SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Head of Design Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Head of Design role at US SaaS companies, based on 25 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdownAll SaaS roles
Base salary · US SaaS25 salaries
$86,562
Median base salary
Bottom 25% avg$84,000Top 25% avg$141,329
Average base salary
$110,557
Typical range (P25–P75)
$86,562–$130,000
Salaries analyzed
25

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Head of Design costs $86,562 a year in base salary.

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Overview
25 salaries

Head of Design Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 1 salary
$84,000
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 13 salaries
$86,562
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 11 salaries
$141,329

Median Head of Design base pay by pay period

Per year
$86,562
Per month
$7,214
Every two weeks
$3,329
Per hour
$41.62
Base-pay equivalents before tax; hourly assumes 2,080 working hours a year.

Head of Design salaries at SaaS companies average $110,557, with typical salaries ranging from $86,562 to $130,000. Based on 25 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands
Employees · annualized base

Detailed Head of Design Compensation Breakdown

Head of Design base salary by percentile band
Percentile BandSalary rangeAverage Base Salary# of salaries
Top 25%$130,000 and up$141,32911 salaries
Middle 50%$86,562–$130,000$86,56213 salaries
Bottom 25%Under $86,562$84,0001 salaries
Hiring budget
Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Head of Design Cost to Hire?

Budget for Head of Design hires at the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of this benchmark, as base salary and as fully loaded cost.

Pay level
Hires
1

One Head of Design hire at the median: $86,562 a year in base salary, $108,203–$121,187 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hireP25MedianP75
Base salary / year$86,562$86,562$130,000
Base salary / month$7,214$7,214$10,833
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base$108,203–$121,187$108,203–$121,187$162,500–$182,000
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base$9,017–$10,099$9,017–$10,099$13,542–$15,167
Fully loaded adds employer payroll taxes, health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment at 1.25–1.4× base salary. That multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonus, equity, and recruiting fees are not included.

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Key insights

Head of Design Pay by the Numbers

  • The middle half of Head of Design salaries spans $86,562–$130,000: a $43,438 spread, 50% of the $86,562 median.
  • A 75th-percentile Head of Design earns 1.5× the 25th-percentile salary.
  • The Head of Design median is 34% below the median Leadership role ($132,000 across 91 roles).

What Drives Higher Head of Design Pay?

  • Years of experience and proven track record
  • Company stage and funding (later stage typically pays more)
  • Technical expertise and specialization
  • Location and remote work policies
FAQ
Head of Design salary

On a median base salary of $86,562, a Head of Design at a US SaaS company makes about $7,214 a month, $3,329 every two weeks, or $41.62 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $7,214–$10,833 a month. These are base-pay equivalents before tax, and they leave out bonus, commission, and equity.

Expect the lower half of this benchmark. Across 25 verified SaaS Head of Design salaries, the 25th percentile is $86,562 and the median is $86,562. A Head of Design at a seed or Series A startup, or at a bootstrapped company under roughly $10M ARR, will often land between those two figures. Base pay typically moves toward and past the $130,000 75th percentile as the company adds headcount and ARR. Those stage bands are a rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a breakdown by company size, which the dataset does not report.

Budget for more than base salary. On a median base of $86,562, the fully loaded cost of a US Head of Design is roughly $108,203–$121,187 per year once employer payroll taxes (~7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment), health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment are added. That 1.25–1.4x multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to the benchmark on this page, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonuses, and equity sit on top where the role carries them. Also budget one-off hiring costs: agency recruiting fees commonly run 15–25% of first-year base, and a new hire takes weeks to months to reach full productivity.

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