Talentfoot Executive Search. Last updated 2026. Findings drawn from the 2026 Executive Compensation Study, an ongoing survey of 356 executives and senior leaders.
Executive compensation at small and midsize businesses is not a scaled-down version of what large companies pay. It is structured differently, moves on a different rhythm, and fails in different places. SMB executives carry broader mandates and thinner packages, a trade that a meaningful share of the market is willing to make, and Talentfoot’s 2026 Executive Compensation Study finds that 58 percent of them earn a base salary below $200,000 while 55 percent hold no equity at all. The finding most likely to change how an employer allocates a compensation budget, however, concerns predictability rather than level. SMB raises are not smaller than large-company raises. They are simply rarer.
This article sets out SMB executive compensation benchmarks for 2026 across base salary, on-target earnings, bonus structure, and equity, broken out by role level from director through the C-suite and by company size within the SMB band. It then examines why 42 percent of SMB executives report dissatisfaction with their pay, how private equity ownership alters nearly every measure in the data, and what employers and candidates can each do in response. Readers looking for a specific figure will find the benchmark tables in Part 1 and Part 2, and a summary of common questions at the end.
Throughout this article, SMB refers to companies with fewer than 500 employees, a common threshold for small business in the United States. The comparison group comprises large companies with 1,000 or more employees. All figures are drawn from a survey of 356 executives and senior leaders fielded between December 2025 and August 2026.
What the research shows
- The most common base salary band among SMB executives is $150,000 to $199,999. Forty-two percent earn $200,000 or more, compared with 60 percent of executives at large companies.
- A majority of SMB executives, 54.7 percent, hold no equity or long-term incentive of any kind. At the director level, that figure rises to 72.7 percent.
- Not one SMB executive in our sample reported holding a cash long-term incentive, a vehicle that 8.0 percent of large-company executives receive.
- Raise magnitude is broadly comparable across segments. Among executives who received an increase of 5 percent or more, the rate was 25.0 percent at SMBs and 27.0 percent at large companies. Raise frequency is where the two diverge.
- Forty-two percent of SMB executives report being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their compensation, compared with 27 percent at large companies.
- Ownership structure appears to matter more than company size. Compensation is the leading exit trigger for 29.5 percent of executives at founder-owned SMBs but only 6.5 percent of those at private equity-backed SMBs.
- Compensation is nonetheless not the primary driver of SMB executive attrition. Leadership and culture holds that position, at 38.4 percent.
In this article
- Part 1: What SMBs pay. Base salary benchmarks, on-target earnings benchmarks, and benchmarks by role level.
- Part 2: How the package is built. Recruiter observations from live searches, the weighting of variable pay, and equity access and value.
- Part 3: Why executives are unhappy. The freeze rather than the cut, the satisfaction gap, where pressure concentrates within the SMB band, and the effect of ownership structure.
- Part 4: What to do about it. What executives value beyond cash, six priorities for employers, and six questions candidates should resolve before accepting.
The scope-for-cash trade
Small and midsize businesses compete for executive talent primarily on scope. A leader who would own one component of a function at a large enterprise owns the entire function at an SMB, reports directly to the chief executive, and makes decisions rather than assembling consensus in support of them. That proposition is genuine, and Talentfoot recruiters report that more candidates than expected are prepared to accept it.
The compensation side of the trade is where the proposition becomes complicated. Our study finds that SMB executives in the sample are 2.6 times more likely to hold a C-suite title than their counterparts at large companies, 24.4 percent against 9.5 percent, and considerably more likely to express dissatisfaction with what they are paid to hold it. The straightforward explanation, that smaller companies cannot afford to pay competitively, does not survive contact with the data. When SMBs do move compensation, they move it about as much as large companies do. The difference lies in how often that happens.
Part 1: What SMBs Pay
SMB executive base salary benchmarks
The most common base salary band among SMB executives is $150,000 to $199,999. Forty-two percent earn a base of $200,000 or more, compared with 60 percent at large companies, while 34 percent earn less than $150,000, compared with 20 percent.
