So, I worked for this company during the summer while working on other research projects at the university. I wasn't looking for internships, so I agreed when they offered $18/h for an AI Software Engineer Intern as a side hustle from my main Research.

I shipped them a very profitable computer vision system during the summer, which should bring them ~$500,000 a year, and I am the only one who can maintain and scale it.

They went forward and offered me $34 an hour and promised full-time employment. I negotiated up to $49 because it didn't make sense for me to work for them for less during the school year and be busy with PhD apps, etc. They countered at $47 + bonus, but only if I agree to work full time for 93k a year + bonus (5-15%) after graduation. There are different ways to go about this, so I thought I would get some insight from people with more experience than me.

I was thinking of these three options:

• Agree to the part-time offer, work, and then dip before full-time starts
• Negotiate up to $120,000 annually and stay with them.
• Walk away (I am not desperate for money and have enough to sustain myself until the end of school, and I have multiple Professors who I did research with, who work in companies paying $150,000+ to new grads who could give me referrals and who's team I could be working on)

Job located in Chicago

Thank you very much for the insight!

Update: I tried Negotiating Up to $140,000 as an anchor, but all I got was, "You asked for too much, max we can do is 93k + bonus"