---
title: "The UK Engineering Offer Playbook · Dex"
description: "A practical guide to the salary, equity and terms that win strong UK engineers, by company stage and level. Published Thursday 19 November."
url: "https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook"
---

Published Thursday 19 November

# The UK Engineering Offer Playbook

A practical guide to the salary, equity and terms that win strong UK engineers, by company stage and level.

Inside: seven chapters

1. Salary benchmarks
2. Equity benchmarks
3. The candidate view
4. Cash and equity mix
5. Presenting the offer
6. Terms, EMI and tax
7. Competing offers

30,000+

engineers on Dex

300+

companies sharing salary bands

2,900+

UK engineering roles tracked

## Get it first

We’ll send it to you on Thursday 19 November.

Work email

Company (optional)

Your role (optional)

Founder / CEO · CTO / Head of Engineering · Head of Talent / People · Recruiter · Other

Anything you’d like us to cover next? (optional)

We’ll send it to you on Thursday 19 November.

Inside the playbook

## Seven questions every offer has to answer

1. ### [Salary benchmarks](https://meetdex.ai/benchmarks/engineer-salaries)  
What base wins the engineer you want, at your stage?  
Open the salary benchmark
2. 19 Nov  
### [Equity benchmarks: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
How much of the company should this hire get?
3. 19 Nov  
### [The candidate view: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
What do engineers ask before they say yes?
4. 19 Nov  
### [Cash and equity mix: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
When does equity make up for a lower base?
5. 19 Nov  
### [Presenting the offer: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
How do you write an offer engineers can compare?
6. 19 Nov  
### [Terms, EMI and tax: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
What changed for EMI, and what should your terms say?
7. 19 Nov  
### [Competing offers: get it first](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist)
What wins when the other offer is bigger?

[Unlock all seven on 19 November](https://meetdex.ai/engineering-offer-playbook#waitlist) · [Need a number today? Try our free salary benchmark](https://meetdex.ai/benchmarks/engineer-salaries)

- 30,000+ · engineers have told Dex what they want from their next role, pay included.
- 300+ · companies have shared their engineering salary bands with us.
- 2,900+ · UK engineering job ads we track, each matched to the company's funding stage.

Method

## How we calculate the ranges

Each range draws on three sources and is calculated the same way for every stage and level. All figures are base salary, rounded to the nearest £5k.

1. ### Engineer expectations  
The minimum base salary engineers on Dex say they would accept to move. This is the bar an offer has to clear.
2. ### Company salary bands  
Cross-checked against the salary bands of 300+ companies hiring engineers through Dex.
3. ### Funding stage  
Every UK engineering role we track is matched to the company’s funding stage, so each range compares like with like.

Aggregated data only: no company or candidate can be identified. This is not tax or legal advice.

FAQ

## About the playbook

What is in the playbook?

Seven chapters, one for each question an engineering offer has to answer: salary, equity, what candidates weigh, the cash and equity mix, how to present the offer, terms and tax, and how to handle a competing offer. Each one is broken down by stage and level.

When does it come out?

Thursday 19 November. Join the list and we will send it to you that morning.

Is there anything I can use now?

Yes. Our free UK engineer salary benchmark shows the base that wins strong engineers at your stage and level.

[Open the salary benchmark](https://meetdex.ai/benchmarks/engineer-salaries)

Is it free?

Yes. It is free for any company hiring engineers in the UK.