Salaries at Unicorns, Startups and the Fortune 500
Account executive postings at unicorns advertised a middle of $193,000 in October 2026, against $134,000 at every other employer we read.
From our US Job Postings Report: October 2026, which ranks every role. These are advertised ranges, which can differ from what people end up earning.
Unicorn salaries against everyone else
Show as a table
| Role | Bottom | Middle | Top | Postings that state pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product manager, unicorns | $175k | $201k | $230k | 152 |
| Product manager, others | $142k | $175k | $201k | 3,204 |
| Sales engineer, unicorns | $172k | $200k | $225k | 115 |
| Sales engineer, others | $140k | $170k | $200k | 1,241 |
| Software engineer, unicorns | $160k | $198k | $228k | 118 |
| Software engineer, others | $128k | $160k | $193k | 3,392 |
| Account executive, unicorns | $172k | $193k | $215k | 157 |
| Account executive, others | $110k | $134k | $150k | 2,491 |
| Customer success manager, unicorns | $120k | $135k | $154k | 111 |
| Customer success manager, others | $98k | $115k | $130k | 1,550 |
The only 5 roles with at least 100 unicorn postings stating pay, and no unicorn holding over 30% of them. Each bar runs from the median bottom of the advertised range to its median top, with the middle marked.
Fortune 500 salaries against everyone else
| Software architect | $216k | $175k | +$41k |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales manager | $204k | $168k | +$36k |
| Marketing manager | $176k | $140k | +$36k |
| Account manager | $148k | $120k | +$28k |
| Operations manager | $127k | $104k | +$23k |
| Software engineer | $183k | $160k | +$23k |
| Program manager | $184k | $168k | +$16k |
| Hardware engineer | $187k | $172k | +$15k |
| Research scientist | $123k | $109k | +$14k |
| Financial analyst | $124k | $113k | +$11k |
| Project manager | $131k | $120k | +$11k |
| Cybersecurity specialist | $156k | $147k | +$9k |
| Product manager | $183k | $175k | +$8k |
| Maintenance technician | $70k | $62k | +$7k |
| Quality engineer | $132k | $126k | +$6k |
| Industrial engineer | $121k | $115k | +$6k |
| Business analyst | $110k | $109k | +$1k |
| Warehouse worker | $42k | $45k | −$3k |
| Administrative assistant | $46k | $51k | −$5k |
| Mechanic | $57k | $67k | −$9k |
The middle of the advertised range, of postings that state pay. The 20 roles with at least 100 Fortune 500 postings stating pay and no company holding over 30% of them.
Who they hire
Y Combinator companies
4,483 postings at 461 employers. 58% state pay, and 25% of those stating a work mode are remote.
Show as a table
| Role | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Operations manager | 3% |
| Customer success manager | 3% |
| Account executive | 3% |
| Server or bartender | 3% |
| Product manager | 3% |
| Software engineer | 3% |
| Program manager | 2% |
| Cook or chef | 2% |
| Research scientist | 2% |
| Backend engineer | 2% |
Unicorns
4,707 postings at 372 employers. 77% state pay, and 30% of those stating a work mode are remote.
Show as a table
| Role | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Account executive | 4% |
| Product manager | 4% |
| Sales associate | 3% |
| Software engineer | 3% |
| Customer success manager | 3% |
| Operations manager | 3% |
| Sales engineer | 3% |
| Backend engineer | 2% |
| Program manager | 2% |
| Recruiter | 2% |
Fortune 500 companies
27,741 postings at 105 employers. 63% state pay, and 9% of those stating a work mode are remote.
Show as a table
| Role | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Sales associate | 19% |
| Stock associate | 6% |
| Production worker | 4% |
| Warehouse worker | 3% |
| Care worker | 3% |
| Nurse | 3% |
| Cashier | 3% |
| Field sales representative | 3% |
| Mechanic | 3% |
| Cleaner | 2% |
Every employer we read: 53% of postings state pay, and 11% of those stating a work mode are remote. Y Combinator companies have no role with 100 postings stating pay, so they show who they hire, not what they pay.
The lists come from public sources (the Fortune 500, published unicorn lists and Y Combinator's directory), matched to the employers we read; how often a match is wrong is not yet measured. Big Tech and the largest tech companies are left out, because one company holds 40% to 50% of their postings, so a figure would describe that company. US postings only, from the career sites of employers we crawl, first seen October 1 to 31, 2026. This is not all US jobs: we read employers with an online career site, which leans toward tech and toward mid-size and large companies, and we keep adding employers. So we report pay and shares, and a posting count is only a sample size. Role, level, work mode and education are read from each posting by our AI and were checked against the postings on a sample of 1,049: role 96% right, level 94%, work mode 85%, education 98%, years 99%. Skills are read the same way and have had a lighter check: a second model, on 108 postings, found 96% named in the posting and 87% really skills. Visa sponsorship is read the same way and was checked against the postings: 129 of 150 that our AI counted as sponsoring say so, and most of the others only accept people who already hold a visa. Of 3,350 postings it did not count that mention a visa, 3 say they sponsor. So the visa shares run a little high.