Exhibit 1: Base salary distribution, SMB versus large companies
| Base salary band | SMB (under 500 employees) | Large companies (1,000+ employees) |
|---|---|---|
| Under $125,000 | 19.8% | 10.9% |
| $125,000 to $149,999 | 14.0% | 8.8% |
| $150,000 to $199,999 | 24.4% | 20.4% |
| $200,000 to $249,999 | 20.3% | 28.5% |
| $250,000 or more | 21.5% | 31.4% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study. SMB n=172, large companies n=137.
The absence of a ceiling in this distribution is as instructive as the compression within it. Eleven percent of SMB executives earn a base of $300,000 or more, a figure not far below the 17.5 percent recorded at large companies. SMB compensation is therefore better understood as thinly and unevenly distributed than as structurally capped.
SMB executive on-target earnings benchmarks
Total cash compresses more sharply than base salary does, and it compresses at the upper end of the range rather than the lower. Only 23 percent of SMB executives report on-target earnings of $300,000 or more, against 39 percent of executives at large companies.
Exhibit 2: On-target earnings distribution, SMB versus large companies
| On-target earnings band | SMB | Large companies |
|---|---|---|
| Under $150,000 | 21.5% | 18.9% |
| $150,000 to $249,999 | 30.2% | 18.2% |
| $250,000 to $299,999 | 25.0% | 23.4% |
| $300,000 to $499,999 | 18.0% | 27.0% |
| $500,000 or more | 5.3% | 12.4% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study.
No SMB respondent in the study reported on-target earnings above $1 million, while 4.4 percent of large-company respondents did. The practical implication for candidates is that the SMB total compensation ceiling is real, and that for all but a small number of leaders it sits somewhere in the vicinity of half a million dollars.
SMB executive compensation benchmarks by role level
Seniority carries more weight at an SMB than it does at a large company, and the falloff below the top of the house is abrupt rather than gradual. Both pay and equity access decline sharply below the vice president line, and satisfaction declines with them.
Exhibit 3: Compensation and satisfaction by role level, SMB only
| Metric | C-suite | SVP | VP | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base $250,000 or more | 54.8% | 42.1% | 14.3% | 2.3% |
| Base under $150,000 | 7.1% | 21.1% | 14.3% | 40.9% |
| No equity or LTI | 33.3% | 36.8% | 62.9% | 72.7% |
| Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied | 31.0% | 31.6% | 37.1% | 47.7% |
| Base flat or decreased | 61.9% | 57.9% | 42.9% | 43.2% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study. C-suite n=42, SVP n=19 (directional), VP n=35, director n=44.
The director level emerges as the most exposed group in the dataset. Four in ten earn less than $150,000, nearly three quarters hold no equity, and 29.5 percent identify compensation as the factor most likely to prompt a move, the highest proportion of any role level.
The gradient running through Exhibit 3 also cuts against intuition. Satisfaction rises with seniority even though the C-suite is the group most likely to have been frozen, at 61.9 percent. The most plausible reading is that scope and decision rights are performing work that cash is not, and that senior leaders extend their employers more latitude as a result. Employers should be careful about how far that latitude extends, since the same executives are the most expensive to replace.
Part 2: How the Package Is Built
What recruiters observe on live searches
The survey captures what executives report about their own packages. Talentfoot’s Accounting and Finance practice observes the offer side of the same market. The ranges in Exhibit 4 reflect recruiter observations from current SMB and middle-market searches rather than survey responses, and they skew toward the upper half of the market, as search-led hires generally do.
Exhibit 4: Observed offer ranges on current SMB and middle-market searches
| Role | Base range | Bonus target | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFO | $250K to $450K | 40% to 60% of base | Stock or options, tied to exit value at PE-backed firms |
| COO | $230K to $450K | 40% to 75% of base | Similar structure to CFO |
| VP of Finance | $180K to $280K | 15% to 30% of base | Less common at this level, occasionally offered |
Source: Talentfoot recruiter observations, Accounting and Finance practice, August 2026.
These bonus targets sit well above what the broader survey population reports, where only 10.5 percent of SMB executives carry variable pay equal to 41 to 60 percent of total compensation. The gap reflects selection rather than contradiction. Retained-search mandates at private equity-backed and high-growth SMBs are structured considerably more aggressively than the SMB market as a whole, which is worth bearing in mind when benchmarking a single role against either source.
