sales
Customer Success
marketing
2023
COMPENSATION GUIDE
A Message From Betts Founder and CEO, Carolyn Betts
I'm proud to share our updated compensation guide for the year 2023! As we continue to change the future of recruiting, we are also continuing our pursuit to create engaging, interactive content. In our updated guide, you will read our update to sales, marketing, and customer success compensation with all data sourced from our thousands of placements last year. I hope you find value in our update, and as always, we hope you enjoy the interactive experience.
2023
Overview
There is no denying that the past year has brought a lot of change, but the tech industry is demonstrating firsthand that when one door closes, another does open. The hiring market remains competitive for the most part, and after interviewing hundreds of candidates and clients directly, Betts has discovered that even with a slowdown in job growth there are still more openings than the talent pool available.
While entry-level sales and marketing experienced a dip in average compensation for the first time in years, specialized roles like Revenue Operations saw another pay boost due to scarcity and need. Recruiting for more saturated positions like SDRs (sales development representatives) and AEs (account executives) slowed down and affected asking rates. Retention jobs like CSMs (customer success managers), mid-level sales leadership and Enterprise AEs (EAEs) came out a little better, though saw base salaries freeze for the most part.
Remote work was a driving factor behind many rate changes, even disrupting averages for top-paying US locations in some cases. Tech has reaped the benefits of a remote workforce above many other industries, including improving productivity and reducing time to hire by weeks. On the other side of this equation, candidates are less likely to take a pay cut to work remotely than in previous years.
However, the growing importance of a remote option for the talent pool reflects another compensation trend to watch out for. For some candidates, job perks were just as much as - if not greater - a decision point as the salary. Everything from additional pay (bonus, equity, etc.) to various benefits (health insurance, gym stipends and more) each played a big part.
Overall, the tech jobs market in 2022 was impacted by the downturn, yet still only came down from big leaps made during the pandemic and retained a high demand for the right talent. On the other hand, 2023 will prove to be a time of opportunity for high-growth startups competing with Big Tech companies for experienced candidates, who will be more accessible than in previous years.
For more background on the tech market at EOY 2022 - and more predictions for 2023 - check out this interview with our COO Patrick Kellenberger!
In this guide, we break down the compensation averages we found for sales and marketing roles in tech in 2022, and establish what 2023 packages need to include to stay ahead of the changing market. In addition to supplying salaries for each timezone - as well as NYC and San Francisco - we’ll dive deeper into how various other pay and benefit trends impacted hiring at all sizes and levels.
Although rates dropped for entry-level roles in sales and marketing over 2022, signals point to this being a limited-time occurrence and we expect averages to rise again within the year. Below we outline our target compensation recommendations and the trends behind them.
Target compensation is the Market Rate. It's the benchmark that companies must strive to meet if they want to have an extensive candidate pool and hire rapidly to meet their growth goals. If companies offer compensation below this benchmark, hiring top talent will take much longer, and the candidate pool they work from is much smaller. If they are way above it, they will yield a larger candidate pool but at diminishing returns.
target Compensation
2023
5
Key Stats
perks
- Several tech enterprises are planning to grant additional monetary benefits (stock options and equity) to current employees and candidates to offset budget shortfalls (e.g., Amazon raised available employee stock by 82%).
- Job postings with health insurance benefits included increased by 40%.
- 62% of US workers see 401(k) matching as a critical requirement.
- Many candidates preferred compensation plans with better practical benefits than a higher salary in 2022.
BENEFITS
- 100% health insurance coverage
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Increased 401(k) matching
- Expanded Health Saving Account (HSA)
- Commuter benefits
- Gym membership stipends
- Meals provided in-office
- Free Uber rides
- Remote and hybrid options
market
- Compensation gap between enterprises and startups has shrunk.
- Number of open jobs in tech will grow by up to 700% in Q4 2023.
- 10% of sales professionals laid off in 2022 won’t return to tech, further shrinking the talent pool for the industry.
- Sales and marketing roles that saw pay drops in 2022 will see average compensation increase $5k - $10k again by Q3 2023.
- AEs going remote has grown 30% YOY. A majority of AEs and SDRs in the Betts network now work remotely and signs point to this trend keeping momentum.
- Average earnings for remote positions caught up with in-office rates. Companies will most likely have to pay a premium for candidates willing to work on-site full-time going forward.
