Goldman Sachs Software Engineer Levels Explained: Analyst to MD

At Goldman Sachs, a software engineer carries a bank corporate title, and the levels run Analyst, Associate, Vice President, Managing Director. A Vice President is not an executive. For an engineer, it is usually a senior individual role, and candidate reports most often compare it to Google L5.

A corporate title is a rank that the firm uses for every division, from trading to engineering. Goldman does not publish a separate level system for engineers. Its job postings name the corporate title and the function together, for example "Vice President, Software Engineering".

This guide explains each title, the years of experience behind it, the pay that engineers report, and how each title compares to Google, Amazon and Meta levels. It also answers the question that confuses most candidates: is a Goldman Sachs Vice President a senior engineer?

Goldman Sachs Levels in One Table

The pay figures are United States medians reported to levels.fyi, so check the site for current numbers. The years of experience combine levels.fyi data with the minimums in Goldman job postings. The Vice President mapping comes from candidate reports on levels.fyi and Blind. The Analyst and Associate mappings are approximate, based on years of experience and scope.

How Goldman Sachs Titles Work for Engineers

Goldman runs one title system across the whole firm. An Analyst in engineering and an Analyst in investment banking hold the same title. Their work and their pay, however, are very different.

There is no second engineering number on the offer, as there is at some other banks. The offer letter and the job posting both show the corporate title. United States postings then give a base salary range for that title, team and city.

In Europe, you may also see the title Executive Director. eFinancialCareers reports that Executive Director and Vice President are roughly equivalent at Goldman, with Executive Director more common in Europe. Some London postings combine the two as "Vice President/Executive Director". It is not a separate level above Vice President.

Analyst

Analyst is the entry title for engineers. Goldman hires most graduates through its Engineering New Analyst program, which covers software engineering and systems engineering roles.

An Analyst writes, tests and fixes code on work that a more senior engineer has already scoped. They join design discussions mainly to learn. Strong Analysts start to own small components by their second or third year.

Years of experience: zero to about three. Levels.fyi shows a typical range of one to two years among Analysts who report pay.

Compensation: levels.fyi reports a median total of about $111K in the United States. Base salary makes up almost all of it.

Associate

Associate is the title where an engineer works independently. Many experienced hires join here, and Analysts are promoted into it after a few years.

An Associate owns a feature or a service from design through production support. They break down their own tasks, write design notes, and fix the production problems their code causes. Interviews at this title still center on coding, so practice with Grokking the Coding Interview is the best use of preparation time.

Years of experience: about three to seven. One New York Associate posting asked for three years with a bachelor's degree, or one year with a master's degree. Levels.fyi shows a typical range of four to five years.

Compensation: levels.fyi reports a median total of about 148K. A Goldman New York posting listed a base salary range of 132,000 to $168,700.

Vice President

Vice President is the most common senior title for engineers at Goldman. It covers a wide band, from a newly promoted senior engineer to an experienced technical lead.

A Vice President leads the design of a system and guides the engineers who build it. Postings describe work such as solution design with other teams and training junior engineers. Some Vice Presidents manage people, while many stay individual contributors.

Years of experience: about six to twelve or more. One New York posting asked for five years with a bachelor's degree, or three with a master's degree. Levels.fyi shows a typical range of eight to ten years.

Compensation: levels.fyi reports a median total of about 219K. A Goldman New York posting listed a base salary range of 190,000 to $252,500.

Interviews for Vice President roles usually add a design round. The Goldman Sachs system design interview guide explains what that round covers.

To prepare for it, Grokking the System Design Interview teaches the patterns that appear in most design rounds.

Managing Director and Partner

Managing Director is the senior title above Vice President. In engineering, a Managing Director usually leads a large technical area or a group of teams. Goldman's own engineering pages list Managing Directors in areas such as security platform engineering.

Promotion to Managing Director happens through a firm-wide review. News reports describe Goldman naming a new class of Managing Directors every two years. Reported pay at this title is too thin and too inconsistent to quote.

Partner is not a separate title on an offer letter. Partners are a small group of Managing Directors that the firm elects every two years, in the years between Managing Director classes. Very few engineers reach it, so it has no tech-company equivalent.

Is a Goldman Sachs Vice President a Senior Engineer?

Yes, in most cases a Goldman Sachs Vice President in engineering is a senior individual engineer, closest to Google L5. It is not an executive role, and it is not the same as a Vice President of Engineering at a tech company.

Candidate reports agree on the center but not on the edges. A levels.fyi community thread says the Vice President title at Goldman and JPMorgan aligns closest to Google L5. On Blind, engineers place it anywhere from Google L4 to L6. One commenter reports seeing Vice Presidents join Amazon as L4 to L6.

The wide range has a simple cause. The title covers about six years of growth, so a new Vice President and a long-serving one do very different work. When you change jobs, the new company sets your level from your scope and your interviews, not from the title.

How Goldman Sachs Pays Engineers

Goldman pay has three parts: base salary, a year-end cash bonus, and a small amount of stock. The bonus is a larger share of pay than at most tech companies, and stock is much smaller.

The levels.fyi medians for a United States Vice President show the shape. Base salary is about 176K, the bonus about 37K, and stock about $5K per year. At Google or Amazon, stock is often the largest part of senior pay.

The bonus also grows faster than base as you move up. Levels.fyi reports a median bonus of about 3K for Analysts and about 13K for Associates. Employee accounts describe part of the pay at senior titles being paid in restricted stock units that vest over about three years. A restricted stock unit is a promise of company shares that you receive on a set schedule.

Job postings in some United States states show base salary only. They do not show the bonus, so compare total pay, not base, when you weigh an offer.

How Goldman Sachs Levels Compare

The bank rows are approximate. None of the three banks publishes a mapping to tech-company levels, so these placements combine job postings, levels.fyi data and candidate reports. A bank title can also span two rows, as Vice President does at Goldman Sachs. Compare the scope of the work you would own, not the title.

Frequently asked questions

Is Vice President at Goldman Sachs a high position for an engineer? It is a senior position, but not an executive one. A Vice President in Goldman engineering usually has six to twelve years of experience and leads designs. Candidate reports most often compare it to Google L5.

What is an Associate at Goldman Sachs in engineering? An Associate is a mid-level engineer who owns features and services with little supervision. It usually needs three to seven years of experience and compares to Google L3 to L4.

How many years does it take to become a Vice President at Goldman Sachs? Most engineers reach Vice President after about six to ten years of total experience. Levels.fyi reports a typical eight to ten years among Vice Presidents who share pay data.

What is the difference between Executive Director and Vice President at Goldman Sachs? They are roughly the same level. eFinancialCareers reports that Executive Director is more common in Europe and Vice President elsewhere.

How much does a Goldman Sachs software engineer make? Levels.fyi reports United States median totals of about 111K for Analysts, 148K for Associates and $219K for Vice Presidents. Check the site for current figures.

How long does the Goldman Sachs interview process take? It varies by team and title. The Goldman Sachs interview process guide explains each round, and how long it takes to hear back covers the wait after each stage.

Behavioral rounds matter at every title. Read the top Goldman Sachs behavioral interview questions and how to answer why you want to work at Goldman Sachs.

If you are comparing a Goldman offer with a tech offer, Grokking Tech Salary Negotiations covers how to negotiate title and total pay.

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