Juggling 2 Job Offers - What to Do
I’m in a bit of a career decision crunch and would really appreciate outside perspective from people who’ve been in similar situations.
I currently have an offer from a large enterprise tech company in London for a Presales role. It’s not a typical Presales role however, more strategic and building out a new team. It’s a strong, stable offer- around £130k OTE, plus RSUs and benefits. Very structured environment, strong brand, clear progression path.
At the same time, I’ve just started interviewing with a fast-growing data/AI company that’s recently been valued at over $2B. The process is still early and relatively slow, but I’ve been told informally I’m a strong candidate. I have a former colleague/friend who works there in a TAM role who encouraged me to apply and said I’d be a very strong fit for the team and role. (They’ve been poaching people from my previous company and love them.)
From what I understand, it’s more customer success and strategic account ownership focused - helping customers adopt the product, drive value, and expand use cases. I’ve worked with the product and know the company, really think it would be a better fit culturally too. But it is a TAM role, and I love SE…
Compensation there would likely be higher than the enterprise offer - roughly £120k base, up to ~£200k OTE, plus equity. From what I’ve been told informally, the comp for strong candidates is competitive, but the process is still early and not at offer stage yet.
The challenge is timing.
The enterprise offer has a relatively short acceptance window, while the other interview process is still early and will likely take another 2–3 weeks minimum because it’s fairly structured and slow.
So I basically see 2 options:
1. Accept the enterprise offer now (safe, strong brand, guaranteed outcome), and if the startup offer comes through later, potentially withdraw and switch. I’d probably get blacklisted and never have the option to join again. I feel bad doing this as the team was super great and very supportive and helpful.
- Try to ask for more time / extend the deadline and keep everything open. But wait and risk losing the enterprise offer while the startup process plays out.
What’s making this difficult is that I genuinely see value in both paths:
The enterprise SE role = stability, structure, brand, clear progression, still an SE role even though not a traditional one.
The startup TAM role = much higher upside, more modern company, better cultural fit, but not an SE anymore and I do enjoy that.
Would love any advice, please! I’m currently an SE at a startup and not really loving it (love the role, not the culture) so would definitely prefer one of the other 2 options.