01Compensation
Creative & Tech Compensation Snapshot.
A curated per-role salary table for the five Halftone creative + marketing roles - organized by seniority tier and geography. Drawn from the desk's own placements and the resume-rewrite engagement, calibrated annually. Browse the table below, then download the range set as a printable PDF.
02Bands by role
The desk's reference bands, row by role.
every row below is one role-times-tier-times-scope band the desk reads against on a live brief. Pick a role, scan down the seniority column, and calibrate against the live brief before quoting. Every cell on this table is a USD full-time base range; the table does not show equity, sign-on, or bonus.
Reference bands · 2026 Q3 baseline
USD, $1k = $1,000| Role | Tier | Scope | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Designer 6 bands | Junior | Remote | $60k-85k | Hybrid brand centres sit at this scope |
| Mid | US | $95k-120k | — | |
| Mid | EU | $75k-95k | — | |
| Senior | US | $130k-165k | — | |
| Senior | Remote | $110k-140k | — | |
| Lead | US | $165k-210k | Lead / AD-on-record | |
| Copywriter 5 bands | Junior | Remote | $55k-80k | — |
| Mid | US | $95k-125k | — | |
| Senior | US | $130k-165k | — | |
| Senior | EU | $95k-120k | — | |
| Lead | US | $170k-220k | — | |
| Art Director 3 bands | Mid | US | $120k-155k | — |
| Senior | US | $165k-210k | Senior AD runs the upper end of band | |
| Lead | US | $200k-260k | — | |
| Strategist 2 bands | Senior | US | $145k-185k | — |
| Lead | US | $180k-230k | — | |
| Producer 3 bands | Mid | US | $95k-125k | — |
| Senior | US | $130k-170k | — | |
| Lead | Remote | $130k-165k | — |
03How the data is built
Drawn from the desk's own work, not a market pull.
The ranges in the snapshot are a v1 baseline anchored to the resume-rewrite engagement and the executive-search desk. They are the bands the desk would quote against when writing a candidate's comp target, not a third-party aggregator pull. Use them as a starting point; calibrate with a live brief before locking in a figure.
- Sourced from placements. The baseline calibrates against the comp the desk has actually placed in the last twelve months, weighted to the roles the desk runs day-to-day.
- Anchored to the resume service. Hard-coded to the resume-rewrite engagement pricing (a fixed-price $399 rewrite), so a candidate's target comp moves on the same axis as the engagement that actually runs against it.
- Calibrated annually. The snapshot refreshes once a year from the previous twelve months of placements; the v1 baseline you are reading today is the 2026 Q3 release.
- US / EU / Remote scopes. Each role row carries a scope column - US, EU, or Remote - so the same role can be read across the three geographies the desk actually places into.
- Quarter + geography in the meta block. Every PDF ships a labelled Period, Geography, Currency, Coverage, and seniority scope so the figure is traceable from the page to the placement back to the desk.
- Not a substitute for a live brief. Confirm with a current brief and the live market before quoting in a negotiation; the snapshot is a starting frame, not a number to copy into an offer.
04What ships in the PDF
A one-page social of the comp the desk quotes from.
The PDF is the same artefact a recruiter would print and pin to a search desk; every row is a role-times-tier reference band the desk reads against on a live brief.
Document contents
5 creative roles x 3-4 seniority tiers x US/EU/Remote = 19 role rows- Period
- 2026 Q3 baseline (calibrated annually)
- Geography
- US / EU / Remote national, full-time base
- Currency
- USD, thousand (k = $1,000)
- Coverage
- 5 creative roles x 3-4 seniority tiers x US/EU/Remote = 19 role rows
- Seniority tiers
- Junior / Mid / Senior / Lead
- Role rows in on-screen table
- 19 curated rows
- Line items
- 34 total lines
Read it alongside
The snapshot quotes from the engagement; the engagement runs on the desk.
The compensation bands in this table sit on the same pricing axis as the resume service the desk runs end-to-end - the same desk reads both. Pair the per-role snapshot with the engagement it sources from, or open a candidate file and let the desk write the same band against your real comp target.
How to quote from the snapshot
Pick the role and tier, calibrate to the brief.
Use the role as the entry point - then tier and scope. Cross-check the band against the live brief and the candidate's prior comp before locking in a figure; the snapshot is the starting frame, not the offer letter.
Filed back into the resource index.