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You're in People Ops or Finance. You didn't sign up to be the compensation expert, but here you are trying to set offers that don't blow up in six months.
You bought a Radford subscription or found some survey data. Now you have a spreadsheet with 10,000 rows and no idea what "P50 total cash" means for your Series B startup.
You need to extend an offer by Friday. You have no comp infrastructure. No pay bands, no leveling framework, no comp philosophy, just a patchwork of offers made under pressure. Concierge helps you build something durable, one question at a time.
You don't need a $50K engagement. You need someone who can tell you if your designers are underpaid, flag who's at compression risk and give you a number to bring to your CFO without a three-month scoping exercise.
Sign up for Concierge. You'll receive a dedicated Headcomp email address within 24 hours. That's your direct line to our compensation team.
Email anything comp-related. "We're doing merit planning for 80 people, where do we start?" or "How do I structure equity for a VP hire?" or "Two of my engineers at the same level are $30K apart. What do we do to fix?" Plain English. No forms.
A Headcomp expert responds promptly with specific, actionable guidance. Market data references. Options to consider. Not a vague framework – a real recommendation you can defend to your CFO or board.
Hi Sarah,
For a Senior Software Engineer (IC4 equivalent) in Denver, here's what the current market looks like:
Base salary range: $165K – $195K (P50–P75 for your stage and location). Denver typically runs 5–8% below SF but above national average.
Given that you mentioned this is a backfill for a critical team, I'd recommend targeting $180K base with a 15% bonus target. This positions you competitively without overextending on cash.
For equity, at Series B I typically see 0.03–0.05% for this level. A 4-year vest with 1-year cliff is standard.
Happy to adjust if the candidate's experience or the role scope changes. – Kirstin, Headcomp Team
Hi Marcus,
Thanks for sharing the census. I’ve reviewed your 11 engineers across L3–L5 against current market data. Here’s what stands out:
Your two L4s – hired in 2022 – are sitting at $158K–$161K, while the current P50 for that level in your market is $185K. That’s a $24–27K gap, and it’s been widened by recent L3 hires coming in above them. That inversion is the pattern that drives quiet quitting and regrettable attrition.
My recommendation: bring both to $183K–$185K in your next cycle. Frame it as a market alignment, not a merit increase – that avoids setting a precedent that compression fixes require high performance ratings. Total cost is ~$49K annualized, versus $150K–$200K to replace either of them.
Your L3s and L5s look healthy. No action needed there this cycle.
Happy to draft the talking points for your CFO conversation if that would help. – Kirstin, Headcomp Team
Data: Radford Q1 2026 · Software engineers · Series B · SF Bay Area adjusted
Hi Renee,
Good timing – benefits are increasingly a retention lever, not just a compliance checkbox. Here’s how your package benchmarks against 150–300 person SaaS companies in your region:
Medical contribution (80%) and 401k match (3%) are both below median – market norm is 85–90% and 4% respectively. These show up directly on candidate offer comparisons and are the first things a competing recruiter will probe.
Your parental leave (12 weeks paid) and PTO policy are solid – no changes needed there. The one quick win: a one-time remote work stipend of $750 is table stakes at your stage and low-cost relative to the goodwill it buys.
If I had one place to spend budget before renewal, it’s closing the 401k gap to 4%. It’s the most visible line item to candidates and costs roughly $80K annually at your headcount – less than one mis-hire.
Let me know if you want a one-pager for your CFO or broker talking points. – Kirstin, Headcomp Team
Data: Mercer 2025 Benefits Survey · SaaS · 100–500 employees · Pacific region
Up to 20 topics per month. A topic is a single question or decision area, such as one role, one employee situation, or one policy question. Follow-ups on the same topic don’t count toward your limit. Need more during merit season? Just ask. Topic = one distinct compensation question or decision area. Ongoing back-and-forth on that topic is included.
Prompt, same-day replies during business hours. We know comp questions are often time-sensitive — you won't wait days for an answer.
Every recommendation comes backed by current benchmark data. Not "we think" – "the data shows." Specific to your industry, stage, and geography.
Upload your employee census and we’ll map your team against market benchmarks, flagging underpaid roles, compression risks, and outliers
Access a growing suite of self-serve compensation tools. Benchmark your roles and levels with the job architecture builder, build scalable salary ranges with the range engine, or price a single role from its job description. Each tool is configurable, so you can tailor it to how your team actually operates.
Our team has built comp programs at companies from seed to IPO. Ask us about anything from building a benefits strategy to crafting compensation communication like reward letters or a memo explaining your comp philosophy to your board
Concierge subscribers get a discounted path to our full Consulting engagements: comprehensive comp program builds, custom leveling frameworks, and pay equity audits. Your Concierge history informs the engagement from day one.
That's 4 topics. You still have 16 left.
Most comp tools are built by software people guessing at what comp teams need. Headcomp is different. We've sat in the seat – built programs, defended budgets, priced offers under pressure – and then built the tools we wished we'd had.
Our team has built compensation programs from seed stage through IPO – leveling frameworks, pay bands, equity refresh cycles, and everything in between. We've seen what works and what breaks.
We've also built market-leading compensation software used by thousands of companies. That means the tools you get aren't afterthoughts – they're built with the same rigor as the advice.
Every recommendation is backed by benchmark data, not gut feel. We cite our sources, show our math, and explain our reasoning so you can defend the decision to your CFO.
A 50-person startup and a 500-person scale-up have different comp problems. We don't give you a framework deck – we give you advice sized to your stage, your budget, and your constraints.
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