evaluation: Scale AI FDE vs existing SDE role(5 YOE) (post by u/psinghal20)PublisherReddit r/cscareerquestionsSource typecandidate report on Reddit

Postings show the same spread in what they promise. As of September 2026, Palantir’s New York posting gives a salary range and says total compensation “may also include” RSUs, a sign-on bonus and other incentives. Source 4Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY)PublisherPalantir (Lever)Source typecompany job posting “May” is not “will”, so an offer from a posting like that tells you which parts you actually got.

The lesson for a comparison: list the parts of each offer before you add anything up. An offer with no sign-on, or with cash in place of equity, isn’t worse by default. It’s shaped differently, and the shape changes year by year.

Annualize the equity

Equity is the easiest part to get wrong, because a four-year grant gets quoted as one number. Convert it to what vests in each year.

Step 1: get the schedule in writing. The Google offer that one poster on Blind reported, in May 2026, vested on a 38/32/20/10 schedule, which pays more of the grant in the first years than in the last. Source 1Google (FDE) vs NVIDIA (AI Infra) – Offer comparisonPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind An even schedule pays the same each year. A cliff means nothing vests until a set date. Ask for all three: the schedule, the vesting frequency and the cliff.

Step 2: multiply the grant by each year’s share. Do it for each year, not just the average. A front-loaded grant looks strongest in year one and weakest in year four, which is exactly when you may be deciding whether to stay.

If the grant is options, not RSUs, the grant value is the number of options × (the price per share − your strike price), and you pay the strike to exercise. Ask for the number of options, the strike price and the price per share the offer used.

Step 3: ask about refreshers. A front-loaded vest drops in its last years unless new grants top it up. Ask whether refreshers exist and how they are decided. If the recruiter can’t say, count none.

Step 4: decide what private equity is worth to you. A public company’s RSUs can be sold once they vest, subject to its trading windows. A private company’s shares or options may not be sellable until an acquisition, a listing or a tender offer. The dollar figure on the letter may rest on the price investors paid in the last funding round, not on a price you could sell at today. Ask which price the offer used. Pick your own discount, write it down, and apply it to that offer only.

That discount is a personal judgment, not a formula anyone publishes. The point is to make it explicit, so you can see how much of the comparison rests on it. Our post on FDE equity, RSUs and options lists the terms to get in writing before you pick one.

Bonus at target, and OTE at risk

A bonus may be stated as a target percentage, and some postings state it up front: as of September 2026, Google’s Forward Deployed Engineer III, Generative AI posting lists its US pay as a base range “+ 15% bonus target + equity + benefits”. Source 5Forward Deployed Engineer III, Generative AI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job posting Target means what you are paid if you and the company hit the plan. It is not a floor.

On-target earnings are a different animal. OTE folds base and variable pay into one figure. As of September 2026, Okta’s Principal Forward Deployed Engineer posting gives its pay as an OTE range that includes base salary and incentive compensation. Source 6Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI AgentsPublisherOkta (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Databricks’ US AI FDE posting describes its pay range as the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable ones. Source 7AI Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting So the same kind of range can mean salary in one role and OTE in another. Ask which one yours is.

How to count each in a comparison:

  • A company bonus at target. Count it at target, then write beside it whether it paid out in full last year, if the recruiter will say.
  • An OTE variable part. Count only the base as certain. Multiply the variable part by your honest odds of hitting target, and ask what it is measured on and who sets the target.
  • A sign-on. Count it in year one only, and ask whether you must repay it if you leave early.

Our post on FDE on-target earnings goes through the questions to ask about the variable part.

Travel as a cost

Travel is part of the offer, and FDE postings state it very differently. Four examples, all read in the same month:

Those are what the postings say, not what the job will be. Still, the gap between “once every few weeks” and “up to half the time” is a different life, and a comparison that ignores it is comparing the wrong things.

Turn travel into a number you can subtract:

  1. Convert the percentage to days. Take the share and multiply by your working days in a year.
  2. Set your price for a day away. Include what it costs you: childcare, a pet sitter, a missed class, a partner covering for you. Include what it costs in energy, too. Only you can set this number.
  3. Subtract it from that offer’s year. It’s crude. It is also more honest than pretending both jobs ask the same of you. The worked comparison below shows the price per day at which travel alone decides it.

