Did the recruiter contact you with the offer or did the hiring manager? Do you both work through the same recruiter? Any number of variables could lead to the

Did the recruiter contact you with the offer or did the hiring manager? Do you both work through the same recruiter? Any number of variables could lead to the discrepancy. You're likely being offered positions on different teams with different budgets. As crappy as it sounds, salary offers are often based more on budget than relative worth. Within a given company, there can be a wide range of recruitment approaches. One recruiter may expect you to haggle more than another. My advice for first-time job seekers is to do one, at most two offer-counter-offer rounds. Remember that in these kinds of negotiations, the relationship is more important than the particular outcome. Being hated on day 1 sucks.