Where it comes from
- Published by PalantirSource 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting More Palantir questions The Palantir interview guide
How to answer
Treat this as the recruiter checking that you and the band overlap before they spend interviewers on you. Your job is to confirm the overlap without setting your own ceiling. The question can come before any call: the application form for Palantir’s , US Government posting in Washington, D.C., as of September 2026, asks whether you are comfortable with the compensation range advertised on the posting. Source 1Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting Treat that answer as your first answer to this question: say yes only if the posted range works, because a yes there reads as agreement to the range.
Do the research before the call. Write down the posted range with the date you read it and what it covers. OpenAI’s San Francisco posting, as of September 2026, lists $185K to $300K as the salary range and says total compensation also includes equity. Source 2Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job posting Enterprise postings need the same care. Databricks’ US AI FDE posting, as of September 2026, lists $152,900 to $210,155, and describes that range as the expected salary for non-commissionable roles or (OTE) for commissionable ones, with possible bonus and equity on top. Source 3AI Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Palantir’s New York FDSE posting, as of September 2026, lists a salary range of $135,000 to $200,000, and says total compensation may also include RSUs and a sign-on bonus. Source 4Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting Salary, OTE and total compensation are different numbers. Before the call, write down which of the three each posting gives you.
Anchor on sources you can trace. One prep site’s FDE pay table, published in May 2026, lists OpenAI at about $555K and credits the whole table to Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, Blind and recruiter benchmarks, with no source for any row. Source 5Forward Deployed Engineer Interview: The Definitive 2026 Guide (FDE)PublisherAced (formerly Exponent)Source typeinterview prep site In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, OpenAI’s eight forward-deployed filings had a median offered base wage of $225,500, taking the lower end of each filing’s range. Source 6LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data A posted range and a filing each say what they measure and where they come from; a prep-site table does neither, so a figure from one gives you nothing to defend when the recruiter asks where it came from. The two numbers also measure different things: a filing’s wage is base salary only, with no equity, so it can’t be compared with a pay table that may include equity.
Turn the research into a range you can defend. Put the traceable sources side by side and find where they overlap. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, taking the lower end of each filing’s range, the middle half of OpenAI’s forward-deployed offered base wages ran from $220,000 to $243,250, which sits inside the $185K to $300K salary range its San Francisco posting lists as of September 2026. Source 2Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 6LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data If you’re pushed for a number on that role, name the overlap and where it comes from: “At the level we’ve discussed, I’m looking at a base between $220,000 and $243,250: that’s the middle half of the offered base wages in OpenAI’s forward-deployed H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, taking the low end of each filing’s range, and it sits inside your posted range.” Source 6LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data That is base only. Equity and bonus sit on top, and you raise them separately.
Then say these, in order.
- Ask for the band and the level first: “Can you share the range for this role, and which level you are hiring at?”
- If the band works, say so and stop. Don’t place yourself inside it until there is a level and an offer; any point you name becomes the ceiling. Move the conversation to how level is decided.
- If they insist on your number, give a base range whose bottom you would accept, tied to a level, and say that equity and level matter as much as base.
- Close the loop: “If that’s outside your band, tell me now and we can decide together whether it makes sense to continue.”
What to keep out. Don’t volunteer current pay; redirect to the role’s range. Don’t claim an offer you don’t have. One candidate in Europe reported, in June 2026, that the recruiter for Anthropic’s Applied AI Architect role described two base salaries with no option to negotiate base. Source 8Applied AI Architect AnthropicPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind If the recruiter says the band is fixed, believe them for now and ask how level is decided, because level is the lever that is left.
The trap is the confident single number said too early. It becomes the ceiling, and it answers a question about a level no one has set yet.
Reading posted bands, filings and self-reports, and what is negotiable in an offer, are taught in Offers, negotiation and the first months, in Pro. Level is where this conversation leads, so practice what level you think you are, and why, then what to ask when the recruiter says the equity number is final.
Follow-ups
What the interviewer may ask next, once your first answer is on the table.
- What are you making now?
- If we came in below that, would you still move forward?
- Are you interviewing anywhere else, and where are you in those processes?
Where answers go wrong
- Naming one number before knowing the level or the band, then spending the rest of the process negotiating up from your own floor.
- Inventing a competing offer or inflating current pay. If either is checked, nothing else you said is believed.
Answer this in two minutes
Write the answer you would say out loud. The clock starts with your first word.
Compare with the model answer
Illustrative answer about a fictional project
Written in the first person to show the structure. Tell yours from your own work.
In this example, the recruiter raises it about 10 minutes into the screen. I have the posting open, with the date I read it written next to the range.
“Thanks for raising it early. I’d rather know now than after four rounds. Before I give you a number, can you tell me the range budgeted for this role, and which level you’re hiring into? Your posting, when I read it last Tuesday, listed a base of $190K to $250K plus equity, and I want to check that’s the band for the level you have in mind.”
She confirms the band and says the role is at senior.
“Good, that band works for me. Where I land in it should follow from the level your loop supports, so I’d rather settle the number at offer stage with the whole package in front of us. Level matters more to me than where in the band I start. How will you decide it?”
She asks what I make now.
“I’d rather keep this anchored on this role’s range than on my current package, because the scope is different: I’m not customer-facing full time today. What I can tell you is that the range you’ve shared works for me.”
She asks about other processes.
“I’m in two other processes. One is at the onsite stage and one just finished the technical screen. I don’t have an offer from either yet. If that changes, I’ll tell you the same day so you’re not surprised.”
She asks whether I’d still move forward if the offer came in below that band.
“It depends why it’s lower. If it’s a lower level, I’d like to know what the loop would need to show for senior, because I’d rather earn the level than negotiate the number. If it’s a lower band at the same level, I’d want to see the equity and the level together before deciding, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll tell you straight away rather than let it drift.”
If the recruiter had refused to share a band, I would have said this instead:
“Understood. Here’s what I’m working from. Based on posted ranges for comparable senior roles, I’m targeting a base between $220K and $250K, at a senior level. Equity and level matter to me as much as base, so I’d want to see all three together. If your band for this level sits below that, please tell me now, and we can decide together whether it makes sense to keep going.”
Three things are doing the work here. I asked for their band before giving mine, and once I had it, I named no number inside it: the only point I pushed on was how level gets decided, and when she tested a lower offer, I turned it back into a question about level. The one range I gave, in the fallback, came with what it covers and a level. And nothing I said about my situation was untrue, so nothing I said can be checked and found wrong later.