How variable pay is weighted
The structural distinction between SMB and large-company compensation lies in which component carries the weight, not only in the size of the total. SMB packages lean more heavily on base salary and more thinly on leverage, with a fatter tail at both extremes of the distribution.
Exhibit 5: Target variable pay as a share of total compensation
| Target variable pay as % of total | SMB | Large companies |
|---|---|---|
| 0% to 10% | 23.9% | 16.0% |
| 11% to 25% | 36.0% | 40.9% |
| 26% to 40% | 21.5% | 25.5% |
| 41% to 60% | 10.5% | 13.1% |
| Over 60% | 8.1% | 4.4% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study.
SMB executives are nearly twice as likely to have no variable compensation whatsoever, 14.5 percent against 8.0 percent, and roughly a quarter sit at 10 percent variable or below. At the same time, 8.1 percent carry variable pay above 60 percent of total, nearly double the large-company rate. Thin leverage is the SMB norm and heavy leverage the SMB exception, with far less of the moderate middle that characterizes large-company plan design. Executives moving between segments should expect the shape of the package to change as much as its size.
Equity access and value at SMBs
Equity is the point at which the gap between the two segments stops being a matter of degree and becomes a matter of kind. Most SMB executives receive none: 54.7 percent hold no equity or long-term incentive, compared with 43.1 percent at large companies.
Exhibit 6: Estimated annual equity or long-term incentive value
| Estimated annual equity or LTI value | SMB | Large companies |
|---|---|---|
| None reported | 57.0% | 44.5% |
| Under $25K | 14.0% | 8.0% |
| $25K to $75K | 6.4% | 22.6% |
| $75K to $150K | 8.1% | 14.6% |
| $150K or more | 14.5% | 10.2% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study.
Three findings warrant emphasis.
First, SMB equity is distributed as a barbell rather than as a smaller version of the large-company pattern. Across all SMB executives, 14.0 percent hold equity worth less than $25,000 a year and 14.5 percent hold equity worth $150,000 or more, against 8.0 percent and 10.2 percent respectively at large companies. The predictable middle band of $25,000 to $75,000 is largely a large-company phenomenon, at 22.6 percent versus 6.4 percent. In practice, SMB equity tends to be either a lottery ticket or a rounding error, with relatively little in between.
Not one SMB executive in this study reported holding a cash long-term incentive, a vehicle that 8.0 percent of large-company executives receive. Because a multiyear cash retention award requires no cap table, no 409A valuation, and no dilution, it is the least expensive unclaimed lever in the dataset.
Second, equity appears to motivate only the top of the house. Nineteen percent of SMB C-suite respondents identify equity as the factor that matters most in their compensation decisions. Below the C-suite that figure collapses to 2.9 percent at vice president and zero at both SVP and director, while 72.7 percent of SMB directors hold no equity at all. Distributing small grants below the vice president line therefore purchases very little motivation, and the same budget is likely to work harder in base salary or a cash long-term incentive.
Third, latent demand is substantial. Performance-based equity is the single most requested innovation in the study, cited by 73.8 percent of SMB executives. The distance between that level of demand and the 54.7 percent who currently hold nothing represents the clearest unexploited recruiting advantage available to SMB employers.
The instrument matters as much as the amount. Talentfoot recruiters report that large public companies typically grant restricted stock units that vest on a schedule and can be sold, whereas middle-market and private equity-backed companies more often grant options or profit interests, where value is concentrated in a future exit rather than an annual vest. Executives who have watched equity narratives fail to materialize at previous employers now arrive at the table asking about strike price, valuation date, vesting schedule, and treatment on a change of control.
Part 3: Why Executives Are Unhappy
The freeze, not the cut, is the SMB story
This is the finding most likely to change how SMB employers allocate their compensation budget. SMB raises are not smaller than large-company raises; they are rarer. Among executives who received an increase of 5 percent or more, the rate was 25.0 percent at SMBs and 27.0 percent at large companies.
Exhibit 7: Change in base salary and on-target earnings over the past 12 months
| Change over past 12 months | SMB base | Large co. base | SMB OTE | Large co. OTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decreased | 9.9% | 3.6% | 12.8% | 10.2% |
| Stayed the same | 41.9% | 28.5% | 55.2% | 38.0% |
| Increased under 5% | 23.3% | 40.1% | 15.1% | 21.2% |
| Increased 5 to 10% | 19.2% | 20.4% | 6.4% | 21.2% |
| Increased over 10% | 5.8% | 4.4% | 9.3% | 7.3% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study.
