Why? I don't think it is surprising. Throwaway account, but when I interviewed at FB and Apple I got offers for over $1m/4yr total comp, which is $250k/yr. Is Let's Encrypt doing less valuable work? Should the employees voluntarily give up compensation for some reason?

My previous startup job was similar in salary to the FB offer, though without the guaranteed RSUs (>300k/4yr).

When I look at the public salary data it seems low