What Microsoft employees earn: breaking down salaries for the company's top jobs

Hammad Saleem

Microsoft pays its employees a decent sum, here's a breakdown of some positions

Microsoft is one of the most prominent names in the tech industry, providing software solutions and much more to individuals and companies alike. The company doesn’t only care about its customers, but it also pays a decent sum of money to its employees for churning out useful ideas and services to help the consumers. The software giant has over 100,000 employees working in different locations and positions across the globe, and the best part is, they get a very decent salary and incentives for being a part of such a big company.

The folks at Business Insider managed to rank some of the positions at the company, listing some of the highest paid positions at the Redmond-based companies using the data from Glassdoor. Here’s a list of some of the positions, its job description and the salary paid by the company.

1. Service Engineer

The main task of the service engineer is to help the customers solve the problems related to services offered by the company or helping them figure out how to install/use the services and technology offered by the company. The salary for this position is $105,908, but adding up the bonuses, stock and other benefits takes the total amount to $113,310. 

2. Software Development Engineer

The software development engineer gets almost $102,036 as the salary, but the total amounts hikes to $114,585 after your add up all the benefits the company offers to its employees. As far as the tasks and responsibilities are concerned, a software development engineer is basically an entry-level programmer at the company.

3. Escalation Engineer

As per Microsoft’s job posting, Escalation Engineer is basically an experienced customers services guy which helps customers solve and troubleshoot problems. Since the person has to deal with the customers on a regular basis, the position gets $112,721 as the basic salary, and if you adds up the bonuses and stock etc, you can make up to $148,099.

4. Senior Software Development Engineer

This position pays well as the person can make as much as $176,459 including all the benefits and the basic pay which is $136,592. The position basically involves everything related to advanced computer programming.

5. Senior Researcher

Research and development is an important area in the company, working on studying the trends and new technologies which could be helpful for the users. The software giant has a big department related to this area, and so the person working as the senior researchers makes a hefty sum of $282,710 as the total compensation which also includes the basic salary and benefits.

6. Senior Director

As the name suggests, the position is a managerial one and revolves around developing strategy for the company. As per Microsoft’s job posting, the specific position requires over 8 years of experience so it pays high as well. A Senior Director gets a basic salary package of $190,000, which gets as high as $314,522 after all the extra increments and benefits. 

7. Creative director

This is a design position at the software giant, which makes works on several things related to the products such as its interface, look and feel, and much more. A Creative Director gets $183,980 as the pay with the number going over $190,000 after you add up other benefits.

8. Human Resource Director

Human resource is an important part of any company. A HR Director cares for the employees as well as the potential to find out talented individuals. This position requires at least 10 years of experience as per a job posting on the company’s career’s website, paying individuals as much as $237,000.

Microsoft pays its employees a decent sum, here's a breakdown of some positions

9. Software Architect

A software architect is yet another role related to programming which involves designing complex systems and product roadmaps, with pays going as high as $262,286 as per the information on Glassdoor. 

10. Director of Business Operations

This is another managerial position where the individual helps plan and monitor the resources the business needs to operate. This is a high level post with a basic salary of $175,642, excluding the stock and bonuses etc.

11. Principal Group Program Manager

There are a number of departments and roles for managers at the Redmond-based company. The Principal group program manager ensures teams are working on products which the customers want to buy, paying as much as $271,000.

12. Senior Director Marketing

Marketing is one of the most important department in the company. A senior marketing director manages a team of people working on product definitions, marketing strategies to promote the product and launch strategies. This is a high paying post where the individual can expect to earn around $342,000 as the total compensation.

13. Director of engineering

This is yet another managerial position where the individual has to lead a number of teams and works with customers, products and partners working with the company. The basic salary package the engineering director gets is around $197,000, but add up the stock and other bonuses, the person can make a hefty sum of around $347,000.

14. Director of Development

Product development is an important area where the person has to make sure the company is developing interesting and innovative products for its customers. The person also leads a group of people creating new technology and products for the company. This position also involves a lot of responsibilities so you can expect to make a decent sum of money at this post, over $430,000 including all the stock bonuses and more.

15. General Manager

There are a number of general managers in the company — the employee base is over 120,000 so there are a lot of people working as managers. A general manager can expect $224,900 as the basic salary with the total compensation amounting to over $450,000. It’s an hefty sum but it also requires a lot of the individual to think outside the box and have excellent managerial skills.

Oh, and if you’re the CEO of Microsoft?  Well, Satya Nadella tipped in at over $84 million in compensation for 2014, making him the highest paid CEO in the US.

These are just some of the positions offered at the company, and it seems the people working for the software giant are making an excellent sum of money.