90-day notice periods are not non-negotiable. Buy-outs and partial waivers happen in 60% of senior moves.

Standard Indian tech notice periods are 60-90 days. Most engineers assume this is non-negotiable and quietly wait it out. The reality: at the senior level, 60% of moves end up with some form of notice buy-out, partial waiver, or accelerated release. The negotiation has structure. The new employer pays the buy-out as a signing bonus offset against future tenure. The leaving employer agrees because it's easier to lose someone in 30 days than have them disengaged for 90. The conversation needs to happen — it almost never starts on its own.