💵Compensation

All our compensation will be based on the following calculator.

An explanation of the factors are below:

Level

Seniority is not a title to be sought, everyone is considered an owner of the company. More experience does not correlate with increased importance. When a team member first joins, it is logical that their pay reflects the skill level they were hired for, over time time this judgement becomes more subjective and is based on the speed with which you can ship or help the team to ship, prioritization and decision-making and your technical approach.

Step

Steps allow us to have more flexibility within each level, to keep these simple the following levels exist:

• Learning: Starting to match expectations.

• Established: Matching expectations.

• Thriving: Exceeding expectations.

• Expert: Exceeding expectations consistently.

By default we hire into Established. This allows everyone enough room for salary increases without needing to move up in seniority. The only exceptions to this are juniors/interns who are just starting out their career.

Benchmark

We will use the benchmark for hiring to be the market rate in San Francisco. We use the following factors to determine total compensation cash + equity.

• Location: San Francisco

• 50th Percentile

• Revenue ($1-5million)

• Money raised ($5-20million)

• Employee Size (1-25)

The benchmark is tied to revenue intentionally. Everyone should feel like owners and if revenue increases then that should be reflected in how much budget we can assign to hiring.

Location factor

Location factors are based on GitLab’s location factors, and are based on market rates, not cost of living. It is based on combination of data from Economic Research Institute (ERI), Numbeo, Comptryx, Radford, Robert Half, and Dice to calculate what a fair market rate is for each location. You can read more here.

We understand objections against using location as input, however regardless of where you work all salary is tied to market data which is all based on location. We are transparent about our calculations so that we can set clear expectations. We also ensure that everyone is paid in the top brackets for their role.

To prevent too much disparity between locations we set a global floor of 0.6 to all location factors, hence no-one will have a location factor lower than 0.6. This is to ensure there is not a large pay disparity between locations, whilst allowing us to be competitive in certain locations.

Executive compensation

Executive roles are not compensated using the calculator - however is based on the exact same market database. Execs are expected to be thriving at baseline and we do not have separate levels or steps to represent this.

Pay reviews

We aim to be proactive in our pay reviews (market benchmarks, steps and levels), for the whole team every 6 months. You do not need to do anything, our aim going forward is to be proactive without needing you to ask. You should not expect a change in your step or level every six months, you will find your step will change more often than your level.

Finally, we may change pay without editing Step or Level if we feel the market rates for the underlying benchmark have gone up. We will also keep compensation & performance reflections separate.

How the pay review process works

To make sure people are having an equal chance of getting a pay rise, we will not factor in how often someone asks for one. We will assess you according to our compensation calculator and the steps and levels defined above. This allows us to be inclusive, as statistically underrepresented groups are less likely to request a pay rise.

We want to increase pay as frequently as we can in a proactive way, rather than putting the burden on employees. Any increases will be communicated to you by Maitham, this is not the managers responsibility at Vital. Beth will follow up with confirmation, and your next monthly paycheck will reflect this.

You will only here from us, if there has been a change in your pay not if it is staying the same. We will not review everyone the same day and we do not share when we decided not to increase your pay. This is a deliberate choice to minimize pressure around the process.

Statistically, with more reviews, it is more likely than not your pay won’t change in a given review. We don’t want people to feel disappointed that their pay isn’t increasing every six months, this isn’t realistic.

360 Feedbacks is separate from compensation reviews, they are used to help team members grow and develop and the questions are reflective of that. Whilst performance is taken into account to define your level, the outcome of the 360 feedback itself is not used.

Relocation

If you plan to relocate, your salary will be adjusted (up or down) to your new location at the following review. If there's a pay increase, this needs prior approval and can’t always guarantee it, due to budget constraints.

Payroll

In the UK and for international contractors, we run payroll monthly, on or before the last working day of the month. For folks in the US, you will be paid twice a month.