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 Texas changes
Texas has no wage income tax, which is structurally favorable for site reliability engineer (sre)s with meaningful RSU comp. The savings vs a CA-resident colleague can be $30-60k per year at senior IC levels. That math is why Austin and Seattle are the two top relocation destinations for Bay Area tech workers.
Planning cadence
For a site reliability engineer (sre) in Texas, 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). A move-out question — if you're considering leaving Texas for a high-tax state, time it around vesting.