Leaked Microsoft pay data shows how much hundreds of software engineers report making in units like Azure and AI
Microsoft; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
- Microsoft employees recently shared pay details in a spreadsheet viewed by Business Insider.
- The document includes salaries, raises, promotions, and bonuses.
- BI analyzed the data for software engineers working at Microsoft.
Hundreds of Microsoft employees recently shared details about their pay and promotions in a spreadsheet viewed by Business Insider.
Employees had performance reviews earlier this year, but most just started finding out their new compensation in August, with some putting that information in the spreadsheet.
BI analyzed more than 500 submissions from those who identified themselves as Microsoft employees in the US. The spreadsheet includes data such as salaries, performance-based raises, promotions, and bonus percentages.
Like most technology companies, Microsoft's compensation includes base pay plus cash bonuses and stock awards. This year, the company restarted performance-based raises after previously freezing salaries and cutting its budget for bonuses and stock awards.
Microsoft employees typically share this information anonymously through spreadsheets to promote pay transparency. These are not official Microsoft corporate documents. That means the spreadsheet obtained by BI only includes information employees voluntarily decided to share, and isn't comprehensive. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.
BI analyzed the data to calculate the average compensation, raises, and bonus percentages for software engineers in the US this year by level. The number of entries submitted for each level varies. The two most-senior levels represented in the spreadsheet, for example, only had one entry each from people who identified themselves as software engineers.
Average 2024 pay for Microsoft software engineers
| Level | Total comp | Base pay | Cash bonuses and stock awards | Average raise and bonus % |
| 59 | $148,436 | $126,156 | $22,280 | 5% and 9% |
| 60 | $166,894 | $133,465 | $33,429 | 5% and 13% |
| 61 | $187,031 | $144,873 | $42,158 | 5% and 12% |
| 62 | $211,455 | $157,782 | $53,673 | 5% and 12% |
| 63 | $250,004 | $179,701 | $70,303 | 5% and 17% |
| 64 | $285,101 | $195,161 | $89,941 | 4.5% and 19% |
| 65 | $321,749 | $199,549 | $122,199 | 4% and 23% |
| 66 | $406,973 | $227,438 | $179,535 | 4% and 24% |
| 67 | $641,008 | $251,951 | $389,057 | 2% and 33% |
| 68 | $862,000 | $269,000 | $593,000 | 1% and 52% |
| 69 | $1,230,000 | $290,000 | $940,000 | 1% and N/A |
BI also analyzed the average pay, raises, cash bonuses and stock awards for Microsoft software engineers by organization. There were many organizations represented in the spreadsheet, so BI compared the ones with the largest number of entries.
Reported pay was highest for software engineers in Microsoft's new Microsoft AI organization, which the company formed in March when it hired Mustafa Suleyman, cofounder of DeepMind, to be CEO of a new AI group. His team is responsible for consumer AI products such as Microsoft's Copilot AI chatbot and the Bing search engine.
Average 2024 pay for software engineers by org
| Org | Total comp | Base pay | Cash and stock | Average raise and bonus % |
| Azure | $251,464 | $174,196 | $77,268 | 6% and 16% |
| Cloud and AI | $255,126 | $170,299 | $84,827 | 5% and 17% |
| Experiences and Devices | $242,723 | $171,335 | $71,389 | 5% and 15% |
| Microsoft AI | $377,611 | $192,667 | $184,944 | 5% and 19% |
The spreadsheet also asked respondents whether they got a promotion in this review cycle. Below is the percentage of those who responded "yes." Additional respondents indicated they had received mid-year promotions. Those extra responses were not included in the table below.
Software engineer promotions by level
| Level | Promoted |
| 59 | 0% |
| 60 | 20% |
| 61 | 26% |
| 62 | 37% |
| 63 | 45% |
| 64 | 28% |
| 65 | 35% |
| 66 | 25% |
| 67 | 43% |
Are you a Microsoft employee, or are you someone else with insights to share?
Contact the reporter, Ashley Stewart, via the encrypted-messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email (astewart@businessinsider.com).