As one of the largest and most well-recognized companies in the world, Walmart prides itself on providing a “path for everyone”. Whether in data analytics, engineering, product management, or something in between, receiving a job offer from such an established company can be a huge step forward in your career journey.
However, before you get too excited about your future employment at Walmart, there’s still one thing you need to do: negotiate a Walmart salary.
In this guide, we will be focusing specifically on how to negotiate Walmart corporate or Walmart Global Tech careers. While these positions generally pay well, negotiating gives you the opportunity to secure an even better offer and improve your total career earnings.
We understand how tempting it may be to simply forgo Walmart salary negotiations altogether. But trust us: it’s worth it—and we’ve seen so firsthand. Over the years, we’ve used our salary negotiation strategies to help career professionals secure significantly improved pay packages at Walmart, and we’re here to share these insights and tips with you.
In the following article, we will explain step-by-step exactly what you need to do to prepare for and navigate a Walmart salary negotiation confidently and effectively.
Don’t want to go through the Walmart salary negotiation alone? We can help you navigate the Walmart job offer negotiation process.
Get offer-specific advice from a Walmart Salary Negotiation Coach to guarantee success in your salary negotiation with Walmart.
It doesn’t matter what company you work for or what your role is—every single negotiation requires the same starting point: understanding the compensation components of your salary.
Most large companies, including Walmart, provide compensation packages that are made up of different individual elements (performance bonuses, initial equity grants, stock refreshes, etc.). Your base salary is only one part of the equation. An effective negotiation requires you to understand all of the components of your offer.
Before ever coming to the table with a Walmart counteroffer, you need to evaluate each of these components individually so that you can determine how competitive your offer really is.
For Walmart job offers for corporate employees (not store associates), the total compensation that you receive will typically be split across:
Walmart base salary
Walmart performance bonus
Walmart equity package
Walmart stock refresher
Walmart sign-on bonus
Walmart covers most of the bases on the typical compensation components you’d expect from a company of their size. For example, here’s what the total compensation may look like in an initial offer for a Walmart software engineer salary:
Walmart Software Engineer Salary
Don’t worry if you’re not quite sure how some of the Walmart compensation components work—that’s why we’re here. In the next sections, we are going to break down the most common elements of a Walmart compensation and benefits package and explain them each in detail.
Walmart Base Salary
Let’s start with the basics: your Walmart base salary.
Even though this compensation component is relatively straightforward, here’s a quick reminder of what a base salary is: it’s the guaranteed fixed pay you receive in exchange for the work you do.
The only time your Walmart salary would change is if you receive merit increases or a promotion; otherwise, your Walmart base salary will always stay the same.
But have you ever stopped to wonder how your base salary is determined?
Similar to most large companies, Walmart has preset salary ranges for each of their specific job roles. These preset salary ranges have minimum and maximum amounts associated with them that your Walmart base salary can fall within. For example, the ranges for a Walmart senior software engineer salary will look different from the ranges for a staff Walmart software engineer salary. Even Walmart job offers at the same level will have different ranges depending on their specific roles (i.e., a Walmart data scientist salary vs. a Walmart product designer salary).
Here’s why this is so important: it’s very possible—if not likely—that the Walmart base salary you’re initially offered falls at the lower end of the preset pay range for your role. If you’ve done enough research and have identified what that range is, you then know that you can negotiate for higher Walmart base pay. Our salary negotiation course provides detailed tips and resources for researching these ranges but we’ll try to cover some high-level details a little later in the article.
Walmart Performance Bonus
Like Meta, Google, and other large tech companies, Walmart offers an annual target bonus that is based on both personal and company performance and is a percentage of your base salary.
The bonus can range between 10-25% depending on the level, role type, and department (i.e., the bonus for a senior software engineering manager salary could be higher than that for a senior data science manager salary). We see this compensation component as a major win since a Netflix salary and Nvidia salary would not include performance bonuses as part of their compensation packages.
