Bank of America Data Engineer Salary by Level

Most of the 66 data engineer reports cluster at the mid band, with 61 offers there versus 5 at the senior level. The mid-band depth means the medians there carry real weight; the senior figures, built from a smaller set, are directionally useful but less precise. Reports span multiple years, so the more recent offers matter more for benchmarking a current offer. A portion of the figures come from public H-1B and EEOC filings that capture base salary only; total comp for those is modeled from peer ratios at comparable Finance employers rather than self-reported. Where an engineer submitted their full offer breakdown, that report carries higher confidence than a filing-derived one. The 2-level ladder here, mid and senior, also means there are no junior or staff anchors to interpolate from, so level placement at hire is a more consequential variable than it would be at a company with 5 rungs.

Bank of America structures data engineer comp around a base-heavy model, which reflects how large regulated banks generally deliver pay: cash is predictable, auditable, and easier to manage under compensation governance frameworks that financial regulators scrutinize. Equity exists at NYSE:BAC in the form of RSU grants, but the proportion of total comp that comes from equity is lower here than at tech employers of comparable size. Bonus eligibility exists for most seniority levels and ties to a combination of business unit performance and individual rating; actual payouts vary by year and by how the bank's trading and consumer segments performed. What that means practically is that the headline total comp figure includes a bonus component that is not guaranteed, so base salary is the number that functions as a floor. Engineers comparing a BofA offer to a tech offer should treat base-to-base as the reliable comparison and discount the variable components on both sides until they have a cycle of actual data.

in line with other Finance companies is a consistent read once you account for the mix of base and variable pay. The likeliest mechanism is that large universal banks compete on stability and brand rather than on comp premiums, and that lets them land candidates without paying above Finance-market rates. The comparison set that matters is other regulated financial institutions, not tech firms, because the talent pool BofA draws from skews toward engineers with financial data domain knowledge or an explicit preference for structured environments. Engineers coming from high-growth fintech or cloud-native tech shops often see a step down in total comp when moving here; engineers moving laterally from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, or Citi generally see parity. The $160K ceiling at L5 is consistent with a compensation structure that compresses the senior band and routes high performers toward management tracks rather than individual contributor escalation, which is a pattern across bulge-bracket banks.

The practical entry point for most candidates will be L4, and the data confirms the band is where BofA does the bulk of its hiring. Targeting L5 from the start requires demonstrating sustained design rigor across the entire loop, not just a strong technical round, because the bank calibrates that level narrowly. On negotiation: base salary at large banks tends to move less freely than at tech firms because bands are managed by HR governance tied to internal equity frameworks. The component with more flex is the sign-on, which BofA has used to close gaps for candidates with competing offers. A competing offer from another regulated institution carries more weight in that conversation than one from a tech company, because the bank benchmarks against Finance peers. If you're holding an offer, the single highest-value move is to get a written competing offer from a Finance-sector employer at a comparable level before asking for a revision; a number from a peer bank gives the recruiter something to match inside the band governance structure.