Desk·2026-10-24
OpenAI IC year clears the lab AE seat by $293k
Same account-executive title. OpenAI prints the lab quota year. Stripe prints the payments book under it by about $36k. Bases sit eighteen thousand apart. The OpenAI software seat clears both.
OpenAI typical $360,000 against $324,000 at Stripe.
AE OTE
OpenAI typical sits ~1.11× Stripe
Same title. Lab enterprise AE clears $360k OTE on a $180k base. Payments enterprise AE clears $324k on a $162k base.
How to plan it
Sit the lab IC year before you carry the quota
A closer planning 2027 should treat the OpenAI AE seat and the OpenAI software seat as two books, not one lab band. OpenAI enterprise AE prints $360k typical OTE with a $180k base, sample fourteen, seven work-email, marked hot. OpenAI software engineer prints $653k typical with a $270k base, sample twenty-three, eleven work-email, also hot. The IC leads the AE OTE by about $293k. Stripe enterprise AE prints $324k typical with a $162k base, sample twenty-five, sixteen work-email. Stripe software engineer prints $328k typical with a $188k base, sample forty-one, twenty-three work-email. At Stripe the two seats sit within four thousand dollars. OpenAI is reportedly closing a $30 billion round at a $1.25 trillion valuation ahead of a possible listing. That capital does not reprice the seats. If you can ship systems, sit the OpenAI software seat. If you can carry a quota, sit OpenAI AE. Name the mix.
Also: OpenAI vs Stripe · Who pays AE OTE