We've negotiated many Disney offers this year. Don't leave $100K+ on the table.
Disney is decent to negotiate with (not our favorite but not the worst either). Disney has historically paid tech employees more in-line with the media industry vs. the tech industry (i.e. lower total compensation). However, comp started to improve in late 2021. Negotiations are quite important at Disney to ensure you're not being paid below market. You should expect some aspects of the negotiation to be more similar to media negotiations vs big tech negotiations.
- Base Salary
- Disney Equity Package (see Disney's vesting schedule below)
- Disney Signing Bonus (not included in all initial Disney offers)
- Annual Bonus
- Stock Refreshers
Disney's approach to stock refreshers is quite unique. They are very upfront about the target number during initial negotiations (unlike many companies). They also vest over three years (same as the initial grant) rather than the standard 4 years. And finally, they are sometimes quoted as % of base vs. the typical % of initial equity grant.
Disney's total compensation includes cash bonuses. These are almost guaranteed - historically pretty much everyone has hit their target number. It is also possible to get more than anticipated as Disney uses an individual performance multiplier (we've seen people get 1.6x, 2x, etc.). We've listed some of the bonus targets below:
- (P3) Senior Software Engineer – 7%
- (P4) Staff Software Engineer – 20%
- (P5) Senior Staff Software Engineer – 20%
Disney has a decent number of remote roles in engineering (outside of the parks division), but still isn't as remote-friendly as other tech companies (e.g. Airbnb, Spotify). The good news is that for remote roles Disney does not typically apply a large geography discount. This means they are often more competitive for remote positions vs. comparing to competing offers in SF/NYC.
Since Disney might require you to move, they do provide relocation assistance. The specific number changes by level. However, they generally offer a relatively small relocation package.
Equity is the most negotiable component of the Disney compensation package, which is relatively standard. Signing bonuses are typically the second most negotiable, especially at senior levels. It's worth noting that large signing bonuses are often split over a two-year period. Base salary is the hardest to negotiate at Disney.
Disney rarely requires proof of competing offers in writing. That said, the more info you can share (without sharing anything negative) the better positioned you will be for the negotiation. Recruiters do often ask for details like offer breakdowns, location, level, etc.
It's very rare for Disney to go above band.
It is always beneficial to have a strong relationship with your hiring manager (and also your recruiter). However, hiring managers at Disney do not have as much control during the negotiation vs. at companies like Amazon and Apple.
Disney's hiring process typically has four stages: online assessment or screening call, hiring manager interview, onsite, and offer stage.
It should be no huge surprise that the total compensation at Apple is higher than Disney. Comparing ICT3 Apple SWE to the equivalent Disney Software Engineer level, the top of band base at Apple is $170k/year, and at Disney it is close to $150k/year. The top of band equity at Apple is $100k/year, and equity at Disney it is ~$65k/year. Signing bonuses are similar.
Generally, benefits are a bit worse at Disney than at other tech companies, and the unique benefits like "Disneyland free access" do not have a particularly large monetary value.
(P1) Associate SWE
(P2) Software Engineer
(P3) Senior SWE
(P4) Staff SWE
(P5) Senior Staff SWE
(P6) Principal Engineer
Equivalent Level at Google
L3
Junior L4
Between L4 and L5
Junior L6
L7
L8
Our Clients Love Rora
Coming from a non-FAANG background, I was shocked to find out how much I could be earning. Before I signed up with Rora, I made the mistake of telling Amazon my current compensation. Thankfully, Rora knew exactly how to fix it and ended up getting me an offer that was 2.3X what I previously made and more than $600K higher than Amazon’s initial offer!
Through several weeks of interviews, Ganesh was always available to make sure I knew what to say for each conversation. I interviewed with start ups, Google, Facebook and Amazon and was really impressed that Rora knew the comp ranges and were able to give me tailored advice for each – even the start ups.
There ended up being two particularly complex moments in my negotiation. One of the start-ups I had a personal relationship with and I wasn’t sure how it would affect the negotiation. I like that there was a focus on my individual circumstances and that they were leveraged to get me a higher offer. The other situation is that Amazon made a mistake on my written offer and initially wouldn’t rectify it. Ganesh was able to guide me through a challenging conversation to get it resolved.
