Microsoft Employee Salaries Leak, Revealing Wide Pay Gaps Across Levels and Teams

Salaries are something very confidential, or at least, you don’t want your colleague to know the exact number. Yet, last month, a leaked document pulled back the curtain on Microsoft’s pay structure, showing how much employees across different levels actually earn.

The spreadsheet, first spotted by Business Insider, contained over 850 self-reported entries from Microsoft workers. While the data is likely anonymous, given how sensitive compensation discussions usually are, it provides a rare look inside one of the world’s largest tech companies.

Earlier guidelines had suggested that entry-level engineers average around $96,000, while distinguished engineers earn closer to $252,000. But this internal document digs deeper, revealing actual base pay, bonuses, and stock awards.

Even with only 350 entries analyzed, the variance in pay is huge. Factors like role, team, and seniority lead to wide differences, with some stock awards alone worth six figures. That said, this dataset represents only a fraction of Microsoft’s 228,000+ global workforce, meaning the full picture is likely much broader.

Salaries by level

Here’s a breakdown of salaries by Microsoft engineering levels:

Salaries by team

Pay also varies widely across Microsoft teams, sometimes by six figures:

For a company where pay is usually kept behind closed doors, the leak reveals how uneven compensation can be. And why employees often prefer to keep salary details private.