Exhibit 7 rewards reading from the bottom up. SMBs slightly outperform large companies on base increases above 10 percent, 5.8 percent against 4.4 percent, and on on-target earnings growth above 10 percent, 9.3 percent against 7.3 percent.
The gap between the segments sits almost entirely in freezes and cuts. SMB executives are nearly three times as likely to have taken a reduction in base salary, 9.9 percent against 3.6 percent, and considerably more likely to have been frozen, 41.9 percent against 28.5 percent. In aggregate, 52 percent saw base salary remain flat or decline over the past year and 69 percent saw on-target earnings do the same.
The constraint at most SMBs is not affordability but consistency. That distinction changes the appropriate remedy: predictable, modest annual movement is likely to do more for retention than an occasional large correction, because the magnitude of SMB increases is already competitive when they occur.
Why SMB executives are dissatisfied with their compensation
Inconsistency registers directly in how executives assess their packages. Forty-two percent of SMB executives report being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their compensation, against 27 percent at large companies.
Exhibit 8: Satisfaction with current compensation package
| Satisfaction with compensation | SMB | Large companies |
|---|---|---|
| Very dissatisfied | 12.2% | 2.9% |
| Dissatisfied | 30.2% | 24.1% |
| Neutral | 32.6% | 29.2% |
| Satisfied | 21.5% | 35.0% |
| Very satisfied | 3.5% | 8.8% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study.
Only 25 percent of SMB executives describe themselves as satisfied or very satisfied, against 44 percent at large companies, and they are 4.2 times more likely to fall into the very dissatisfied category.
The diagnosis they offer is consistent across question formats. Base salary leads the list of complaints at 54.1 percent, ahead of incentives at 52.4 percent. When asked to rank a single primary concern, 44.2 percent place base salary first. When asked what one change would make a package more attractive, 48.8 percent select an increase in base salary.
Base salary is also the most powerful lever available in an offer. On a five-point scale measuring influence over the decision to accept a new role, SMB executives rate a base salary increase at 4.21, ahead of variable compensation at 3.76 and non-monetary incentives at 3.60. Eighty percent rate base salary a four or five.
Perceived market position follows the same pattern. Thirty-eight percent of SMB executives believe their base salary sits below the regional market, against 20 percent at large companies, and 47 percent believe either base or on-target earnings sits below market. These are self-reported perceptions rather than verified benchmarks, but perception is what determines whether an executive returns a recruiter’s call.
A further finding deserves attention from anyone designing an SMB plan. Most SMB compensation structures are not changing behavior. Sixty-three percent of SMB executives report that their compensation structure has no effect on their performance, and only 21.5 percent report a positive effect, against 35.8 percent at large companies. On the evidence of the study, most SMB plans function as administrative instruments rather than motivational ones.
Where pressure concentrates within the SMB band
The SMB average conceals a wide internal spread, and a single headcount band accounts for a disproportionate share of the distress. Companies with 50 to 199 employees are the most strained tier in the study.
Exhibit 9: Compensation and satisfaction by SMB headcount band
| Metric | Under 50 employees | 50 to 199 employees | 200 to 499 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base $200,000 or more | 35.7% | 39.4% | 53.3% |
| Base under $150,000 | 39.3% | 39.4% | 17.8% |
| Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied | 39.3% | 47.9% | 37.8% |
| Base flat or decreased | 55.4% | 57.7% | 37.8% |
| No equity or LTI | 46.4% | 57.7% | 60.0% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study. Under 50 n=56, 50 to 199 n=71, 200 to 499 n=45.
The 50 to 199 band is the least satisfied tier, the most likely to have frozen or reduced pay, and the least likely to have delivered an increase of 5 percent or more, at 21.1 percent against 32.1 percent among the smallest companies. A reasonable interpretation is that these businesses have outgrown the informality that a startup can defend but have not yet built a compensation function capable of replacing it. Employers and candidates operating in that headcount range would do well to assume that pay practice is informal until demonstrated otherwise.
