Microsoft Data Scientist Salary

How much does a Microsoft Data Scientist make? Well, there are lots of, shall we say “speculative” answers to this question online. The goal of this page is to cut through the noise and provide the real data based on our experience with 100s of tech negotiations and 1000s of submitted offers. Below, we’ve listed the top of band compensation for multiple Microsoft Data Scientist levels. There is also a bonus section at the bottom with info on negotiating Microsoft DS offers.

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Microsoft Data Scientist Offer Components

Microsoft base salary:
Microsoft’s base salary component is fairly standard. However, its comp band is narrower compared to FAANG companies, especially at junior levels
Microsoft equity (RSUs):
Microsoft vests equity equally across 4 years - 25/25/25/25. There is a 1-year cliff, which means you don't receive the first set of shares until the end of year 1. After that, your equity will vest every 3 months (6.25% every 3 months). Your initial grant will be quoted as a dollar value, and the actual amount of shares you receive is calculated by dividing the dollar value by a "share value". The share value is usually the trailing average closing stock price of the 30 days before your start date
Microsoft signing bonus:
Microsoft typically only gives signing bonuses in year 1. However, for signing bonuses over $50K, they will default to splitting it over 2 years. The percentage split can be negotiated. 1 year signing bonuses are paid within 30 days of your start date, which is preferrable vs. companies that pro-rate your sign on bonus over the first 12 months
Microsoft performance bonus:
Microsoft's performance bonuses can be very misleading. Many recruiters will quote the high end of the range. For example, if the recruiter says 30% of base salary, that usually means 15% is the target, and in order for you to get 20%, someone else on your team will get 10% (zero sum). Performance bonuses vary by level and are not negotiable
Microsoft stock refreshers:
Microsoft does have stock refreshers but they are much smaller than companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. L63 target was $17K in 2020 vs $150K at Facebook for the equivalent level. Stock refreshers at Microsoft also unforunately vest over 5 years vs. the standard 4 year vesting period

Note: data science (including data and applied scientist roles) and software engineering positions had the same comp bands at Microsoft in 2022.

63 Microsoft Data Scientist Salary

2022 Seattle Top of Band Numbers

Base Salary

$170K

Equity (4 years)

$275K

Signing Bonus

$50K

Performance Bonus

15%

SF/NYC both pay better than Seattle (listed above).

64 Microsoft Senior Data Scientist Salary

2022 Seattle Top of Band Numbers

Base Salary

$185K

Equity (4 years)

$350K

Signing Bonus

$80K

Performance Bonus

15%

We have seen above band offers for DS positions at this level on ML/AI teams.

65 Microsoft Principal Data Scientist Salary

2022 Seattle Top of Band Numbers

Base Salary

$205K

Equity (4 years)

$600K

Signing Bonus

$100K

Performance Bonus

20%

We've even seen Microsoft offer $220K in base salary in one of our 2022 negotiations which is already above band!

66 Microsoft Principal Data Scientist Salary

2022 Seattle Top of Band Numbers

Base Salary

$225K

Equity (4 years)

$750K

Signing Bonus

$150K

Performance Bonus

20%

Microsoft Data Scientist Negotiation

So now you've got the compensation data, are you ready to negotiate? Not quite.

First off, comp data is constantly changing. Early 2022 numbers are already coming in higher than the 2021 numbers listed above (though Microsoft's increases have been smaller than other tech companies), and it’s critical to know the full range for each component to optimize your negotiation. But even more than that, many people think knowing the compensation data is the most important part of a negotiation, but it’s not. This is particularly true at Microsoft which is known for paying below market and rarely gives top of band offers. You can go tell your Microsoft recruiter that $X is top of band and that you want that number, but in 90% of cases that won’t work. So what will?

Companies negotiate when they believe you won’t accept their offer. But, since you just finished a long and arduous interview process with them, they know you are likely to accept the job unless you have higher competing offers from other great companies.

This means you need to create leverage and make it believable that you are considering other options but would prefer Microsoft if the compensation is comparable. This sounds easy but quickly becomes challenging if you don’t have other offers or if your other offers aren’t higher than the top of band comp numbers you are targeting.

Even if you are in a perfect situation where you have a competing offer with comp just slightly higher than the top of band numbers you are targeting, the negotiation can still get complicated. Microsoft will often inflate numbers using stretched performance bonus and stock refresher targets, and therefore claim they have matched the competing offer. Or, they may simply say they are unable to match your specific competing offer. We've tried a wide range of tactics to handle these objections and depending on your specific situation the success rate can vary from 30-80%. It's critical to choose the right approach. There are dozens of rules at Microsoft that can completely de-rail a negotiation. Think of the system like a black box where a series of inputs can be reliably turned into a specific output, but you need to know how to perfectly setup the inputs

1:1 Salary Negotiation Support

We've negotiated more than $20M in Microsoft offers. Our largest Microsoft increase was $575K.

Step 1 is defining the strategy, which often starts by helping you create leverage for your negotiation (e.g. setting up conversations with FAANG recruiters).