A posted range is a statement by the employer, not a market fact. The same $150k–$200k band can mean three different things depending on how the posting frames it, and the difference matters before you walk into a negotiation.
The three framings you'll see
Base salary. The cleanest case: the posting commits to a band for base pay alone. Bonuses, per-diem, and equity sit outside it. When a Part 135 operator posts $185k–$210k base for a lead captain seat, the spread usually encodes seniority and type experience — not negotiating room.
Negotiable above a floor. Postings like "$200k+" disclose a floor and nothing else. The operator is signaling budget flexibility for the right credentials. Treat the floor as real and everything above it as unproven.
The employer's own estimate. Some OEMs and operators publish a range and mark it, in their own words, as a best-faith estimate that final comp will depend on skills and experience. That label is theirs, and it travels with the figure wherever Rotation shows it. An estimated range is a sketch of intent, not a commitment to either endpoint.
What Rotation will never do
We never fill the gap when a posting discloses nothing. No modeled bands, no "similar roles pay" widgets, no scraped averages dressed up as data. If a listing shows a figure on Rotation, the posting itself said it — and if a posting marks its figure as an estimate, we label it as the posting's estimate, never ours.
Reading the market, not the listing
Aggregate disclosure tells you more than any single posting. When most flight operations listings disclose and most sales listings don't, that's a signal about where leverage sits in each market. Watch the disclosure rate on the stats page — it moves when hiring pressure does.