Desk·2026-10-13
OpenAI staff paper clears the Google ladder year
Same staff-engineer title. OpenAI prints the lab staff year. Google prints the public ladder under it by about $640k. Bases sit one hundred thirteen thousand apart.
OpenAI typical $1,160,000 against $520,000 at Google.
Staff typical
OpenAI typical sits ~2.23× Google
Same title. Lab staff clears $1.16M typical on a $363k base. Public staff clears $520k on a $250k base.
How to plan it
Sit the lab staff seat before the public ladder
A 26-year-old planning 2027 should treat OpenAI and Google as two next seats, not one senior IC band. OpenAI staff engineer prints $1.16M typical on the ledger with a $363k base, sample twelve, six work-email, marked hot. Google prints $520k typical with a $250k base, sample thirty-four, fourteen work-email. The lab leads typical by about $640k. The public book leads scale and liquidity. If you can hold paper and want the frontier staff loop, sit OpenAI first. If you need the 2027 cash year and the established ladder, sit Google — but name the mix. Do not treat a $1.16M paper year and a $520k public year as the same next seat.
Also: OpenAI vs Google · Who pays SWE