That's fine then. It should be this easy for a company or recruiter: - SDE 1 makes $X-Y - SDE 2 makes $Y-Z - SDE 3 makes $Z-A - Sr Software Engineer makes

That's fine then. It should be this easy for a company or recruiter: - SDE 1 makes $X-Y - SDE 2 makes $Y-Z - SDE 3 makes $Z-A - Sr Software Engineer makes $A-B - Principal Engineer makes $B-C For someone of your experience we'd typically be looking at an SDE 2 or SDE 3 role, but that can change as we move through the interview process. We'll let you know as we move through the process if we decide to change the level that we're evaluating you for. -- Just, like, be transparent and honest with candidates. It's really really not hard.