Engineering vs. Sales Compensation: The Transparency Gap

One pays for current skill. The other pays for future performance. The result is a massive gap in how much you know before you apply.

Salary transparency laws are sweeping the US. New York, California, Washington, and Colorado have all forced employers to put a number on the job description.

But "compliance" is a spectrum.

We analyzed thousands of job listings on JobsJudo to understand how different disciplines treat compensation data. The finding? There are two completely different worlds.

The Engineering Standard: What You See Is What You Get

Engineering roles have the highest rate of transparent, usable salary data.

82% of Engineering listings in compliant states include a clear base salary range with a spread of less than $50k.

Why?

• Standardization: Engineering levels (L3, L4, Senior, Staff) are fairly standardized across the tech industry.
• Competition: Engineers are expensive and scarce. Companies use high base salaries as a primary recruiting tool.
• Culture: The engineering culture values precision. "Competitive salary" is vague; "$160k - $190k" is data.

If you are an engineer, the market is playing with its cards face up. You generally know if a role is worth your time before you open the application.

The Sales Gamble: "OTE" and The Black Box

Sales is the complete opposite.

Only 45% of Sales listings provide a clear breakdown of Base vs. OTE (On-Target Earnings) in the initial job description.

Instead, candidates see:

• "Uncapped Commission!" (with a poverty-level base)
• Broad OTE ranges ($100k - $300k) that depend on hitting unrealistic quotas.
• Zero distinction between guaranteed pay and theoretical pay.

This makes sense for the employer. They want to shift risk to the employee. They want you to bet on yourself. But for the job seeker, it turns every application into a research project.

"Is this a $150k job, or a $60k job with a lottery ticket attached?"

The "Transparency Gap" by Discipline

We scored listings based on "Transparency Quality" - a metric that penalizes massive ranges (e.g., "$50k - $200k") and rewards specific base numbers.

• Software Engineering: High Transparency
• Product Management: High Transparency
• Data Science: Medium-High Transparency
• Design: Medium Transparency
• Marketing: Medium-Low Transparency
• Sales / Account Executive: Low Transparency

Marketing is an interesting middle ground. While not as commission-heavy as sales, marketing roles frequently suffer from "title inflation" where a "Director" role pays $80k and a "Manager" role pays $140k, making the salary number a critical disambiguator.

What This Means For Your Search

If you work in Sales or Marketing, you cannot rely on the job description alone.

You need to triangulate.

1. Ask Early. In Engineering, you can wait until the screen. In Sales, you must confirm the Base/OTE split in the first reply. Do not waste three interviews on a role with a $40k base.

2. Use Tools. JobsJudo's "Smart Match" doesn't just look at keywords; it looks at level. If a job sounds senior but pays junior, our AI flags it as a low-quality match.

3. Ignore "Potential". When comparing offers, compare Base to Base. OTE is a promise; Base is a contract.

The gap hasn't closed yet. Until it does, treat every Sales job posting as a marketing brochure, not a contract.