What every rung of tech sales pays
On-target earnings (base plus commission at 100% of quota) for US tech sales roles, from public benchmarks. Ranges, not promises: company, segment and city all move the number.
The ladder
- Regional VP, enterprise$420K to $560K
- Sales manager, enterprise$300K to $400K
- Sales manager, mid-market$240K to $310K
- Enterprise AE$240K to $340K
- Mid-market AE$170K to $230K
- SMB AE$120K to $160K
- SDR, 6+ months$80K to $100K
- SDR, new grad$70K to $95K
Sources: Betts Recruiting 2026 Compensation Guide (SDR); SalesCookie, State of B2B Sales Compensation 2026 (AE through regional VP).
How much of it is guaranteed
The higher you climb, the more of your pay depends on hitting quota.
| Role | Base / commission | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| SDR / BDR | About 75 / 25 | Most of your pay is guaranteed while you learn. |
| SMB and mid-market AE | About 50 / 50 | Half your OTE depends on closing. |
| Enterprise AE | About 55 / 45 | Slightly more base, because deals are bigger and slower. |
| Sales manager | About 60 / 40 | Paid on the whole team's number. |
Source: SalesCookie, State of B2B Sales Compensation 2026. Other benchmarks put SDRs closer to 60/40–70/30 and managers at 65/35–70/30 (SalesCookie, August 2026), so treat these as typical, not fixed.
At a Series A startup
Early-stage companies also hand out equity. The middle half of offers looks like this:
| Role | Base | OTE | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR | $60K–$80K | $95K–$135K | 0.02%–0.08% |
| Mid-market AE | $90K–$130K | $180K–$260K | 0.04%–0.12% |
| Enterprise AE | $110K–$150K | $220K–$300K | 0.05%–0.15% |
| Sales manager / director | $140K–$180K | $260K–$360K | 0.15%–0.4% |
Source: Arena Recruiting, 2026 startup compensation benchmarks (25th to 75th percentile), compiled from Carta, Pave and Radford. At Series B and C, the same source puts enterprise AEs at $120K–$165K base and $240K–$330K OTE, with 0.03%–0.1% equity.
Is the quota fair?
Divide the annual quota by the OTE. For SaaS account executives, the median quota is about 4.2× OTE: roughly an $800K quota on a $190K OTE. Between 3× and 6× is a common healthy range. Much higher, and the plan is hard to hit.
Source: Bridge Group SaaS AE benchmark (2024), as reported by SalesCookie, August 2026.
For reference, the US median for all sales managers, across every industry, is $148,270. Tech pays well above that middle.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 data.
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