FAANG'll pay $300k (£220k) (all-in) in SF, so £100K is low, even if it's much higher than the local average.

FAANG in London also pays £220k+ and closer to £400k+ total yearly comp for management roles. Once you have one FAANG on the CV you are going to have no problem getting £250k+ total comp packages from mid-tier fintechs and similar outfits in the city and 300-400 is available if you have some management experience. This may be an anomaly, but it is a sellers market right now in the UK tech scene -- lots of big funding rounds closing as the market remains frothy and capital frantically hunts around for something to invest in, so a lot of companies are competing for a smaller pool of talent.

FAANG in London will pay a lot more than £100k too, but parent specifically asked for outside of FAANG.

Also there are a lot of fintechs (or pure finance) that will pay more than that. I'd say after about £160k you're going to struggle without moving into some kind of management type of position, though, if you're not at a FAANG or extremely well funded startup.

Also bay area COL is substantially higher than London. I live in a 4 bed house a 30 min cycle from the City (where I work), and pay around £1500/month.

> after about £160k you're going to struggle without moving into some kind of management type of position

Or being a fairly experienced / niche contractor who can get £600+ a day - although that obviously forfeits the job security and benefits (but then is an actual £160k+, not £N+ with intangibles to bring it up.)

If you want a high salary with minimum fuss (i.e. no management, no clawing your way up a corporate ladder), this is way to do it. I've been contracting in London for 5 years. Rates are in the range of £500-£700 per day, never had a problem getting work, post-tax salary equivalent to £200k PAYE. You can often take several months off over the summer too, if you like that sort of thing.

Would you mind expanding on the maths of contracting @ £500-£700 per day working out as equivalent to £200k PAYE?

Sure. I just did a 12 month stint at £650/day. Assume 220 working days/year = £143K. Now you have a silly dance to minimise your tax.

- Pay yourself minimum wage (0pct rate) ~£9K/year. - You can probably write off around £10K against tax (lunch, transport) - Pay 19% corporation tax on the rest - Pay yourself a dividend up to upper rate, end up paying around 7.5% tax on that - ...probably some other tricks

Leads to a total tax rate of around 20-25% as long as you can survive on £50K a year. So net income something like £115K after tax. Say £9.5K/month, would require a gross salary of £194K [0].

This is why the government is trying to clamp down on IR35 abuse, but still plenty of contracts outside, at the moment.

[0] https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/lifestyle.php

> Now you have a silly dance to minimise your tax.

Although there is a risk here that HMRC will come after you at some future point when this has been ruled an invalid scheme. Personally I don't think it's worth it and don't tax dodge/minimise/optimise (also a moral stance.)