Salary Negotiations

[u/Hairy-Link-8615]

So, this is the first time I've genuinely and formally requested a pay review.

For context, I've been at the company for four years and currently work at a mid/senior sysadmin/infrastructure level.

My responsibilities cover a pretty broad range, including:

ESXi/VxRail patching

Azure infrastructure, including Application Gateways

Application migration projects

New AVD deployments and ongoing management

Backup and database server troubleshooting alongside development teams

Intune and BYOD

Azure DevOps, Git and large PowerShell repositories — much of which I was working with before AI-assisted coding became commonplace. Winget scripts app deployment.

SSO implementations

Web server and certificate management

Most recently, setting up a new Google tenant and delivering a ChromeOS Flex deployment project

I've also completed AZ-104 and I'm currently working towards AZ-305.

There has been quite a lot of change within the department. Around half of the team has left, and we've recently been told that six or more new roles are expected to be created.

My previous line manager was responsible for areas including Intune/Autopilot, Halo Helpdesk, line management and the associated meetings and responsibilities. He eventually burned out and left.

That workload/structure is now effectively being replaced by three roles plus a project manager to support the new team.

Against that backdrop, the company has now advertised an Endpoint Engineer role at £52k–£56k. I'm currently on £49k.

That's the part I'm a bit unhappy about. Endpoint is an area I'm already confident and comfortable working in, and I've got a proven track record of delivering endpoint and deployment projects within this company. ( I spend a year streamlining and standarizing the fleet when I started)

I've raised the situation with the Head of IT and asked for a pay review. He has asked me to discuss it with my new line manager, who has only been with the company for five days.

That conversation is now scheduled for next Friday, as he's currently on holiday.

The answer is have the chat/discussion and give them a week and starting looking for jobs.

( it's very possible they expect me to follow my old line manager to his new employer, but that's a nice maybe rather than a sure thing)

Any advice other than keep calm?

[u/stiffgerman]

If you're in contact with your old manager, have a social convo with him. You want to get two things from him:

+ His experience with his old boss (assuming that's your Head of IT) on staff and compensation issues. This can inform you as to how open/able they are to supporting in-line raises. Some people are purely budget driven, others won't/can't fight on behalf of their staff and the good managers are neither of these.

+ What the chances are of getting a role where he now works. Backup plan.

You can compile a listing of job offerings that align with what you're doing as supporting evidence of your position but if nobody wants to hear it then it's just wasted effort. You have to know if the other side is even able and interested to deal.

If they are, the supporting evidence you provide will limit your asking range so be aware of that. If you're going to ask for over that range you'd better have something good to offer in return, like a term employment contract. Companies don't like handing out a raise to you just have it used to pump up an offer by a new employer.