I’m not in biotech/pharma, but analogous - got an in-house job in 2019 paying more than that, all-in. Got laid off in Covid because they didn’t think my comp they’d agreed to a year earlier was justified, we were briefly slow, and they wanted to cut costs. So the concern is legitimate.
That said, Covid was a once in a century pandemic and I think we’re unlikely to have another recession in the next couple years. The other attorneys at my (small) company all got paid more than me and are still there, so if it hadn’t been last in first out, I might still be in a pretty sweet in-house job situation.
As you can imagine, there was an expectation of 24/7 availability (but still way better hours than biglaw) at that job.
Let’s be real for a minute: $400k for a large enough corp is piss down a drain. If you’re really interested in the role but have concerns, then set yourself a backpedal position. Otherwise, don’t shoot yourself in the foot just because you might die someday.
At that level of comp in house, you aren’t getting paid to be a replaceable cog in a machine, you’re being paid to be a leader and develop institutional knowledge. Once you’ve been around a little, if the fit is good it will be much more expensive to replace you than to keep you (both comp wise and the year+ it takes to get up to speed in house)
Rising Star
I’m not in biotech/pharma, but analogous - got an in-house job in 2019 paying more than that, all-in. Got laid off in Covid because they didn’t think my comp they’d agreed to a year earlier was justified, we were briefly slow, and they wanted to cut costs. So the concern is legitimate.
That said, Covid was a once in a century pandemic and I think we’re unlikely to have another recession in the next couple years. The other attorneys at my (small) company all got paid more than me and are still there, so if it hadn’t been last in first out, I might still be in a pretty sweet in-house job situation.
As you can imagine, there was an expectation of 24/7 availability (but still way better hours than biglaw) at that job.
Let’s be real for a minute: $400k for a large enough corp is piss down a drain. If you’re really interested in the role but have concerns, then set yourself a backpedal position. Otherwise, don’t shoot yourself in the foot just because you might die someday.
At that level of comp in house, you aren’t getting paid to be a replaceable cog in a machine, you’re being paid to be a leader and develop institutional knowledge. Once you’ve been around a little, if the fit is good it will be much more expensive to replace you than to keep you (both comp wise and the year+ it takes to get up to speed in house)
Chief
400K all-in means they're giving a lot of options/RSUs. The cash is likely much less.