Work arrangement divides the population almost as sharply. Sixty-one percent of in-office SMB executives report dissatisfaction, against 43.3 percent of fully remote executives and 29.4 percent of hybrid executives. Only 25.8 percent of in-office executives earn a base of $200,000 or more, against roughly 45 percent of both remote and hybrid peers. Hybrid arrangements represent the satisfaction optimum in the data, and 82 percent of SMB executives already work remotely or on a hybrid basis, which suggests that in-office mandates carry a compensation cost that employers should price deliberately.
How ownership structure changes the picture
The most differentiated finding in the SMB data concerns not size but ownership. Private equity-backed SMBs outperform founder-owned SMBs on nearly every compensation measure captured in the study.
Exhibit 10: Founder-owned versus private equity-backed SMBs
| Metric | Founder or privately held | PE-backed |
|---|---|---|
| Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied | 49.5% | 28.3% |
| No equity or LTI | 61.1% | 39.1% |
| Base decreased | 14.7% | 0.0% |
| Exit trigger is compensation | 29.5% | 6.5% |
| Exit trigger is leadership or culture | 29.5% | 56.5% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study. Founder or privately held n=95, PE-backed n=46.
The pattern extends beyond the measures shown. Executives at private equity-backed SMBs are more than twice as likely to hold equity worth $150,000 or more, 26.1 percent against 11.6 percent, considerably more likely to carry variable pay at 26 percent or more of total, 45.6 percent against 29.5 percent, and far less likely to believe they are paid below market, 26.1 percent against 44.2 percent. Not one private equity-backed respondent reported a reduction in base salary.
Addressing compensation does not eliminate turnover risk so much as relocate it. Leadership and culture becomes the leading exit trigger for 56.5 percent of executives at private equity-backed SMBs, nearly double the rate at founder-owned companies.
That conclusion deserves to be held alongside a second one. Compensation is not the primary driver of SMB executive attrition in the first place. Leadership and culture leads at 38.4 percent, well ahead of compensation at 23.3 percent. Compensation matters substantially more at SMBs than at large companies, where it accounts for only 13.1 percent of exit triggers, but it remains the second cause rather than the first.
Part 4: What to Do About It
What SMB executives value beyond cash
Non-monetary incentives matter to nearly every executive in the study, but only three of the four tested categories exert meaningful influence.
Exhibit 11: Most valued non-monetary incentives
| Most valued non-monetary incentive | SMB | Large companies |
|---|---|---|
| Effective management and leadership | 83.7% | 83.2% |
| Flexible working hours and travel | 72.1% | 72.3% |
| Professional development opportunities | 52.3% | 54.0% |
| Recognition and awards | 20.9% | 24.1% |
Source: Talentfoot 2026 Executive Compensation Study. Multi-select question, so responses do not sum to 100 percent.
The case for investment is strong. Sixty-three percent of SMB executives report that non-monetary incentives affect their job satisfaction positively, and 92 percent report that such incentives affect their retention at least somewhat, with 43.6 percent describing the effect as significant.
The case for care is equally clear. Nine percent report that non-monetary incentives affect their satisfaction negatively, which indicates that poorly executed programs are not merely inefficient but actively costly. A wellness benefit that no one has the capacity to use, or recognition that reads as performative, consumes goodwill rather than building it. Recognition is the weakest of the four levers by a wide margin: only 20.9 percent of SMB executives value recognition and awards, and just 5.2 percent identify a culture of recognition as the single most important improvement an employer could make, against 16.8 percent at large companies. Recognition programs appear to be a low-cost large-company habit that transfers poorly to SMB executive audiences, and the associated budget is likely to perform better in base salary or leverage.
Preferences are also not uniform across the executive population. Among SMB respondents, 82.5 percent of men expressed interest in performance-based equity against 52.9 percent of women, while women more frequently cited career development funding and wellness programs and were more likely to identify work flexibility as the factor that matters most in their compensation decisions. These splits are directional given the size of the subgroup, with 51 female respondents, but they point to a substantive design risk. A single leverage-heavy, equity-forward package is unlikely to land evenly across an executive bench.
Six priorities for SMB employers
The following priorities are ordered by expected impact per dollar of incremental spend.
