Senior Executive Service Pay Scale: Bands, Bonuses, and Caps

The Senior Executive Service pay scale for 2026 runs from $151,661 at the floor to $228,000 at the ceiling, with the top figure available only at agencies whose performance appraisal systems have been certified by the Office of Personnel Management. Agencies without certification are capped lower, at $209,600. Where any individual executive lands inside that band is set by the agency head based on performance, not by a fixed grade-and-step formula.¹

The 2026 Pay Band

The floor of the SES range is fixed at 120 percent of the base pay for a GS-15, Step 1 position, which comes to $151,661 for 2026.² The ceiling is tied to the Executive Schedule and shifts with an agency’s certification status, reaching $228,000 at the top.³

One thing the SES pay scale does not include is locality pay. Federal statute explicitly excludes SES positions from the locality-based comparability payments that General Schedule employees receive.⁴ The base pay figure is the whole salary. An SES member in San Francisco and one in rural Alabama at the same base rate take home the same amount before taxes, even though their GS-15 subordinates in those two places do not.

Certified Versus Non-Certified Agencies

Certification is the single biggest lever on the ceiling. Agencies with a certified appraisal system can pay executives up to the Executive Schedule Level II rate of $228,000. Agencies without certification are capped at Level III, or $209,600.⁵ The $18,400 gap between those two figures applies to every executive at the agency, not just top performers.

To earn certification, an agency has to show OPM that its appraisal system makes meaningful distinctions based on performance. Top performers must actually receive higher ratings and pay outcomes than executives merely meeting expectations.¹ If certification lapses, every executive at the agency drops under the lower ceiling immediately.

How Individual Pay Gets Set

Within the band, the agency head or a designee decides where each executive sits, following criteria OPM lays out.⁶ There is no automatic annual step increase. Raises depend on documented performance.

An executive rated “Outstanding” must be considered for a pay increase, though the raise itself is not guaranteed. An executive rated below “Satisfactory” cannot receive any pay increase for that appraisal period. Everyone in between is subject to agency discretion, weighed against the organization’s overall performance goals.

When the SES range itself expands, usually in January when Executive Schedule rates update, agencies can grant a “maintain relative position” adjustment that keeps an executive at roughly the same spot in the band rather than letting them drift toward the floor. These adjustments require at least a satisfactory rating, and for executives already paid above the Level III rate, they typically require an “Outstanding” rating.⁷

Bonuses on Top of Base Pay

Base pay is only part of what SES career appointees can earn. Two categories of cash awards sit on top of the salary and can move total compensation well above the ceiling of the band.

Annual Performance Awards

Agencies can pay performance bonuses ranging from 5 to 20 percent of base pay. Only executives rated “fully successful” or higher qualify. At the top of the range, a 20 percent award on a $228,000 salary is $45,600.⁸

The pool is capped. Total agency spending on these awards cannot exceed the greater of 10 percent of the agency’s aggregate SES basic pay from the prior fiscal year, or 20 percent of the average annual SES salary at the agency. In practice, not every high performer gets the maximum. Agencies have to spread the pool.

Presidential Rank Awards

These are the most prestigious honors for career SES members, and the payments are substantial:

Meritorious Executive: a lump sum equal to 20 percent of annual base pay
Distinguished Executive: a lump sum equal to 35 percent of annual base pay

Both payments come on top of regular base pay and any performance awards already received.⁹ A Distinguished Executive earning $228,000 in base pay would receive an additional $79,800. These awards are rare and highly competitive.

The Total Compensation Cap

Federal law places a hard ceiling on what any executive can receive in a single calendar year, counting base pay, performance awards, rank awards, recruitment incentives, and other cash payments together. The cap depends on the agency’s certification status.¹⁰

Non-certified agencies: total pay cannot exceed the Executive Schedule Level I rate, which is $253,100 for 2026.³
Certified agencies: total pay cannot exceed the annual compensation payable to the Vice President under 3 U.S.C. 104.¹¹

If combined payments would breach the cap, the agency withholds the excess. The money is not forfeited. It rolls over and is paid as a lump sum at the start of the following calendar year. The catch is that the deferred payment counts against the new year’s aggregate limit, so an executive who receives a large rollover in January starts the year with less room under the cap.¹²

Executive Schedule Benchmarks

Every dollar ceiling above is pegged to the Executive Schedule, the pay system for the highest-ranking officials in the executive branch. The five levels for 2026 are:

Level I ($253,100): Cabinet secretaries
Level II ($228,000): Deputy secretaries and major agency heads
Level III ($209,600): Under secretaries and certain agency administrators
Level IV ($197,400): Assistant secretaries and general counsels
Level V ($185,100): Various commissioners and directors

Because the SES caps ride on these levels rather than on fixed dollar figures, the band adjusts automatically whenever Executive Schedule rates change.³ No separate legislation is needed to move the SES ceilings.⁵

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Senior Executive Service – Compensation
2
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. January 2026 Pay Schedules
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Rates of Basic Pay for the Executive Schedule (EX)
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 5304 – Locality-Based Comparability Payments
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 5382 – Establishment of Rates of Pay for the Senior Executive Service
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 5383 – Setting Individual Senior Executive Pay
7
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. SES Desk Guide – Ch. 5 – Pay and Other Compensation
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 5384 – Performance Awards in the Senior Executive Service
9
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 451 Subpart C – Presidential Rank Awards
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S. Code 5307 – Limitation on Certain Payments
11
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet – Aggregate Limitation on Pay
12
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 530 Subpart B – Aggregate Limitation on Pay