The spread is in the incentive, not the salary
Base salaries for equivalent C-suite roles across major centres remain broadly comparable once cost of living is normalized. The divergence sits in long-term incentive structure: vesting horizons, performance conditions, and the proportion of total package delivered in equity. Two offers with identical headline numbers can differ substantially in realizable value.
What this does to a cross-border shortlist
A shortlist built across three markets on base-salary parity will lose candidates late, when the equity conversation finally happens. We benchmark on modelled realizable value over the vesting period, with tax treatment applied per jurisdiction, and share the model with the candidate early. Late surprises cost more than early transparency.
Relocation
Relocation decisions among senior leaders now hinge on the tax treatment of unvested equity and on partner employment mobility far more than on cash allowances. Organizations that solve those two items convert offers at a materially higher rate than those offering a larger cash inducement.
Practical recommendation
Agree an internal range — floor, target, and the conditions under which the ceiling moves — before approaching the market, and record it. Searches that reprice at offer stage lose their preferred candidate roughly a third of the time in our records.