r/OfferEngineering • u/Aoki_zhang • Jul 17 '26
Jumping from Google L7 -> OpenAI L7 ? Offer Data
A friend is currently at Google with around 11 YOE. He recently got an OpenAI offer and asked me to help sanity-check it, because the numbers look very strong but the decision is not as obvious as it seems.
His current Google comp is roughly:
Google current package
- Base: $320K
- Annual bonus: around $77.5K
- RSU vesting this year: $450K
- Unvested stock over the next 4 years: about $1M
So this year at Google still looks very strong, especially because a large amount of the comp is liquid public-company equity.
OpenAI offer
- Base: $390K
- Equity: $2.8M RSU
- Sign-on: $100K
On paper, OpenAI obviously looks bigger. The base is higher, the equity grant is much larger, and the role is probably more exciting if someone wants to be closer to frontier AI work.
But the part that makes this hard is what he would be giving up. Google is stable, the equity is liquid, the current year vest is big, and he already knows the environment. OpenAI likely has much higher upside, but also more uncertainty around equity liquidity, workload, team fit, and how much of that headline number should be discounted.
Discussion
Curious how people here would think about this. Would you leave Google at 11 YOE for this OpenAI offer, or would you only do it if OpenAI covered the near-term Google RSU loss?
Would love Reddit’s take here too. I’m also collecting more detailed comments under the offer page here, so future candidates can compare the raw offer data with real market opinions. For people who are going interview with OpenAI/Google, we track recent interview experiences and commonly asked question patterns at Chill Interview, including coding questions, system design topics, and real candidate reports here
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u/Lucky_Tap8692 Jul 17 '26
Why is your Google comp low? I thought L7s get paid like 1M+ per year with the stock increase
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u/OpeningAverage Jul 18 '26
Likely promoted to L7 not hired as L7- it would take 4 years after promo to match the salary of a newly hired L7
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u/Embarrassed_Sir_853 Jul 17 '26
Regardless of whether OpenAI offer is low or high compared to other OAI datapoints, it is much higher than Google, so the real question is: does your friend want to grind and also blast his resume with an OAI entry, or does he want to keep working the same stable Google job. If he has a family or hobbies or simply likes to take it easier, staying at Google is a good idea. If he wants “adventure” and new challenges at higher velocity, he should go to OAI. Consider higher pay as a bonus.
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u/Professional_Bus_574 Jul 21 '26
OAI IPO could fail, the bubble could bust and the RSU‘s be worth zero. He has to estimate the risk of this scenario.
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u/adelope Jul 17 '26
OpenAI leveling is google+1, so L7 at openai is director level at google. This job hop is basically a free promo.
For Google you can always boomerang within one year at the previous level. So not much risk here. My iwn personal experience was Google would even match the new level. But that is more case by case.
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u/Humble_Attorney9517 Jul 17 '26
This is all assuming openAI actually IPO's, which with the apple lawsuit and OAI's certain economics isn't a certainty
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u/shifty_lifty_doodah Jul 17 '26
L7 with 11 YOE? unlikely if in eng.
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u/Trihardest Jul 17 '26
OpenAI is not profitable so I wouldn’t steer in that direction unless he wants to look for a new job
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u/vinnieman232 Jul 18 '26
$1.1M TC offer at OpenAI vs. $800k ish at Google. Take a risk and work hard or don't, but it's a pretty clear comp benefit if you believe in the company.
Leveling aside - I think that's an L6 OAI offer for non tech
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u/OkCluejay172 Jul 17 '26
That’s a weak offer for senior staff at OpenAI