SE vs AE pay in 2026, what companies are posting

A median AE posting is $260K OTE. A median SE posting is $211K. But the SE gets the bigger base, by about $24K.

That's from what companies posted as of Oct 30, 2026. The AE middle half runs from $180K to $315K, and that's 1,070 postings. The SE middle half is $175K to $240K (258 postings).

On base it goes the other way. The median SE base is $168K, middle half $132K to $188K (251 postings). The median AE base is $144K, middle half $113K to $161K (620 postings).

That comes down to how the plan is built. For AEs base is about 50% of OTE at the median, so roughly 50/50 (195 postings list both). For SEs it's about 70% base, so 70/30. Only 40 SE postings list both, from 22 companies, but most land between 70% and 75%, and a lot of them post exactly 70/30.

So an AE is betting more of the check on quota, and an SE has more of it in base.

The gap is widest in Enterprise: AEs post a median OTE of $300K (352 postings) and SEs $220K (43), an $80K gap. In Mid-Market it's $200K vs $173K (130 and 30), about $27K.

One of the top-paying companies posts both. Horizon3 is at $325K OTE for AEs (19 postings) and $232K for SEs (7). These are top payers, so don't read them as typical, it's just what they've been posting.

Both roles post pay at the same rate, 51%. That's 2,379 of 4,697 open AE roles and 792 of 1,540 open SE roles. If yours doesn't show a range, ask for it on the first call.

If you've done both seats, would you take the higher base or the higher ceiling?

How I counted: open AE and SE roles on OTE Radar, pulled Oct 30. Medians come from USD annual ranges only, 2,048 for AE and 652 for SE. Each range counts at its midpoint, and a role posted in several cities counts once. Ranges that don't say base or OTE are left out of both (260 AE, 112 SE). SE includes Solutions Engineer titles. Segment comes from the job title, and roles that don't say are left out of that part.

Full SE pay page: oteradar.com/pay/se/ Full AE pay page: oteradar.com/pay/ae/