While the Walmart performance bonus is a large component of your total yearly compensation, we have found that it’s not negotiable. That’s why it’s so important to negotiate your base salary since your Walmart performance bonus is a percentage of that number. The higher your Walmart base salary, the higher your Walmart target bonus will be.
Walmart Equity Package
Equity is a key compensation component that drives many career professionals to tech-forward companies like Walmart. Walmart job offers will include an initial equity grant, which comes in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). These Walmart RSUs represent actual stock (i.e., you will receive shares of WMT stock) that you will own when the Walmart stock vest.
Walmart RSUs have a three-year vesting schedule which means your initial stock will vest in equal amounts annually over those three years. Just like the other components, different role levels will see a different initial equity grant of Walmart employee stock (i.e., a Walmart director salary would have a larger equity grant than a Walmart staff engineer salary).
While Walmart RSUs can make up a large portion of your future compensation, don’t forget that their value will change based on the market value of Walmart. In other words, if the WMT stock is doing great, you can see the upside, but if they don’t do great, your Walmart employee equity—and total compensation—won’t do well either.
The great news is that this Walmart equity package is fully negotiable if you do it right. But it should be negotiated in tandem with the other components.
Walmart Sign-on Bonus
Some Walmart offers will also include a Walmart sign-on bonus. A Walmart signing bonus is a one-time bonus that new employees receive as an incentive to join the company and to cover any lost bonuses or unvested equity that they might give up at their current company. Even if you don’t receive a Walmart signing bonus in your initial job offer, you can—and should—negotiate for one.
Just like for a Reddit salary negotiation, it’s important to note that even if you don’t have a competing offer or you’re not walking away from money at your current company, you can still negotiate for a Walmart sign-on bonus. It just takes some additional negotiation tactics that we cover in our coaching and courses.
You’ll also notice that Walmart signing bonuses are only provided in the first year and are paid after your first 30 days in one lump sum payment, unlike the two-year Amazon signing bonus. Just note that there are payback conditions tied to it—meaning you’ll need to pay back the Walmart sign-on bonus if you leave the company within the first year.
Walmart Stock Refresher
Walmart offers an annual equity refresher (more Walmart RSUs) to most corporate employees based on their role level.
While many recruiters, such as those from Apple and TikTok, might be vague or withhold specifics on stock refreshers, we’ve found that Walmart recruiters usually will share this information upfront and openly. They even bake this amount into future years and it is how they view your total compensation.
With the Walmart equity refresher being an important component of your total compensation and their team baking it into your TC, we do include it as part of our total compensation calculation when negotiating a Walmart salary and evaluating the offer over multiple years.
Walmart Employee Benefits and Perks
As part of your Walmart compensation package, you’ll also receive decent Walmart employee benefits and perks, which include health, retirement, and other core benefits (Walmart 401k match, health perks, college tuition reimbursem*nt, etc.) that you’d expect from a large and growing company. While these Walmart employee benefits are typically non-negotiable, we still suggest digging into them during the due diligence phase of the negotiation process. This is one of the ways we recommend building leverage in our Walmart salary negotiations.
An effective Walmart salary negotiation can be broken down into five simple steps, each of which we’ve outlined in detail below.
However, it’s important to first recognize that these steps should only be followed after you’ve received an official job offer—never before. Why?
Walmart, like other companies, might try to pry about your salary expectations before they extend an offer. However, you don’t want to jeopardize your chances of receiving a better compensation package by providing your salary expectations on application forms or to the recruiter. You’ll always have more leverage once the hiring team has chosen you as the ideal candidate for the role and has extended you an official Walmart job offer.
So once you’ve received your official Walmart job offer letter, you should be ready to start following our strategies listed below.
These strategies are based off our experience helping hundreds of career professionals negotiate for increased compensation packages, and we are confident that they will help you navigate your Walmart salary negotiation confidently and effectively. While these are the key steps to a Walmart salary negotiation, we strongly recommend you work with a Walmart Salary Negotiation Coach to ensure success in your Walmart offer negotiation by getting all of our strategies.
