Typical comp shape
Senior software engineers usually earn rsu + refresh grants. Common employers include Alphabet, Meta, Stripe, Airbnb. At IC6+ RSU grants commonly exceed base salary, and refresh grants stacked on initial grants create lumpy April tax bills.
What Alabama changes
In Alabama, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 5% state tax on top of federal. For a senior senior software engineer with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
Planning cadence
For a senior software engineer in Alabama, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor).