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Companies SEMrush Holdings

SEMrush (SMER): executive pay, fiscal 2025

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CEO total pay$33,851,506Former CEO William Wagner · source
CEO vs. named peers99th pct.Of 19 peer CEOs
CEO pay ratio347:1To the median employee · source

CEO pay, last three years

  • $33,851,506FY2025

CEO total pay was $33,851,506 in fiscal 2025; the brief holds no earlier figure for this CEO.

FY2025: salary $394,231 · bonus $0 · stock awards $32,999,984 · option awards $0

Frequently asked questions

Who was the highest-paid executive at SEMrush Holdings in fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, William Wagner (Chief Executive Officer) was the highest-paid executive at SEMrush Holdings in fiscal 2025, with total compensation of $33,851,506.
How does SEMrush Holdings's chief executive pay compare to its disclosed peer group?
As disclosed, William Wagner's total compensation ranked at the 99th percentile of SEMrush Holdings's disclosed peer group.
What is SEMrush Holdings's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio?
As disclosed, SEMrush Holdings's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 347:1.
How much does SEMrush Holdings spend in total on board compensation for fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, SEMrush Holdings reported total board compensation of $2,101,537 for fiscal 2025.

Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.

Full detail

Every table from the filing. Open any section.

Summary compensation table
Named executive officerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension / NQDCAll otherTotal
William Wagner$394,231$0$32,999,984$0$443,059$0$14,232$33,851,506
Chief Executive Officer
Brian Mulroy442,308012,999,9830442,308014,31013,898,909
Chief Financial Officer
Vitalii Obishchenko430,82805,999,9850622,73408,9897,062,536
Chief Operating Officer
Eugene Levin393,07705,999,9850548,655014,3106,956,027
President
Andrew Warden408,07703,999,9860409,590014,3104,831,963
Chief Marketing Officer
Oleg Shchegolev001,000,0000003101,000,310
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officerFY2025 totalFY2024 totalFY2023 totalΔ FY2024→2025
William Wagner$33,851,506———
Brian Mulroy13,898,9094,367,7124,679,514↑ +9,531,197
Vitalii Obishchenko7,062,5363,659,9672,872,354↑ +3,402,569
Eugene Levin6,956,0273,751,0032,859,379↑ +3,205,024
Andrew Warden4,831,9633,207,819—↑ +1,624,144
Oleg Shchegolev1,000,3108,000,7624,353,345↓ −7,000,452

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

The Company's executive compensation program is based on the philosophy of 'paying for performance,' seeking to align executive financial interests with long-term stockholder value through a mix of fixed and variable compensation. The program aims to attract and retain high-caliber talent, provide competitive total compensation (targeting the 50th percentile of the peer group), and incentivize behaviors that drive long-term growth and sustainability while balancing short-term and long-term incentives.

CEO STI target (% of salary)—
CEO LTI target (% of salary)—
Independent consultantCompensia, Inc.
Clawback policytrue
Anti-hedgingtrue
Anti-pledgingtrue
Equity grants and outstanding awards

Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025

ExecutiveAwardGrant dateThresholdTargetGrantedMaximumGrant-date fair value
Eugene LevinPSU2025-03-0127,27254,545—109,090$599,995
Eugene LevinRSU2025-03-01——218,181—2,399,991
Eugene LevinRSU2025-12-15——252,951—2,999,999
Brian MulroyPSU2025-03-0136,36372,727—145,454799,997
Brian MulroyPSU2025-04-25121,006242,013—484,0262,499,994
Brian MulroyRSU2025-03-01——290,909—3,199,999
Brian MulroyRSU2025-04-25——242,013—2,499,994
Brian MulroyRSU2025-12-15——337,268—3,999,998
Vitalii ObishchenkoPSU2025-03-0127,27254,545—109,090599,995
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU2025-03-01——218,181—2,399,991
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU2025-12-15——252,951—2,999,999
Oleg ShchegolevRSU2025-12-15——84,317—1,000,000
William WagnerPSU2025-03-10618,5561,237,113—2,474,22611,999,996
William WagnerRSU2025-03-10——1,030,927—9,999,992
William WagnerRSU2025-12-15——927,487—10,999,996
Andrew WardenPSU2025-03-0118,18136,363—72,726399,993
Andrew WardenRSU2025-03-01——145,454—1,599,994
Andrew WardenRSU2025-12-15——168,634—1,999,999

Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type

Named executive officerTime-vested (RSU)Performance-vested (PSU)Options / SARs% performance-vested
Eugene Levin$5,399,990$599,995$010.0%
Brian Mulroy9,699,9913,299,991025.4%
Vitalii Obishchenko5,399,990599,995010.0%
Oleg Shchegolev1,000,000000.0%
William Wagner20,999,98811,999,996036.4%
Andrew Warden3,599,993399,993010.0%

% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.

Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025

ExecutiveAwardShares unvestedExercise priceMarket value unvested
Andrew WardenRSU2,090—$24,850
Eugene LevinRSU3,135—37,275
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU3,135—37,275
Andrew WardenOption5,58011.96—
Oleg ShchegolevRSU7,839—93,206
Eugene LevinOption8,36911.96—
Vitalii ObishchenkoOption8,36911.96—
Andrew WardenRSU20,903—248,537
Oleg ShchegolevOption20,92411.96—
Eugene LevinRSU31,354—372,799
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU31,354—372,799
Andrew WardenPSU36,363—432,356
Andrew WardenPSU39,808—473,317
Brian MulroyRSU42,184—501,568
Andrew WardenOption42,8039.78—
Eugene LevinPSU47,770—567,985
Vitalii ObishchenkoPSU47,770—567,985
Andrew WardenRSU53,105—631,418
Eugene LevinPSU54,545—648,540
Vitalii ObishchenkoPSU54,545—648,540
Brian MulroyPSU55,732—662,653
Eugene LevinRSU63,726—757,702
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU63,726—757,702
Eugene LevinOption64,2039.78—
Vitalii ObishchenkoOption64,2039.78—
Brian MulroyOption68,1459.26—
Brian MulroyPSU72,727—864,724
Brian MulroyRSU74,347—883,986
Oleg ShchegolevRSU78,386—932,010
Oleg ShchegolevRSU84,317—1,002,529
Andrew WardenRSU96,974—1,153,021
Oleg ShchegolevRSU106,210—1,262,837
Eugene LevinRSU145,461—1,729,531
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU145,461—1,729,531
Oleg ShchegolevOption160,5097.93—
Brian MulroyRSU161,350—1,918,452
Andrew WardenRSU168,634—2,005,058
Brian MulroyRSU193,949—2,306,054
Brian MulroyPSU242,013—2,877,535
Eugene LevinRSU252,951—3,007,587
Vitalii ObishchenkoRSU252,951—3,007,587
Oleg ShchegolevPSU318,471—3,786,620
Brian MulroyRSU337,268—4,010,117
William WagnerRSU687,319—8,172,223
William WagnerRSU703,267—8,361,845
William WagnerPSU1,237,113—14,709,274
Director compensation
DirectorCash feesStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveAll otherTotal
Caroline Tsay$25,061$432,500——$0$457,561
Dylan PearceIndependent · Talent and Compensation11,313432,500——0443,813
Mark VraneshAudit76,500182,500——0259,000
Steven AldrichIndependent · Talent and Compensation (Chair)62,056182,500——0244,556
Anna BairdAudit (Chair)55,000182,500——0237,500
Trynka Shineman BlakeIndependent · Talent and Compensation50,857182,500——0233,357
Dmitry Melnikov35,000182,500——0217,500
William Wagner8,2500——08,250

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer$35,000
Annual equity retainer$182,500
Per board meeting fee—
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)20,000 / 15,000 / 8,000
Stock ownership guidelineour non-employee directors is also subject to our Share Ownership Retention Policy. For more information, see “Compensation Discussion and Analysis — Additional Compensation Practices and Policies – Share Ownership Guidelines”.

Total cost of the board

ComponentFY2025
Cash retainers and fees$324,037
Equity awards (grant-date value)$1,777,500
All other compensation$0
Total cost of the board$2,101,537

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

Peer group, and who names SEMrush as a peer

Companies that benchmark against SMER

15 companies name SMER as a compensation peer

Each company listed discloses SMER in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named SMER in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.

