Pile foundations are generally categorized as deep foundations, where slender column type elements are used to transfer the super-structural load to a deeper soil stratum and the imposed load is supported through the end and shaft resistance. The load capacity of in-place pile is greatly influenced by the strength and stiffness characteristics of the surrounding soil layers. In this regard, the present study envisions to explore the influence of soil dilatancy and varying stiffness profile along the pile depth on the estimated pile load capacity. A FEM based numerical investigation has been conducted here to compute the vertical load capacity of a lab-scale in-place pile employing ABAQUS. For this purpose, two different stiffness profiles of the soil domain have been considered, one with varying stiffness replicating the influence of soil overburden and the other one having a constant average stiffness magnitude. In addition, multiple dilatancy angle ( \(\psi\) ) values have also been considered varying between 0° to the friction angle (ɸ) of the soil medium. The impact of these parameters on the estimated load capacity of in-place pile have been examined by considering both the shaft resistance (SR) and end resistance (ER), along with an assessment over the evolution of influence zone around the pile tip.