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Salary: USD 150,000 - 200,000 / annual
Pyka is seeking a Compensation Manager to build and evolve the company's compensation programs across the US and Brazil. This is a critical individual contributor role reporting to the Head of People, responsible for designing and maintaining competitive compensation strategies in a fast-paced hardware and aerospace environment.
Key responsibilities include:
• Develop and refine Pyka's compensation philosophy, salary bands, and job families across engineering, manufacturing, flight operations, and G&A functions in multiple countries.
• Own and optimize compensation management platforms and tools to streamline merit cycles, salary planning, and market benchmarking.
• Lead Pyka's equity compensation programs, including grant guidelines, equity bands, cap table alignment with Finance and Legal, and employee education on equity value.
• Conduct ongoing market analysis using tech and hardware compensation databases to keep salary bands competitive in each operating market.
• Manage annual compensation reviews, merit increase cycles, and promotion processes in partnership with People Operations and leadership.
• Ensure full compliance with federal, state, local, and international labor regulations, including FLSA, pay transparency laws, and Brazilian labor requirements.
• Create transparent compensation communications and educational resources for employees and candidates.
• Optionally take ownership of benefits program management, including plan design, vendor management, and open enrollment administration.
As Pyka expands into new countries, you will have the opportunity to extend and adapt compensation programs to new markets.
REQUIREMENTS:
• 5+ years of dedicated compensation experience, ideally in a fast-paced hardware, tech, or aerospace startup.
• Proven experience running compensation programs across multiple countries, with US operations as a core market.
• 3+ years of experience with startup equity programs, including grant sizing, market benchmarking, and structured grant frameworks.
• Knowledge of tech/hardware compensation benchmarking databases (Radford, Option Impact, Mercer, or similar).
• Strong analytical proficiency in Google Sheets or Excel for building compensation models, salary bands, and market analysis.
• Proven understanding of US labor laws and pay transparency mandates (FLSA).
• Exceptional ability to translate complex compensation and equity mechanics into clear, accessible language for employees and candidates across regions and cultures.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• Experience managing compensation in Brazil or Latin America.
• Experience implementing or expanding compensation programs in a new country.
• Direct experience with compensation planning software (Pave, Pequity, Comprehensive, or similar).
• Familiarity with cross-border equity considerations, global taxation, and international mobility strategies.
• Understanding of tax, accounting, and legal considerations for stock options, exercise windows, and equity structures.
• Experience building and leading a compensation team.
• Experience as the first dedicated compensation hire, building programs from the ground up.
