Salary negotiations for a critical foreign tech expert

[The]

@quandary

This won’t work unless the boss is stupid. Why would anyone even talk to a Taiwanese company for a job that is not going to pay nearly as much, if they are already offered an annual salary close to $1M USD by the Americans?

. Taiwanese have deep down respect for American business in their blood. It’s a message don’t play cheap tricks with me because I come from X country.

[TaipeiGuy2000]

@UnderArmor

I would go for 300k base salary, a profit sharing bonus, and a multiple month CNY bonus depending on the company performance. Plus 50k for a housing allowance.

+1

But thinking about this for a while longer, you should probably start with 400-450K. But make it clear you also want to know what they were thinking, because you really have never worked in Taiwan before.

Then settle on 350K-370K or so. I am not sure about the profit sharing or whether that will be an option.

I do not think anybody will be offended, but if they think you are asking too high they might just ghost you. It is better to ask too high than too low in general.

[Explant]

@tempogain

@Snowfox

It is important for my conscience to not feel like I am screwing anyone over, and also to not give the impression that I am wanting to screw people over for the last penny.

I could also use some insight into the Taiwanese negotiating customs and expectations.

These comments don’t sit well together. To achieve the latter goal, I would work to entirely ditch the former feeling. Weaknesses like that will be sensed and exploited instinctively. Better to keep things practical. What do you want to do this job? Ask for it straight out as if you expect it by right. If they agree they’ll pay you. If not then negotiate, but there should be no soft feelings on your part–there won’t likely be on theirs, unless you know something about these individuals that you haven’t said here.

+make it clear you expect that as a starting wage. which easier wiggle room for raises soon after in their heads.

Even if it is niche, there are probably .loads of people in similar positions (different fields) for equally large companies. it would really be worth going into negotiations with a general sense of what those people make. It is hard to know exactly what the job entails. but 100k to a few million a month would seem very possible depending on the job.

I think if the job is huge and you are responsible for it (eg. can be liable, fired etc if one wire malfunctions) and its opening markets worth billions, they will likely not respect you if your asking wage is too low for what they know to be the standard range. If they expected to pay you 700k/month and you walked in talking about Taiwan is cheaper to live so I can accept no lower than 200k/m. imagine what they are thinking. it shows them you arent ready for the job in my opinion.