"This offer will be available to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below."

anyone know what level 70 means?

Very few people are level 70. It means VP or Distinguished Engineer. Probably far less than <1% of the company. These people are making over $1m a year most likely, if not more. For Microsoft, that is big money. They don't pay like Meta or the AI labs. We are more comparable in pay to Amazon and other 2nd/3rd tier big tech companies.

Level 70 for IC devs is a distinguished engineer (at other companies), only one job level is above 70 for ICs.

it'll be part of their internal pay banding system, so it'll correspond to a certain level of seniority and a pay range. From a quick google L70 is pretty high up, up to maybe a 7 figure salary.

I'm taking it to mean everyone below (or perhaps even including) VP, because I thought they topped out at 68 for normies.

Leaked Microsoft pay guidelines – salary, hiring bonus, stock awards by level - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37912673 - October 2023 (216 comments)

The article mentions „ vice president level and below“

Entry-level software engineering positions start at level 59 at Microsoft, with first couple positions taking 2 levels per work title change (59-60 = SE, 60-61 = SE II, 62-63 = Senior SE). Take a look at levels.fyi, that could offer some info / comparison with other companies).

levels.fyi