Fintech pay in 2023: Where to work for the best salaries & RSUs
How do you earn the big money in fintech? It's a lot harder to pin down which fintech pays the best than it is to do the same with banks and other financial services companies. There are a lot of startups out there and they all pay very differently.
The fintech ecosystem is diverse, with some large established fintechs like Stripe paying huge salaries and other unicorns paying far less. The same thing exists at earlier stage fintechs. So where should you go to earn the most?
In our recent eFinancialCareers fintech survey, we surveyed nearly 1,200 people either already working in fintech or looking to move into it. From this, we were able to discover the average salary within fintechs based on their size.
As the data shows, it's not necessarily a strict gradient, but if you want the highest salaries you're going to need to work for the biggest fintechs. Stripe notoriously pays the most, with other major players like crypto titan Coinbase offering (mostly) competitive packages too.
If you have an eye on total compensation, you might want to set your sights a little lower. Fintechs with 51–75 people earn the highest total compensation, driven by massive payments of restricted stock units (RSUs).
Super early stage fintechs can also pay well. Fintechs of most other sizes are a little more underwhelming with their pay, but the most egregious payers are those with 21–50 employees. The salaries are low and their RSU pay is the worst of the lot.
Compared to the kind of pay you can expect in traditional finance, these figures are neither awful nor impressive. However,if you value the culture of fintechs above their pay, this should reassure you that you can make the move without reducing your compensation to pennies.
It's also important to remember that different industries and different roles will command vastly different pay. Engineering roles for example are very highly valued at early stage fintechs, especially those dealing with cutting edge tech like AI and crypto.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: alex.mcmurray@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance.
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