- Address the freeze before pursuing the raise. With 52 percent of SMB executives flat or down on base salary and 69 percent flat or down on on-target earnings, the pattern the data describes is inconsistency rather than insufficiency. A predictable annual movement, even a modest one, is likely to retain more executives than an occasional large correction.
- Introduce a multiyear cash long-term incentive. No SMB respondent in the study currently holds one. The instrument requires no dilution, no valuation exercise, and no change to the capital structure, which makes it unusually accessible to founder-owned companies that cannot or will not issue equity.
- Concentrate equity at the top of the house and make it performance-based. Equity motivates 19 percent of C-suite respondents and effectively none below that line, while performance-based equity is the most requested innovation in the study at 73.8 percent. Consolidating grants where they change behavior, and tying them to outcomes, is likely to produce more retention per share than broad distribution.
- Lead offers with base salary. SMB executives rate a base increase at 4.21 out of five for influence over accepting a role, and 48.8 percent identify it as the single most valuable improvement an employer could make. Where the objective is to win a specific candidate, base is the most reliable instrument available.
- Treat manager quality as a compensation lever. Leadership and culture is the leading exit trigger at 38.4 percent, and effective management is the most valued non-monetary incentive at 83.7 percent. Investment in the quality of the executive’s direct reporting relationship competes directly with cash for retention effect.
- Price in-office mandates deliberately. Hybrid executives are the most satisfied group in the study, at 29.4 percent dissatisfied, while in-office executives are the least satisfied, at 61.3 percent. Employers requiring on-site presence should expect to compensate for it rather than assume it is cost-free.
Four further measures belong in the annual compensation cycle rather than in a list of priorities. Publishing a compensation philosophy addresses the 30 percent of SMB executives who cite transparency as a complaint and costs nothing beyond the discipline of writing it down. Auditing existing perquisites before adding new ones responds to the 9 percent who report that such programs reduce their satisfaction. Differentiating package design acknowledges that preferences vary materially across an executive team. And treating the transition through 200 employees as the point at which compensation practice must be formalized addresses the band in which our data shows practice most often failing to keep pace with growth.
Six questions executives should resolve before accepting
- What does the title actually purchase? SMB executives in the study are 2.6 times more likely to hold a C-suite title than their large-company counterparts, and 58 percent earn a base below $200,000. The scope is generally real; the premium attached to it frequently is not.
- What happened in the last two review cycles? Only about 10 percent of SMB executives took a reduction in base salary, but 52 percent were flat or down. The offer on the table says little about what the following three years will look like, and the review history says a great deal.
- Does equity exist at this level at all? Roughly 55 percent of SMB packages contain none, rising to 62.9 percent at vice president and 72.7 percent at director. The question is worth asking before the negotiation rather than during it.
- How should the equity be valued? Strike price, most recent valuation date, vesting schedule, and treatment on a change of control determine whether a grant is compensation or decoration. Given the barbell distribution in Exhibit 6, the specifics matter more at an SMB than they do at a large public company.
- Is a cash long-term incentive available? Almost no SMB currently offers one, which makes the request reasonable rather than aggressive, and particularly worth raising where equity is unavailable or difficult to value.
- Who is the manager, and what is the infrastructure? Leadership and culture drives 38.4 percent of SMB executive exits, and 83.7 percent of executives identify effective management as their most valued non-monetary incentive. Candidates should also expect to inherit fewer systems and a smaller internal bench than they are accustomed to, which constitutes real work layered on top of the role itself.
The bottom line
Small and midsize businesses win executive talent on scope, autonomy, and the opportunity to run a business rather than a portion of one. That proposition is competitive, and the evidence from our recruiters is that it converts more often than the compensation differential alone would predict.
What loses those executives is rarely the size of the base salary. It is a package that has not moved in two years, equity that no one can value, and a plan that no one has explained. Each of those failures is addressable, and most of them cost less than the search that follows when a senior leader decides to leave.
Talentfoot places senior leaders across Accounting and Finance, Sales, Marketing, and Technology and AI for organizations ranging from Series B startups to the Fortune 50. To discuss what a competitive package looks like for a specific mandate, speak with one of our search experts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a typical base salary for an SMB executive in 2026?
The most common band is $150,000 to $199,999. Forty-two percent of SMB executives earn a base of $200,000 or more, against 60 percent at large companies, and 34 percent earn less than $150,000, against 20 percent at large companies.
