You did the hard part. You passed the interviews and the offer is coming. Now comes the bit almost nobody teaches you, and where a single conversation can be worth thousands of pounds a year for as long as you stay. Negotiating a tech offer is not about being aggressive. It is about understanding what the numbers are, which ones can actually move, and asking well. Here is the plain version.
Your fixed pay, the number most people fixate on. It is real and it compounds, but at big companies it is usually the least flexible piece, because it sits inside a band tied to your level. You can push it, but expect small movement, not a leap.
An annual payment, usually a percentage of your base, tied to your performance and the company's. At most large firms this percentage is set by your level and is not really negotiable. The quiet trick is that raising your base raises your bonus too, since it is calculated from it.
Shares in the company that vest over time, commonly over four years. This is where a lot of the real money sits at senior levels, and it is often the most flexible part of the offer, because grant sizes vary a lot between people and cost the recruiter less to move than base. If you only push one thing, this is frequently the one worth pushing.
A one-off payment for joining, often used to make you whole for money you are leaving behind, like an unvested bonus at your current job. It usually pays out soon after you start and often carries a clawback, meaning you repay it if you leave within a year. It is one of the easier things for a recruiter to say yes to, because it does not change their ongoing salary structure.
A few principles carry most of the value.
When a recruiter asks your expectations early, it is fine to say you are open and want to understand the level and the full package first. The first person to name a number usually gives up room.
Think in total compensation: base plus bonus plus the yearly value of equity plus any sign-on. Anchoring on total gives the recruiter room to build the offer from the flexible parts even when base is stuck.
Rather than a drip of separate requests, make one combined ask and pair it with a clear signal that you will accept. Something like "if we can get the equity to this and a sign-on of that, I will sign this week" is powerful, because recruiters are rewarded for getting to yes.
Ask for the top of a band, a bigger grant, a larger sign-on. Do not ask them to change fixed policy like the bonus percentage, or to blow past a band ceiling. The first reads as a confident candidate. The second reads as someone who has not done their homework.
The single thing that makes an employer improve an offer is the quiet worry that they might lose you. A live process somewhere else, kept warm and mentioned honestly, does more than any clever script. You never have to lie about numbers, and you never have to disclose them either.
Strong negotiation starts long before the offer, in the interviews that decide which level and band you land in, because that is worth more than any haggling at the end. Wisptr helps you show up sharp for every one of those rounds, with answers grounded in your real experience, so you reach the offer stage in the strongest position to ask.
Wisptr preps you before the call and has your back during it, with answers built from your own CV.
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