1) Understand the Components of Your Walmart Salary
Step one to a Walmart salary negotiation should be easy since we’ve covered it already.
As a reminder, all successful negotiations start with a thorough understanding of your compensation package—including all of its individual elements. If you need help identifying your Walmart total compensation, then you can use our total compensation calculator to help you lay all of the components out.
2) Complete Due Diligence on a Walmart Job Offer Letter by Asking the Right Questions
Asking the right questions to the recruiting team does two important things:
It allows you learn more about the specific Walmart job offer
It shows the recruiting team how seriously you are considering the Walmart offer letter
This is an important step of the negotiation process even if you’re confident you already know what they are going to say. The answers they give will provide critical insight and data points you need to develop an effective Walmart counteroffer. If you’re unsure what to ask, you can use our list of Strategic Questions to Build Negotiation Leverage.
We recommend you begin asking questions within 24-48 hours of receiving your offer letter. This shows the Walmart recruiter that you’re actively interested in understanding and pursuing the role.
3) Research to Identify What Your Walmart Compensation Should Look Like
Like we mentioned before, Walmart compensation structures are generally based on preset salary ranges for different roles. To understand the strength of your current offer and how much you should counter for, we recommend spending some time researching Walmart compensation data to better understand what the pay range for your specific role is.
When conducting this research, don’t forget the fact that these salary ranges are dependent on the specific role, its level, and even its location. So you’ll need to take all of these considerations into account to find the most accurate information. For example, you wouldn’t want to come to the table with data on a software engineer salary Walmart if your offer was actually for a senior software engineer salary Walmart.
While our salary negotiation course guides you through how to research this data in detail, sites like Glassdoor, Comparably, and others can also provide you with helpful insights into compensation components at Walmart. However, when looking over your findings, remember that the publicly recorded pay ranges you see on these sites may not reflect Walmart compensation completely accurately, especially given changes in compensation from year to year. Analyzing data from multiple sites can help you compile the most precise Walmart salary information.
Once you’ve identified the pay range for your role, we recommend that you aim for the mid-to-top end of that range when negotiating your Walmart job offer. You can download our Total Compensation Research Comparison Tool to help you with your Walmart compensation research.
4) Send a Walmart Counteroffer to the Recruiter
Step four is the most exciting step in the process: sending over your Walmart counteroffer!
By now, you should have all you need to put together an effective Walmart counteroffer that references the research you’ve conducted and the pay data insights you’ve gathered.
While you can conduct your Walmart counteroffer over the phone, we usually suggest countering through email as it:
Ensures everything is in writing (i.e., they have a copy of your Walmart counter offer)
Minimizes the risk of you going off topic with the Walmart recruiter
Gives the Walmart recruiter something tangible (and accurate) to share with the compensation team
When you present your Walmart counteroffer to the recruiter over the phone, respectfully and professionally communicate how the benefits in your initial offer differ from other companies and/or your current role. Remember: this is your opportunity to highlight what you would bring to the team and to advocate for competitive compensation.
Throughout the entire Walmart counter offer process, make sure to be firm, yet courteous and professional. Since you’re not a Walmart employee yet, you want to give a good impression and reflect how you’d act once an official member of their team.
You can check out our Counteroffer Drafts for examples if you need help formulating a strong and effective Walmart counteroffer.
5) Handle Any Objections on Your Walmart Counter offer From the Walmart Recruiter
Don’t let this last step in the process scare you—it’s a very normal part of the process.
After you submit your Walmart counter offer, be prepared for the Walmart recruiter to return with a list of excuses as to why the hiring team cannot make any adjustments to your Walmart compensation package.
If this happens, don’t worry; instead, begin by respectfully acknowledging their limitations before restating your ask and desire for them to share your concerns with the Walmart compensation team. We recommend that you still stick to this approach even if they insist their team will simply say no. Our Objection Handling Scripts tell you exactly how to navigate this push back and situations.
