How to negotiate more RSUs (when base is stuck)

The situation. The base is at its ceiling, genuinely, and the recruiter said so. Most candidates stop there. But in tech, the base was never the whole package: the equity grant often has more flexibility than the base ever did, and asking for it signals sophistication, not greed.

What’s actually happening. Equity comes from a different budget than salary, with different approval rules, which is why a frozen base and a moveable grant coexist all the time. Three mechanics decide what a grant is actually worth to you: the size (dollar value at today’s price, never at a hoped-for future price), the vesting shape (even 25% a year is a very different deal from a backloaded schedule where most value lands in years 3–4), and the refresh reality (some companies grant new equity regularly; at others the initial grant is most of what you’ll ever see, and refreshers are almost never contractual). A bigger grant with a back-loaded vest and no refresh culture can be worth less than a smaller, evenly-vesting one.

What to say. The ask:

“Since the base is fixed, would it be possible to increase the equity grant so the total compensation better reflects the level of this role?”

And the diligence questions that are completely professional to ask before you sign:

“Can you explain how the equity works and what the current value is?” “What’s the vesting schedule, and is there a cliff in the first year?” “Is this grant a one-time thing, or do you usually give refreshers over time?”

The mistakes that cost the most: valuing the grant at the price you hope the stock reaches · comparing offers on 4-year equity totals instead of what actually vests each year · assuming refreshers without asking · ignoring the first-year cliff (leave in month 11 and the equity was fiction) · treating equity as a lottery ticket instead of what it is: part of your compensation, negotiable like the rest.