That is a pretty ordinary structure in corporate life, just worded kind of oddly. Generally you would refer to the 70% as the base and the 30% as the bonus. B

That is a pretty ordinary structure in corporate life, just worded kind of oddly. Generally you would refer to the 70% as the base and the 30% as the bonus. Bonuses often have 2 or 3 parts. Part 1 - has the company met its quarterly financial goals, Part 2 - has your department or business unit met its goals (financial or other relevant metric), Part 3 - have you met your personal goals for the quarter. So it is not the concept but the wording that is odd. Your friend should make sure that he counts the 70% as the true base salary when deciding whether this job makes sense for him.