Eventually, they should agree to take your Walmart counteroffer back to their team, and once they do, they should come back with an improved offer.
If the updated offer falls within the Walmart salary ranges you researched and meets your personal needs, you should be ready to send over our suggested offer acceptance letter. Congratulations on a successful Walmart salary negotiation!
At this point, you should have a clear understanding of the steps you should take during your Walmart salary negotiation. However, before we finish up, we also wanted to share a few things you shouldn’t do.
Below is a list of common Walmart salary negotiation mistakes that should be avoided.
Avoid Sharing Walmart Salary Expectations Before You Get a Walmart Job Offer
We know—we’ve mentioned this already. But it’s so important it’s worth repeating! Do not share your salary expectations before you get an official Walmart job offer.
The recruiters will probably try their best to uncover your salary expectations during the Walmart interview process. When they do, keep in mind that sharing these expectations before you have an offer in hand can actually make it more challenging to receive a better compensation package.
Here’s how this could play out practically: Say you share a lower Walmart director salary expectation with the recruiter than what they could offer. They’ll then be incentivized to offer you that lower compensation or down level you. On the flip side, if you share a salary expectation that’s higher than what they are able to realistically offer for a Walmart director salary, they could become disinterested and decide to go with a different candidate.
Walmart recruiters might even try to convince you that knowing your compensation expectations can help them find a deal that works well for both you and their team. While this might sound like a reasonable request at first, don’t forget that they are working for Walmart, not you. It also doesn’t make much sense to go over your salary expectations before you learn more about the specific role, its benefits, and whether a career with Walmart feels like the right fit for you.
We understand that it can be challenging to not give into the recruiter’s repeated questioning. That’s why we’ve developed these salary expectation scripts and email templates to help.
Don't Be Afraid of a Walmart Salary Negotiation
If you’ve never done it before, negotiating a job offer can seem scary—and many avoid it altogether. However, this is a huge mistake.
Other than some preparation time and effort, there’s almost no downside to negotiating. But the upsides can be huge.
We can also assure you: you’re not going to lose out on the Walmart offer letter because of an attempted Walmart salary negotiation. We’ve helped facilitate hundreds of successful salary negotiations and we’ve never seen Walmart take back a job offer because a candidate tried to negotiate.
Regardless of the role level—whether it’s an individual contributor role, Walmart product manager salary, Walmart vice president salary, or a Walmart software engineer salary—you should negotiate your Walmart job offer.
Don’t let any bad salary negotiation misconceptions keep you from advocating for competitive compensation.
Be Realistic by Doing Your Research When Evaluating Walmart Careers
While Walmart corporate careers pay well, you want to avoid pushing for unreasonable compensation in your negotiations.
That’s why taking the time to understand each element of your Walmart salary package and researching the pay ranges for your specific role is so important. With the right data and insights, you should be able to come up with an appropriate and effective Walmart counteroffer.
Whether it’s a Walmart salary software engineer, data scientist salary Walmart, product manager salary Walmart, or anything in between, we recommend that you negotiate for better Walmart compensation and benefits. We’ve seen firsthand over and over again how effective Walmart salary negotiation can be at helping candidates increase their overall career earnings.
If you want to guarantee success in your Walmart salary negotiation, get Walmart Salary Negotiation Coaching from us. Our experience helping clients successfully negotiate Walmart job offers will ensure you negotiate competitive compensation.
For those who prefer self-paced learning, we also have our How to Negotiate a Job Offer and How to Negotiate Your Current Salary courses and Salary Negotiation Templates. These resources will help provide you with the confidence and tools necessary to negotiate a job offer Walmart salary effectively. With downloadable email templates and comprehensive job offer negotiation resources, you'll be fully prepared to handle all aspects of the Walmart negotiation process.
Don't let Walmart Global Tech salary negotiation be an overwhelming or intimidating task. Prepare yourself with our valuable resources and guidance to seize the best possible opportunities in your career journey.