Disclosed peer group — fiscal year 2025

The compensation peer group as the company disclosed it in its own proxy — the reference set behind the percentile above.

Peer reciprocity

The companies SEMrush Holdings names as compensation peers that name it back in their own disclosed peer groups.

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.

RankCompanyFYChief executiveSalaryStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveTotal
1SEMrush Holdings2025William Wagner$394,231$32,999,984$0$443,059$33,851,506
2JFrog Ltd2025Shlomi Ben Haim620,83315,200,8310913,58116,808,937
3Freshworks2025Dennis Woodside629,16714,304,0760688,69815,623,481
4PagerDuty2026Jennifer Tejada600,00014,219,7660347,76015,268,028
5Braze2026William Magnuson580,00012,776,5160868,78214,230,598
6BlackLine2025Owen Ryan524,23110,603,0670473,37811,614,676
7Olo2024Noah H. Glass500,0008,525,3590468,3689,510,745
8Zuora2024Tien Tzuo500,0007,950,0000337,5008,787,500
9Yext2026Michael Walrath482,3087,675,0000503,6088,693,973
10Sprout Social2025Ryan Barretto500,0006,881,7330460,3377,848,570
11Zeta Global Holdings2025David Steinberg750,0001,869,57701,500,0006,083,236
12Thryv Holdings2025Joseph Walsh1,060,9003,000,00001,157,4425,259,837
13Weave Communications2025Brett White520,2704,203,5000483,0005,220,802
14Commerce.com2025Travis Hess490,4311,990,278691,995241,2263,425,945
15Appian2025Matthew Calkins1,150,0001,760,000002,941,276
16Sprinklr2026Rory Read675,00000985,5001,664,700
17DigitalOcean Holdings2025Padmanabhan Srinivasan600,00000588,0001,210,795
18Amplitude2025Spenser Skates450,00000339,019789,019
19Klaviyo2025Andrew Bialecki75,00000078,000
—Similarweb——————not in coverage universe

Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

Incentive design against the same peers

CompanyAnnual incentive payoutLong-term vehicle mixPSU measures include TSRCompensation consultant
SEMrush Holdingsnot disclosedRSU 80 · PSU 20not disclosedCompensia, Inc.
Amplitude100.45%RSU 100not disclosedCompensia
Appiannot disclosednot disclosedNonot disclosed
BlackLine90.1%RSU 50 · PSU 50Yes — Relative TSRCompensia
Braze150%RSU 70 · PSU 30NoCompensia
Commerce.com49%PSU 50 · RSU 30 · Option 20Yes — Relative TSRAon-Radford
DigitalOcean Holdings98%PSU 65 · RSU 35NoCompensia
Freshworksnot disclosedRSU 70 · PSU 30NoCompensia, Inc.
JFrog Ltd147.2%RSU 58 · PSU 42Yes — Relative Total Shareholder Return (rTSR)Compensia
Klaviyo87.3%RSU 100not disclosedCompensia
Olo93.7%not disclosedNoCompensia
PagerDuty58.0%PSU 50 · RSU 50NoCompensia, Inc.
Similarwebnot disclosednot disclosednot disclosednot disclosed
Sprinklr146.7%RSU 75 · PSU 25Yes — Relative Total Stockholder Return (rTSR)Compensia
Sprout Social92.08%RSU 100not disclosedCompensia, Inc.
Thryv Holdings100.0%PSU 60 · RSU 40Yes — Relative Total Shareholder Return (rTSR)Lyons Benenson
Weave Communications92%RSU 100not disclosednot disclosed
Yextnot disclosednot disclosednot disclosedCompensia
Zeta Global Holdings200%not disclosedNoFW Cook
Zuora67.5%not disclosedNoCompensia

Read from each company’s Compensation Discussion and Analysis: annual incentive payout as a percentage of target, the disclosed long-term vehicle mix, whether performance-share measures include a total shareholder return component, and the retained compensation consultant. “Not disclosed” appears only where the company’s filing does not state the item.

Say-on-pay history and pay ratio

No say-on-pay vote is on file for this company.

CEO pay ratio

Ratio (CEO : median employee)347 : 1
CEO total compensation$34,558,466
Median employee compensation$99,712
Insider trades since the proxy

No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.

