How Wages Work
For each business role, we have defined an overall wage range which is market-aligned and profitable for Cantilever, from the minimum we’d offer a qualified trainee to the maximum we could afford for the most senior expert. Each function’s salary range is then split into “Pay Tiers”, from ⭐️ to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
During the hiring process and quarterly thereafter, managers should evaluate their direct reports against the Skills table in the relevant Role from the Roles Database. Managers should then determine the tier that the report falls into, then use their discretion to decide on a fair offer for the individual within the tier.
All wages are is computed for US W2 employees, and then adjusted for other locations.
Salary Tables (Pulling from Roles Database)
| Role | Department | Comp Notes | L1 Salary | L2 Salary | L3 Salary | L4 Salary | L5 Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Strategist | 🛠 Production | Excluding Strategy Bonuses which are expected to be a large % of a strategist’s final take-home | $60,000 to $64,000 | $62,000 to $70,000 | $68,000 to $78,000 | $76,000 to $88,000 | $86,000 to $100,000 |
Designer | 🛠 Production | $40,000 to $53,500 | $46,750 to $73,750 | $67,000 to $100,750 | $94,000 to $134,500 | $127,750 to $175,000 | |
Engineer | 🛠 Production | $40,000 to $53,500 | $46,750 to $73,750 | $67,000 to $100,750 | $94,000 to $134,500 | $127,750 to $175,000 | |
Project Manager | 🛠 Production | $35,000 to $46,500 | $40,740 to $63,750 | $58,000 to $86,750 | $81,000 to $115,500 | $109,750 to $150,000 | |
QA Engineer | 🛠 Production | $30,000 to $37,000 | $33,600 to $47,500 | $44,000 to $61,500 | $58,000 to $79,000 | $75,500 to $100,000 | |
CEO | 🐑 Executive | May vary for partners | $160,000 to $174,000 | $167,000 to $195,000 | $188,000 to $223,000 | $216,000 to $258,000 | $251,000 to $300,000 |
Executive Assistant | 🐑 Executive | $35,000 to $41,500 | $38,250 to $51,250 | $48,000 to $64,250 | $61,000 to $80,500 | $77,250 to $100,000 | |
Marketer | 📈 Biz Dev | ||||||
New Business Coordinator | 📈 Biz Dev | ||||||
Ops Leader | 🏣 Operations | ||||||
Ops Manager | 🏣 Operations | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | |
Personal Assistant | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | $XX to $YY | ||
Technical Director | 🛠 Production | May vary for partners | |||||
Director of Production | 🛠 Production | May vary for partners |
How to Compute Pay
- Open the relevant role above or in the . Based on the skills ladder in the role description, place the person into a pay tier. Methodology:Role Database
- Typically if you rate the person in each skill and then average the ratings, that will work well.
- Sometimes someone will be in a lower tier for most skills, but a very high tier for the skill that they use the most. They deserve to be placed in a high tier. Other times someone will have a skill they are excellent at, but if the majority of their work does not involve that skill, they should be placed based on the skills they use the most.
- Within the placement, also provide notes on whether the person is towards the top, middle, or bottom, based on the skills assessment.
- Ascertain if the person is part-time or full-time.
- Decide on a final wage/salary offer within the tier based on:
- Communciation Skills. Do they regularly meet our communication guidelines?
- Leadership Skills. Do they help others on the team grow? Do they manage team members while also fulfilling their own work?
- Accountabilty. Do they take charge of their work? Do they continually deliver results by agreed-upon deadlines? Do they consistently respond to internal communication or do they sometimes miss it?
- Networking. Do they bring friends to Cantilever as potential clients or staff? Do they actively seek to grow our talent pool or find new leads, outside of work?
- Efficiency. Are they delivering work in a shorter amount of time than their peers in the same tier? This gives us more value so they should get paid more.
- Flexibility. Do they play multiple roles? This gives us value, so they should get paid more than they would in either tier separately.
- People who play multiple roles can be rated based on the Role they hold the most, then adjusted based on their other Roles, or you can compute wages for each of their roles independently, and then average/blend the wages.
- If they are not in the US, adjust the wage/salary based on their location:
- 🇩🇰 Denmark: Listed wage +8% to account for the different taxation structure on wages in Denmark (employee pays all payroll taxes out of gross pay).
- 🌎 Rest of World: Listed pay +12% to compensate for higher independent contractor tax burden.
You are hiring a QA engineer in Denmark.
- You assess them in the ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ tier based on the relevant Role document.
- You determine that they will be full-time. This leads to a salary range of $61,500 to $75,500 per the document and table above.
- You believe they are average when it comes to skill level, efficiency, and flexibility relative to other ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ QA Engineers. This leads to a salary in the middle of the range, $68,500.
- You adjust the salary based on their location in Denmark, adding 8%. This leads to a final offer of $73,980, or $3082.50 per semi-monthly pay period. At the time of payment, this wage will be converted to local currency, DKK, and paid according to prevailing conversion rates.
Stock & Stock Awards
Shareholders have paid for their shares and are entitled to any profits from those shares regardless of other day-to-day compensation.
On a case-by-case basis, managers may invite some team members to purchase shares in the company, or to receive a part of their salary as stock. Once that stock is owned, dividends from that stock are not factored into ongoing compensation for regular daily work.
Executives such as the CEO may have their comp adjusted to account for the weight of their ownership stake and whether it is strategically preferential for them to take a lower salary to raise overall profits.
Transparency
One of our values is Radical Candor, so we have decided to codify and publish our compensation publicly. Each team member’s pay tier (not their exact pay) is also visible to everyone else in the company in the Team Directory.
USD vs. Local Currency
The wage matrix is in USD to ensure fairness between different locations. Actual payments are made to each team member in local currency based on their location. Payments should be converted to local currency at the time of payment.
Raises and Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)
Every quarterly review between you and your manager should involve some discussion of wages. If you ever feel underpaid (or if you are some kind of saint and feel overpaid), please speak up! The pay tiers will be reviewed and adjusted regularly to keep pace with inflation within the Remote Work labor market. Whenever we raise the pay tiers, you will get a small raise automatically in order to maintain your current position within the tier structure.
International Team Members
International team members are paid as contractors. Their wages are determined by the ladder, plus an additional 12% to cover the share of payroll taxes that would have been covered for them were they based in the US, plus their lack of sick leave/healthcare reimbursements. This equalizes their effective wage with a US-based colleague in the same pay tier.
Denmark Team Members
Wages of team members in Denmark are determined by the same ladder, minus ∼14.5% that cover the benefits and the local taxes. Team Members that are residents in Denmark are paid in DKK. Denmark’s tax system is progressive, so there is no real fixed rate for the employees. Taxes are entirely dependent upon personal circumstances; some employees pay a higher tax rate, while others pay a lower rate. Compensation can therefore be adjusted based on the preferences of the employee. For example, it is very common for employees to choose a pension scheme over higher compensation.