Tom Kenaley
A big data engineer builds the large-scale distributed systems, Spark and Kafka and the lakehouse underneath them, that move and process data at a volume normal pipelines choke on. Plan for a 2026 base of $115K to $200K depending on level, real distributed-systems experience as the non-negotiable, and a four to eight week search to … Read more
An analytics engineer owns the dbt and Snowflake modeling layer, the tested SQL that turns raw warehouse tables into datasets your team can trust. Plan for a base of $115K to $175K in 2026, dbt and a cloud warehouse as the non-negotiable stack, and a four to seven week search to fill the seat well. … Read more
By Tom Kenaley Hiring a product manager in 2026 means picking one of five levels, budgeting $135K to $175K base for mid-level or $190K to $260K for senior, and running a four-round loop with a written exercise. The loop grades discovery, prioritization under pressure, and the ability to say no in writing. Clean searches can … Read more
By Tom Kenaley Hiring a prompt engineer in 2026 means accepting the title has split into four working jobs (LLM application engineer with prompt depth, eval and red-team engineer, agent and tool-use designer, or prompt-ops generalist for non-engineering teams). Budget $130K to $185K mid-level and $200K to $290K senior, then run a four-round loop that … Read more
By Tom Kenaley Hiring a CTO in 2026 means picking the right archetype for your stage (founder-coder, architect, scaling platform, or strategist). Set a band of $260K to $400K base for a Series B through C full-time CTO, and running a six-step search that grades technical strategy, leadership, and the ability to say no to … Read more
If you are opening a Senior PM req, our full 2026 hiring playbook walks the five-level ladder, the JD filter, and the four-round interview loop: how to hire a product manager in 2026. Senior Product Manager Salary Guide 2026 By Tom Kenaley Senior product managers in the United States earn $165,000 to $245,000 base in … Read more
By Tom Kenaley To hire a technical product manager (TPM) in 2026, scope the role by who pays when the call is wrong (internal engineers vs external users). Set a comp band of $145K to $215K for mid-level and $210K to $310K for senior, and run a four-round loop that grades system-design judgment, prioritization under … Read more
By Tom Kenaley The all-in cost to hire a React developer in 2026 lands $145,000 to $260,000 for a mid-to-senior US hire once base salary, payroll tax, benefits load, equipment, recruiting fees, and onboarding ramp are stacked. Direct-hire agency fees run 20 to 25 percent of first-year base. KORE1’s average React fill closes in 17 … Read more
Chief Data Officer Salary Guide 2026 By Tom Kenaley Chief Data Officers in the United States earn a base of $172,000 to $325,000 in 2026, with total compensation reaching $750,000 to $1.6M at Fortune 500 and regulated-industry employers once bonus, long-term incentive plans, and equity refresh stack on top. The published medians are the easy … Read more
By Tom Kenaley Recession-proof tech jobs in 2026 cluster in five buckets: cybersecurity, healthcare IT, government and defense systems, FinOps and cloud cost engineering, and mission-critical data roles. They hold through downturns because the work cannot be paused without legal or revenue consequence. That sentence does a lot of work, so it deserves the rest … Read more
