Desk·2026-08-22
OpenAI AE OTE clears Anthropic
Same enterprise AE title. OpenAI typical OTE sits above Anthropic. The lab SWE band is a different book.
OpenAI typical $360,000 against $340,000 at Anthropic.
Enterprise AE OTE
OpenAI OTE sits ~1.06× Anthropic
Same title. Thin samples on both. Top is the stretch year, not the plan you underwrite.
How to plan it
Name the sales seat before you chase the IC mark
A closer who can carry quota at a frontier lab should treat the OpenAI and Anthropic AE books as the sales loop, not a side door into the SWE band. OpenAI clears the higher OTE on the ledger. Anthropic sits close behind. Neither is the $650k+ SWE typical. If you need a floor you can spend and a book you can explain, the AE seat compounds in cash and quota. If you can write the system and want the IC mark, sit the SWE loop instead. Do not interview both tracks as interchangeable. Sales is the year. The IC seat is the mark.
Also: AE OTE · OpenAI vs Anthropic