Salary range
Also called pay range, posted range.
The published minimum and maximum for a role — increasingly required by law, and usually wider than the band the employer will actually use.
Pay transparency rules in a growing number of US states and across the EU require a range on the posting. That has made ranges available but not always informative: employers comply with a band wide enough to cover several levels, and the top of it is often reserved for a candidate more senior than the one they're hiring.
The number that matters is where in the range they expect this hire to land, and a recruiter will usually answer that if you ask plainly on the first call. It's a fair question, it's not aggressive, and it prevents both sides spending four weeks on a process that ends over an unbridgeable gap.
Where you're asked for your expectation first, a range grounded in market data for the level and location is a better answer than a single number or a refusal — and stating that you're flexible on the mix between base and variable frequently gets more movement than pushing on base alone.
Compensation band
The internal minimum-to-maximum salary an employer has approved for a given level and location, from which every offer at that level is drawn.
Total compensation
Everything an offer is worth in a year — base salary plus bonus, equity, and benefits — rather than the headline salary alone.
Job level
An employer's internal grade for a role, which sets the salary band, the scope expected, and often the interview bar — and which doesn't transfer between companies.