Sources (56 citations)

Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

  • Section 01, William Wagner. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 33,851,506. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Brian Mulroy. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 13,898,909. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Vitalii Obishchenko. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 7,062,536. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Eugene Levin. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 6,956,027. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Andrew Warden. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 4,831,963. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Oleg Shchegolev. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · page 30. As printed: 1,000,310. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Eugene Levin PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Eugene Levin RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Eugene Levin RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Brian Mulroy PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Brian Mulroy PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Brian Mulroy RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Brian Mulroy RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Brian Mulroy RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Vitalii Obishchenko PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Vitalii Obishchenko RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Vitalii Obishchenko RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Oleg Shchegolev RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, William Wagner PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, William Wagner RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, William Wagner RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Andrew Warden PSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Andrew Warden RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Andrew Warden RSU. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 07, pay ratio. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 347 : 1. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Caroline Tsay. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 457,561. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Dylan Pearce. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 443,813. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Mark Vranesh. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 259,000. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Steven Aldrich. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 244,556. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Anna Baird. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 237,500. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Trynka Shineman Blake. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 233,357. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Dmitry Melnikov. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 217,500. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, William Wagner. 10-K, filed 2026-04-17. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 8,250. View filing ↗
  • Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
  • Section 03b vehicle mix (computed). Computed. RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).
  • Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 324,037 + equity 1,777,500 + all other 0 = 2,101,537, summed across the director compensation table rows.
  • SEMrush Holdings (subject), Section 10b CEO total. 10-K/A, filed 2026-04-17. CEO total compensation as printed in SEMrush Holdings's own proxy. As printed: 33,851,506. View filing ↗
  • JFrog Ltd, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-07. CEO total compensation as printed in JFrog Ltd's own proxy. As printed: 16,808,937. View filing ↗
  • Freshworks, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-09. CEO total compensation as printed in Freshworks's own proxy. As printed: 15,623,481. View filing ↗
  • PagerDuty, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-04. CEO total compensation as printed in PagerDuty's own proxy. As printed: 15,268,028. View filing ↗
  • Braze, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-18. CEO total compensation as printed in Braze's own proxy. As printed: 14,230,598. View filing ↗
  • BlackLine, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-25. CEO total compensation as printed in BlackLine's own proxy. As printed: 11,614,676. View filing ↗
  • Olo, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-04-24. CEO total compensation as printed in Olo's own proxy. As printed: 9,510,745. View filing ↗
  • Zuora, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2024-05-16. CEO total compensation as printed in Zuora's own proxy. As printed: 8,787,500. View filing ↗
  • Yext, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-27. CEO total compensation as printed in Yext's own proxy. As printed: 8,693,973. View filing ↗
  • Sprout Social, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-07. CEO total compensation as printed in Sprout Social's own proxy. As printed: 7,848,570. View filing ↗
  • Zeta Global Holdings, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-24. CEO total compensation as printed in Zeta Global Holdings's own proxy. As printed: 6,083,236. View filing ↗
  • Thryv Holdings, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-30. CEO total compensation as printed in Thryv Holdings's own proxy. As printed: 5,259,837. View filing ↗
  • Weave Communications, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-28. CEO total compensation as printed in Weave Communications's own proxy. As printed: 5,220,802. View filing ↗
  • Commerce.com, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-01. CEO total compensation as printed in Commerce.com's own proxy. As printed: 3,425,945. View filing ↗
  • Appian, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-22. CEO total compensation as printed in Appian's own proxy. As printed: 2,941,276. View filing ↗
  • Sprinklr, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-05-01. CEO total compensation as printed in Sprinklr's own proxy. As printed: 1,664,700. View filing ↗
  • DigitalOcean Holdings, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-24. CEO total compensation as printed in DigitalOcean Holdings's own proxy. As printed: 1,210,795. View filing ↗
  • Amplitude, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-24. CEO total compensation as printed in Amplitude's own proxy. As printed: 789,019. View filing ↗
  • Klaviyo, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-29. CEO total compensation as printed in Klaviyo's own proxy. As printed: 78,000. View filing ↗
  • Section 10a, Yext reciprocity. DEF 14A. Yext names SEMrush Holdings in its own disclosed peer group (read from its most recent proxy). View filing ↗
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