Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

hi guys,
I'm hoping there's someone here who can offer me some guidance!

I live and work in central London, working in digital Marketing.

I've recently been offered a role in a USA owned company that wants to expand into the UK. The role would be recruiting a team, establishing ways of working, establishing clients etc.

So, I'd really appreciate some guidance on what the package expectations would be. I'm provisionally thinking of asking for:

£125,000 - payable in GBP (too much? too little?)
Healthcare/Dental Car
Car/travel allowance
Bonus (of what??)
Equity share in company (? would this be considered 'normal' there? Any view on percentage - it's currently a small company and privately owned)
Pension contribution (of what?)

I just have no concept of what is normal for a US based company - I don't want to shock them/rub them up the wrong way at this stage in the game!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

If you intention is not to shock them, probably best for them to make you an offer and then you negotiate it - rather than hit them with a list of demands.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

What's the going rate for this type of job?
Do some research and start with that.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

How much you are currently paid probably shows your worth as to whether you should ask for such a salary.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

Here, I did a little easy research for you.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/ne...15_KO14,39.htm

Around New York and Los Angeles the average salary for this is $75,000, @ 46,000 GBP, but can go as high as @ $115,000.

From my days in Adobe this would seem about right.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

That might be about right for a "Digital Marketing Manager" working in an established company, but what the OP described sounded to me more like opening a new office in the UK for the parent company an building both a team and the business from scratch.

I think that the OP needs to figure out in conjunction with his prospective employer what the plan is for the first 2 years or so along with what the criteria for success is along with discussing what his compensation plan looks like.

I can't tell whether, in 12 months time, the company just wants to have the OP and, perhaps. one other employee in the UK bringing in $X of revenue or whether he is supposed to the managing director of a business with 10 employees and plans to grow it to 50 within the following 2 years ...

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

Too true..not enough info. And maybe it's like the proverbial piece of string.

Presumably the company will make an offer based on the value to them?

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

What has the US going rate to do with it, he will be working in the UK.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

Because the company may be of a mind to pay US rates, which are usually higher.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

and give US holiday allowance?

All seems a stretch.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

Regardless, it is better being equipped with as much information as possible during negotiations.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

The base salary figure the OP cited seems high to me. The US is very performance driven, so I would expect a lower base salary and a large bonus component. Say £50k plus performance related bonus to £100k, perhaps partially paid in advance, say upto £25k after six months.

With a small company the owner(s) might be less than kean to start promising ownership percentages, so cash bonuses, per above, might be more agreeable.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

£50k sounds far too low to me as a base salary for London. Granted I know nothing about the OP's field, but given that a good PA could earn £80k in London, that seems ludicrously low to me.

The figure the OP's cited on the other hand, is the right sort of level for most senior management roles in London.

The tricky bit will be figuring out a happy compromise between a 'London salary', and a US start up one I guess.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

It depends on the bonus element. PAs in London aren't offered 200% bonus schemes. I think bonuses in the US, under the "small start-up" scenario the OP described, are likely to be much larger than in the UK, and serve to avoid throwing a substantial salary at someone who may not perform. It would be better to pay £150k (£50k salary plus £100k bonus) to a successful manager than £125k to a failure.

Re: Remaining in the UK - but negotiating salary with USA
 

Oh, I agree, but £50k is a very low base salary for London, particularly as the OP says he lives in central London so could struggle to maintain that lifestyle.

PA's do get good bonuses too btw. :)