How much does an SMB CFO make?
Talentfoot recruiters observe CFO base salaries in the $250,000 to $450,000 range on current SMB and middle-market searches, with bonus targets of 40 to 60 percent of base and equity typically structured as stock or options tied to exit value at private equity-backed firms. These ranges reflect retained-search mandates and sit above the broader SMB survey population.
What is a typical bonus for an SMB executive?
Most SMB executives sit in the 11 to 25 percent band, which accounts for 36 percent of the sample. A further 21.5 percent target 26 to 40 percent of total compensation. At the extremes, 14.5 percent have no variable compensation at all and 8.1 percent carry variable pay above 60 percent of total.
How much equity do SMB executives typically receive?
Most receive none. Some 54.7 percent of SMB executives hold no equity or long-term incentive at all, rising to 62.9 percent at vice president and 72.7 percent at director. Across all SMB executives, 14 percent hold equity worth less than $25,000 a year and 14.5 percent hold equity worth $150,000 or more, with relatively few in between.
Do SMBs pay smaller raises than large companies?
Not materially. Among executives who received an increase of 5 percent or more, the rate was 25 percent at SMBs and 27 percent at large companies. The divergence is in frequency rather than magnitude: 52 percent of SMB executives saw base salary remain flat or decline, against 34 percent at large companies.
Are SMB executives paid less than executives at large companies?
Yes, though the gap is narrower than commonly assumed and concentrated at the upper end of the range. Forty-two percent of SMB executives earn a base of $200,000 or more against 60 percent at large companies, and 23 percent report on-target earnings of $300,000 or more against 39 percent. The wider gap is in equity, where 54.7 percent of SMB executives hold none.
Why are SMB executives dissatisfied with their compensation?
Forty-two percent report being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Base salary leads the complaints at 54.1 percent, followed by incentives at 52.4 percent, and 44.2 percent place base salary first when asked to rank a single primary concern. Underlying those responses is inconsistency: 52 percent saw base pay remain flat or decline over the past year.
Does private equity ownership change SMB executive compensation?
Substantially. Private equity-backed SMBs show higher satisfaction, greater equity access, more variable leverage, and no reported reductions in base salary. Compensation is the leading exit trigger for 6.5 percent of executives at private equity-backed SMBs against 29.5 percent at founder-owned companies, although leadership and culture becomes the dominant trigger instead, at 56.5 percent.
What non-monetary benefits do SMB executives value most?
Effective management and leadership, cited by 83.7 percent, and flexible working hours and travel, cited by 72.1 percent. Professional development follows at 52.3 percent, and recognition and awards ranks last at 20.9 percent. Ninety-two percent report that non-monetary incentives affect their retention at least somewhat, while 9 percent report that such incentives affect their satisfaction negatively.
What should an executive ask about equity at a small company?
The essential questions are the strike price, the most recent valuation date, the vesting schedule, and the treatment of the grant on a change of control. Because SMB equity is distributed as a barbell, either worth very little or a great deal, those specifics determine whether the grant functions as compensation or as decoration.
About This Data
Findings are drawn from Talentfoot Executive Search’s 2026 Executive Compensation Study, an ongoing survey of 356 executives and senior leaders fielded between December 2025 and August 2026. SMB is defined as companies with fewer than 500 employees (n=172) and compared against large companies with 1,000 or more employees (n=137). Mid-market companies of 500 to 999 employees were also surveyed, but that subgroup (n=32) is too small to report and is excluded from all comparisons here, as are respondents who were unemployed at the time of the survey (n=15). SVP-level figures (n=19) and gender comparisons (female n=51) are directional. Market comparison figures reflect self-reported perception rather than verified benchmarks. Multi-select questions do not sum to 100 percent. Salary, variable pay, and equity bands have been consolidated for readability; the underlying survey used narrower bands. The sample skews toward sales, marketing, and technology functions and toward Texas, Illinois, Florida, and California, and therefore reflects commercial leadership more than finance or human resources. Figures are preliminary and subject to change while the study remains open.
Sources
- “2026 Executive Compensation Study.” Talentfoot Executive Search, August 2026. Internal data.
- Talentfoot recruiter observations, Accounting and Finance practice, August 2026. Internal data.
