How to set your salary — a straight guide

The single most powerful thing you can do in a job search is also the thing you're told never to do: say what you want to be paid. Silence around salary isn't modesty — it's a structure that benefits whoever knows more, and at graduate level, that is never you. So let's fix that.

Know the benchmarks

Architecture salaries are more public than you think. Two sources are worth reading before you name a figure: the RIBA Employment & Earnings Survey — the market median, i.e. what's typical — and ThePay100, which ranks the top-paying UK practices — the ceiling. Read together, they give you a defensible range for every level:

London skews toward the top of each band; regional roles toward the bottom. These are the same figures behind the Gradspace Index — treat them as a floor to research from, not gospel, and always sense-check against the current surveys.

Adjust for you

Your number isn't just the market rate — it's the market rate plus your leverage. Strong computational skills (Grasshopper, Python), competition wins, live-project experience, a specialism a practice is short of — these move you up the range. Be honest with yourself about what you bring, then aim for the top third of what you can defend.

Name your deal-breakers too

Salary is one number; your terms are the rest of the deal. Unpaid overtime, no hybrid working, a two-hour commute — decide your non-negotiables before you're in a room being flattered. On Gradspace you set these upfront, so practices only pitch you on terms you'd actually accept. Off Gradspace, write them down anyway — it steadies your nerve.

Don't fear the counter

A number is an opening, not an ultimatum. If a practice values you, a considered counter — "I'm at £X, and I could move for hybrid working or a clear Part III path" — reads as confidence, not greed. The people who ask, get. The people who stay silent, subsidise.

You are not asking for a favour.

You spent years, and a great deal of money, becoming good at something the industry genuinely needs. Pricing that fairly isn't arrogance — it's literacy. Name the number.