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Band 7-10 IC ladder. Base-salary-dominant comp with notably low equity - RSU grants are small or absent below Band 9. The trade is stability, not upside.
Ranges aggregated from publicly-available sources. Treat the median (p50) as roughly representative; quartile bands reflect negotiation range. Have specific data points or corrections? Send them in.
IBM uses Band levels: Band 7 entry, Band 8 senior/advisory, Band 9 lead/architect, Band 10 STSM, with Distinguished Engineer and Fellow above. Comp structure is the inverse of big tech: base salary dominates, the GDP bonus is modest, and equity is notably low - many ICs below Band 9 receive no RSUs at all, and even Band 10 equity is a fraction of FAANG staff grants. Total comp consequently trails the rest of this dataset at every level; the offsetting trades are stability, deep-tech niches (mainframe, quantum, watsonx), and low comp volatility. watsonx / AI and hybrid-cloud roles price toward the top of band; legacy sustaining roles price below the medians shown. Note that IBM Consulting runs a separate (lower) ladder not covered here.
IBM uses Band levels (Band 7 entry through Band 10 STSM for most engineering careers). Equity is a minor component - small RSU grants that many ICs below Band 9 never receive at all. The bands below show the grants that do exist; treat equity as a rounding term, not a pillar.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $100K | $112K | $125K | $140K |
| Equity (annualized) | $2K | $4K | $6K | $9K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $4K | $6K | $8K | $11K |
| Total comp | $106K | $122K | $139K | $160K |
Entry level. Comp is overwhelmingly base salary - the GDP (Growth Driven Profit-sharing) bonus is modest and equity grants at this band are small or absent.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $125K | $138K | $152K | $168K |
| Equity (annualized) | $5K | $8K | $12K | $18K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $6K | $9K | $12K | $16K |
| Total comp | $135K | $155K | $175K | $200K |
The level most IBM engineers spend the bulk of their career at. Base growth comes from annual merit cycles, which have historically run low single digits.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $150K | $165K | $180K | $198K |
| Equity (annualized) | $10K | $16K | $24K | $35K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $10K | $14K | $18K | $24K |
| Total comp | $170K | $195K | $220K | $255K |
First band where RSU grants become routine. watsonx / AI and hybrid-cloud (Red Hat-adjacent) roles price toward the top of band.
| Component | p25 | p50 | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $180K | $198K | $216K | $235K |
| Equity (annualized) | $22K | $35K | $52K | $75K |
| Bonus / sign-on amortized | $16K | $22K | $29K | $38K |
| Total comp | $220K | $255K | $295K | $350K |
STSM is a prestigious internal appointment; Distinguished Engineer and IBM Fellow sit above it. Even here, total comp trails big-tech senior levels - the trade is stability and lower equity risk.
Cross-referenced against public reporting, state pay-transparency postings, and triangulated where source ranges disagreed. Last refresh: June 2026.
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