- Employers are focusing more on timezones than on specific locations for remote workers.
- Companies are more likely to recruit hybrid workers further away from the office as long as they’re in the same metropolitan area (e.g., within the Tri-State for NY).
remote
- Compensation for tech sales and marketing roles with 0-3 years experience dropped 5% - 10% on average.
- Average earnings for AEs with 0-5 years experience dropped 5% YoY. Layoffs heavily impacted these jobs in particular.
- Sales and customer success roles with Enterprise experience kept more stable rates, as did marketing jobs over 3-5 years of experience.
- Sales and marketing roles with 0-5 years experience saw overall lower compensation by Q4 2022.
experience
Some of the top hiring and compensation trends in tech to watch out for in 2023:
2023
TRENDS
sales
Both AE and SDR average compensation dropped $5k - $10k in 2022, coming down off the peaks reached in 2021. EAE earnings remained stable, though stagnant compared to previous years’ growth. Remote and in-office salaries for sales professionals equalized over the year and created a new baseline, though on-site rates are likely to rise in the future as a direct consequence. Remote work has also thrown off averages where cost-of-living balances out compensation - some of the top up-and-coming remote work cities include Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Philadelphia and San Jose.
SDRs, AEs, and EAEs
Target Compensation
All compensation is listed in thousands of $USD, all timezones are US timezones.
Compensation by Location
sales
SDRs, AEs, and EAEs
sales
Operations
Revenue Operations, Sales Operations and Sales Engineers
Revenue Operations is the one position where we saw continuous growth YoY, with a 10% increase in compensation since 2021 - and 300% hiring growth Quarter over Quarter in the same period. It’s important to note that since this role is still relatively new, there is still a lack of a deep, experienced talent pool. This allows candidates for Revenue Ops Manager roles with more than 3 years of experience to command a wider base salary range in top markets. The role itself combines many functions and experience requirements from other areas, so brings some more flexibility when it comes to sourcing backgrounds.
All compensation is listed in thousands of $USD, all timezones are US timezones. DOE: Depending on Experience
Compensation by Location
sales
Revenue Operations, Sales Operations and Sales Engineers
Sales and SDR Managers
Sales leadership compensation remained stable with few major increases or decreases. The average base salary for remote SDR Managers saw a slight $10k bump at the higher end, catching up with local on-site rates, though overall earnings remained stagnant.
sales
leadership
All compensation is listed in thousands of $USD, all timezones are US timezones. DOE: Depending on Experience
Compensation by Location
sales
Sales and SDR Managers
Target Compensation
customer success
Customer Success and Account Management
Customer Success roles maintained steady compensation rates through 2022 as tech companies kept a focus on maintaining efficiency and preventing churn. We did notice an increased push for hiring Enterprise CSMs (i.e., those with experience in managing enterprise-level accounts) over the second half of the year, though these still only account for 10% of the market. The fluidity of the role also means that CSM salary range can scale much higher than the average, with the highest in Betts network at $200k - $260k.
All compensation is listed in thousands of $USD, all timezones are US timezones. DOE: Depending on Experience
Compensation by Location
Customer success
Customer Success and Account Management
marketing
Content, Demand Generation, Product and Event Marketing
General Marketing roles were also affected by layoffs, with entry level compensation dropping by about 10% on average. However, earnings for positions with more experience remained stable. One trend to watch for is the return of events which led to more open jobs for Event Marketers in Q3 - Q4 2022.
All compensation is listed in thousands of $USD, all timezones are US timezones. DOE: Depending on Experience
Compensation by Location
marketing
Content, Demand Generation, Product and Event Marketing
Betts Connect Can Help
If you’re building go-to-market teams, or seeking your next opportunity, Betts Connect can help. After more than a decade of building relationships with the world’s most innovative companies and professionals, you can now access this network with Connect. As the only go-to-market recruiting platform built by recruiters and powered by recruiters, Connect enables you to search through a network of vetted go-to-market professionals actively looking for their next opportunity, and reduce time to hire, save money, and spend more time on your growth strategy. Plus, our clients see ROI in less than 3 months.
In addition, our experienced teams always know the most up to date information on compensation and the working arrangements that top professionals are seeking from a future employer. If you have any questions, please reach out. We look forward to speaking with you!