Then ask the questions that change the number: is travel spread as day trips or weeks away, who books it, and is there a limit you can agree in writing? Our post on how much forward deployed engineers travel covers how a percentage turns into weeks, and the lesson Travel, location and on-site time shows how to read a posting’s travel line before the recruiter call.

A worked comparison

Here are two fictional offers, run through the steps above. Every number below is invented to show the method. None of it describes a real company or a real offer.

  • Offer A pays more base, a bonus it expects to pay in full, a front-loaded RSU grant in a public company, a sign-on, and some travel.
  • Offer B pays less base, a larger variable part you might miss, a bigger grant in a private company on an even vest, no sign-on, and double the travel.

The code puts each year on one basis. odds is your chance of being paid the bonus at target, cut is your discount on private equity, and PRICE is your price for a day away.

# Illustrative only: fictional offers.
A = dict(base=190e3, bonus=19e3,
         odds=1.0, grant=280e3,
         vest=[.4, .3, .2, .1],
         cut=0.0, sign_on=20e3,
         travel=0.2)
B = dict(base=170e3, bonus=30e3,
         odds=0.6, grant=440e3,
         vest=[.25] * 4,
         cut=0.5, sign_on=0,
         travel=0.4)
DAYS, PRICE = 230, 150  # per day away

def year(o, y):
    share = o["vest"][y]
    cash = o["base"]
    cash += o["bonus"] * o["odds"]
    eq = o["grant"] * share
    eq *= 1 - o["cut"]
    first = o["sign_on"] * (y == 0)
    away = o["travel"] * DAYS * PRICE
    total = cash + eq + first - away
    return round(total)

sa = sb = 0
for y in range(4):
    a, b = year(A, y), year(B, y)
    sa, sb = sa + a, sb + b
    print(f"Y{y+1} A {a:,} B {b:,}")
print(f"Avg A {sa//4:,} B {sb//4:,}")

It prints:

Y1 A 334,100 B 229,200
Y2 A 286,100 B 229,200
Y3 A 258,100 B 229,200
Y4 A 230,100 B 229,200
Avg A 277,100 B 229,200

In a spreadsheet, each year is: base, plus bonus × odds, plus grant × that year’s vest share × (one minus cut), plus the sign-on in the first year only, minus travel share × working days × price per day.

What the run shows:

  • On the recruiter’s math, B wins. Its headline (base, full variable, grant over four years) is 310,000 a year against A’s 279,000 before the sign-on.
  • On yours, A wins every year. Once B’s variable part is weighted by your odds, its private equity is discounted and its extra travel is priced, it averages 229,200 against A’s 277,100.
  • A still falls hard. Its front-loaded vest drops A from 334,100 in year one to 230,100 in year four, level with B. Refreshers decide what A is worth after year two.
  • Find the number that flips it. Keep your odds at 0.6 and B draws level with A’s average when the private-equity discount falls to about 6.5%. At full odds, the break-even is about 17%. The odds on the target move it less. The discount decides it.
  • Believe everything and B leads. Set odds=1.0 and cut=0 and B averages 296,200, ahead of A’s average and of every year but A’s first.
  • Travel is where your price matters. B asks for 46 more days away a year (0.2 × 230). If you believe B’s equity and target, travel alone flips the result to A only when a day away is worth more than about 565 dollars to you (B’s 26,000 lead before travel ÷ 46 days). Ask yourself whether it is.

To find the break-even discount yourself, add this under the code above:

def avg(o):
    ys = [year(o, y)
          for y in range(4)]
    return sum(ys) / 4

for odds in (0.6, 1.0):
    b0 = dict(B, odds=odds, cut=0.0)
    gap = avg(b0) - avg(A)
    per_cut = B["grant"] / 4
    print(odds, f"{gap/per_cut:.1%}")

It prints 0.6 6.5% and 1.0 17.4%: the discount at which B’s average matches A’s.