Thanks to Wilson and the team at Rora I got a ~$250K increase on my remote Facebook offer! I was initially worried I wouldn’t have much leverage because Facebook reached out to me, and I wasn’t interviewing anywhere else. Rora introduced me to an Amazon L7 recruiter and helped me get that process started. I didn’t even end up needing to finish the Amazon interviews, since we were able to use some early compensation conversations to justify our numbers to Facebook.
At one point I was also considering pushing for an E7 role, and they wrote up a great script for me to broach the subject with my recruiter. She ended up giving me the option to do an additional interview to be considered for the higher-level position.
The whole process was very smooth, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use the service for any future negotiations. I found the regular calls with Wilson where we walked through strategy and discussed the scripts to be extremely helpful. Not only did it help with this negotiation, but I also learned a lot of useful negotiation tactics that I’ve already started to use in other situations.
As an engineering leader with decades of experience and having now gone through the negotiation with the team at Rora, the only thing I can say is — get the help. Whether you realize you need it, or even if you think you don’t. Just because you have done well in engineering doesn't mean that you understand the tactics and limits of the recruiting process.
Rora helped me get a $200K increase on my original Facebook offer without any competing offers. It was clear that Rora was deeply familiar with Facebook's negotiation playbook. I’d honestly give the experience an 11/10.
In addition, Rora guided me on how to get the position switched to a revised remote role which was a huge deal at a personal level. They showed me how to redirect FB’s questions so that I could explore the possibility of not relocating, without ever having to say no to my original offer.
This is my first FAANG role and I'm so happy I worked with Rora (thanks again Annie!) for the negotiation. My goal was to increase my Google offer, but I was in a tricky situation where I only had 1 other interview (no offer yet) at a small startup. With their guidance, I managed to get a $240K increase on my Google offer, despite Google's policy of requiring cross offers in writing to justify an increase.
The mock negotiations were a big part of why I was able to get this increase. Going into the negotiation, I assumed the key factor was what to say but I quickly learned that how you say it is equally if not more important. This was clear when over the course of the call"no" turned into "I'll see what I can do" and eventually"I think we can make this work". A big part of this was also having someone with me on the calls to provide real time guidance. This took a lot of the stress out of the situation. I can't recommend this team highly enough!
After receiving several job offers, I needed to make a decision within a few days. I wanted to make sure I was getting the best offer possible, so I decided to use Rora. I was very pleased with their service. My coach, Sameer, was well prepared and had information about what compensation increases were likely possible. He provided detailed scripts covering a range of scenarios, and he did practice negotiations with me that helped me feel confident when I had the actual conversations.
With his help I was able to increase one offer by $45k per year plus get a $50k signing bonus and then use that to increase my offer from Square, which was my first choice. All throughout he was very responsive as I was dealing with some tight deadlines and looking to wrap things up quickly. Rora's fee was only a tiny fraction of the increase they helped me negotiate, and even though they would have made more money if I had taken the highest offer, Sameer always put my goals first and never pressured me to do so. I highly recommend Rora!
My friend introduced me to Rora and I’m so glad they did. I initially did some calculations to see if working with them would be worth it - my final increase ended up being ~3x higher than what I had estimated to be possible!
Their data is much more accurate than anything I found online. Without Sameer's guidance, I would have never known (and would have probably been too nervous) to ask for >$800K for anAmazon L7 offer. Of course, it's not just not enough to throw out a big number, you also need to be able to justify it. Sameer guided me through negotiating an up-level at another company, which I didn’t even know was possible at my level. With their scripts, I was able to leverage my competing offer to get exec approval for my Amazon offer. They also knew all the tricks Amazon would play (e.g., assuming 15% stock appreciation) and exactly how to counter them.
My total 4-year compensation increased by $570K. I don't think I've ever had a higher ROI – I’m very thankful that this service exists!
Disney
has a unique set of negotiation policies. If you don’t have experience negotiating with them, you risk losing out on large amounts of money because of very small mistakes.
There are many of these rules you need to know to get the highest
Disney
offer possible