Even offering top-of-market compensation (90th percentile via Pave) plus a hybrid arrangement and good culture is not enough to attract engineering managers and Staff+ engineers, even though it's comparatively much easier to hire people with under 10 years of experience.

A Fractional VP of Engineering says hiring EMs and Staff+ engineers is extremely hard right now even with 90th-percentile pay, while less senior hires are comparatively easy to find. ✦ AI generated

Fractional VP of Engineering, Series B, New York, US · The Pragmatic Engineer · 2026-07-07 · original ↗

It's extremely difficult to hire EMs and Staff+ engineers. It's much easier to hire folks with less than 10 years of experience. This is despite us offering 90th percentile comp via Pave, and having a hybrid and good culture.

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