I think the issue here is that for a given rank or role there are salary ranges that are defined, and effectively immovable. Those act as floor and ceiling func

I think the issue here is that for a given rank or role there are salary ranges that are defined, and effectively immovable. Those act as floor and ceiling functions on the salary that can be offered. So, even if you made $280K at Google, you'll get the $140K offer for that role because $140K is the top end of that range. You could get targeted into a different rank to get into a different range if you're work it. This is where you end up in a different title or level. It's much easier in the HR system to click the different title in the drop-down for you, than it is to get escalations and approvals to pay you outside the defined salary bands. Note there are definitely some places with weirdly wide job bands. eg. some of the big banks has ranges that vary hugely to account for differences between the trading and back-office salaries - eg. VP on a trading desk with high salary vs VP in IT with low to middling.