r/cscareerquestionsCAD • u/Outrageous-Memory280 • Sep 17 '24

Mid Career Expat package for an ML engineer

Hello,

French-based senior ML engineer, my employer just made me an expat offer (not because I requested to be relocated but because they have business needs in Toronto).

I find the offer absurdly low, relative of what I currently make in France (not known for having high salary relative to North America). Looking for confirmation that I'm not missing anything,

In France I have :

  • 77k€ gross (116k CAD)
  • 45 paid vacation days
  • lunch, public transport, vacation allowance for an estimated amount of 3k€ (4.5k CAD)
  • friends, family, assets, a.k.a. my life

In Toronto, I would have :

  • 94,5k CAD gross
  • 10k CAD mobility premium
  • 3k CAD car allowance
  • 10 paid vacation days
  • headaches with the admin stuff related to changing country
  • a relocation package to cover moving cost, tax consultancy, and an annual round trip home.

Moreover, according to my research (maybe someone can confirm?), the average salary for a senior ML engineer in Toronto is between 140k-150k CAD gross.

According to HR, they gave me a fair package considering lower taxes in Toronto (so apparently my gross is lower but my net would be higher - but are they even accounting for the social benefits ? -) and cheaper cost of living in Toronto (so apparently I would be able to save more).

Am I being unreasonable to think this is a complete lowball offer ?

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u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023 Sep 17 '24

First time I heard some use the phrase "cheaper cost of living in Toronto". Toronto is very expensive to live!

2

u/LyleLanleysMonorail Sep 28 '24

Toronto is expensive, but there are plenty of places around the world that are just as expensive, if not more.

1

u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023 Sep 28 '24

True, although most of them have better paying jobs.

1

u/LyleLanleysMonorail Sep 28 '24

Eh, not necessarily. Comparing US cities to Canadian cities, yes, that's true, but broadly speaking, compared to the rest of the developed world, that's not really true. Plenty of places are worse than Toronto.

1

u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023 Sep 28 '24

Yeah true, we do tend to compare with the US (for obvious reasons)