If I'm moderately happy in my current company but I would switch for a significant raise that offsets the relative risk, does it make sense to claim that my current salary is the bottom end of the desired range so as to encourage potential employers to start the negotiation from that point? I ask this especially because I find the act of haggling stressful.

You don't tell your new employer your real current salary, you make x what is actually your desires salary - 100 or smth. It's like you want to make only more. So "I make x but I want y". X is false. You could even say that you want to work for x - the fictional current desired salary

I'm seeking a 20% raise in contrast to the 10% that most people seem to consider standard. This is to account for two facts

- My current team consists of very fun people and feels special

- It's apparently impossible to be fired from this project so my life is currently almost completely stress-free

@lorentz that's nice, you're in status quo. Everything is relaxed and stuff, but you're young, you've time to experience more companies like that. So, if you need to take some risk for development sake, maybe do it. Staying somewhere because everything is just fine is for old people.

10% raise would be a shitload amount in my case. 20%, I had that once, but it's a lot. Since you're at bottom, I would just try at current employer if it's only about money

@jestdotty why did you accept a low paying job like that anyway? If a company pays very low at the beginning, the best you can hope for is it to pay decent some day, not even well.