That is the useful part. The model doesn’t tell you which offer is better. It tells you which assumption decides it, which is the thing to ask about before you sign.

The questions that break a tie

When the numbers come out close, or turn on one assumption, these questions settle it. Ask them in writing and keep the answers beside the offer.

Level belongs on the list. It sets the band your base, bonus target and refreshers come from, so the same title at a lower level can trail for years after the grant runs out. If two offers differ in level, ask what the next level needs and when you would be considered for it.

Before you compare, get these answered

  • What is the vesting schedule, the vesting frequency and the cliff?
  • Are there refresh grants, and how are they decided?
  • For private equity: what was the last price per share, and has there been a tender offer?
  • For options: what is the strike price?
  • Is the bonus a company bonus or an OTE variable part, and what is it measured on?
  • Is the sign-on repayable if I leave in the first year?
  • How is the travel percentage counted: days, weeks, or on-site time at a customer?
  • What level is the offer, and what would the next level need?
  • When do you need an answer?

The last question matters because you need time to run the numbers. Some employers say so openly: as of September 2026, Anthropic’s careers FAQ says candidates can take their time deciding on an offer and finish other interview processes. Source 14CareersPublisherAnthropicSource typecompany hiring page Where a deadline is short, say this:

“I’m excited about this role, and I’m finishing another process. I want to give you a clear answer rather than a rushed one. Could we set the deadline for the end of next week?”

If the recruiter says the equity number is final, don’t argue the number. Ask about what moves around it: “Understood. Is there flexibility on the sign-on, the level, or the refresh grant instead?” Our question pages rehearse both moments: a one-week offer deadline and when the recruiter says equity is final. The travel conversation has its own: how much travel can you commit to.

Compare the jobs, too

A comparison sheet can’t tell you which customers you will serve, how much of the week you will write code, or who you will learn from. Those decide whether you are still there in year three, when the equity math starts to matter.

Before you call the recruiter back

You now know which assumption decides your comparison. The next step is the call where you ask about it. Pro has model answers for a one-week offer deadline and when the recruiter says equity is final, with the follow-ups recruiters ask. Pro opens every lesson and model answer in a bank of 180 interview questions, and starts with a 7-day free trial. See Pro on the pricing page.

Still in another loop? Run the free practice case; it needs a sign-in.

GlossaryForward deployed engineerA software engineer who builds and ships production systems inside a customer’s problem and environment, accountable to that customer’s outcome.More on Forward deployed engineerGlossaryOn-target earningsBase pay plus variable pay if targets are met; a posting that states pay as OTE includes incentive pay in the figure.More on On-target earningsGlossaryForward deployed software engineerPalantir’s title for its FDE role, called Delta internally; OpenAI and EY also post FDSE titles, each with its own duties.More on Forward deployed software engineerGlossaryDeployment strategistA customer-facing role that works out the customer’s questions and scope beside FDEs; at some employers the title means a product-manager or quota-carrying role instead.More on Deployment strategist

Questions people ask

How do I compare two FDE offers with different equity?

Put both on the same yearly basis: base, plus bonus at target, plus each year’s vested equity from the offer’s own schedule, plus any sign-on in the year it is paid. Then write the risks beside each number: whether the equity is in a private company, whether the bonus or OTE depends on targets, and how much travel the role requires.

How much does travel differ between FDE jobs?

Postings state it very differently. As of September 2026, OpenAI’s FDE postings say travel up to 50% is required, while Databricks’ AI FDE postings ask for willingness to travel once every 4-8 weeks to see customers.Source 7AI Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 8Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SFPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 9Forward Deployed Software Engineer - NYCPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 10Forward Deployed Engineer - London (Spanish-speaking)PublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 11Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City)PublisherDatabricksSource typecompany job postingSource 12Sr. Deployment Strategist, FDE - Financial ServicesPublisherDatabricksSource typecompany job posting

Is an FDE offer with OTE worse than one with a fixed salary?

Not necessarily, but it carries risk. OTE combines base salary and incentive compensation, as Okta’s Principal FDE posting states, so ask what the incentive part is measured on and who sets the target before you count it at full value.Source 6Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI AgentsPublisherOkta (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting

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