Typical comp shape
Site reliability engineer (SRE)s usually earn rsu + refresh grants. Common employers include Google, Netflix, Cloudflare. On-call SREs often receive retention RSUs layered on base grants, producing four concurrent vest schedules by year three.
What Massachusetts changes
In Massachusetts, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 9% state tax on top of federal. For a senior site reliability engineer (sre) with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
Planning cadence
For a site reliability engineer (sre) in Massachusetts, 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).