Skip to main content

Compensation

Content Maintainers
Megan Pittman
Clyde Stackhouse
Jessica Nguyen

Compensation Principles

Pay Day

Global Compensation & Benefits

Salary

Equity

Compensation Principles​

Below are our compensation principles which we reference when making all compensation decisions.

The Why​

Our compensation philosophy has been arrived at over the course of many years, countless hours of conversation, and lots of on-the-ground lessons. Here are the three concerns that motivate our compensation philosophy.

  1. Compensation impacts real people and has a real moral dimension. As such, our philosophy must be built from a foundation of our values.
  2. Compensation directly impacts our ability to attract and retain the best talent and therefore compete in the market.
  3. Compensation is the single largest cost to our business. Our comp philosophy must position us to create a long-term viable, healthy, valuable business.

Our Compensation Philosophy​

  1. Values are more important than success; we do not make exceptions to our compensation policies even if that causes real near-term pain. Violation of this can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
    1. To accomplish this; outgoing offers must be discussed between hiring managers and the TA partners before being delivered to a candidate. When there are any questions or concerns, loop in the compensation partner to determine the path forward.
    2. If you identify an instance where you feel that we are not living up to this commitment, please alert your People Business Partner.
  2. Transparency always wins, and we will be as transparent as possible.
    1. Our compensation ranges for a given title and level are public both internally1 and externally2
    2. Our compensation policies are transparent both internally and externally3.
    3. We never disclose a single individual’s compensation for privacy reasons but do not dissuade individuals from discussing it.
  3. Our compensation ranges do get updated from time to time4 based on:
    1. market survey data5
    2. feedback from applicants and team members
    3. candidate data
  4. We localize compensation ranges at the country level based on local market data.
    • Why do we take this approach? Labor markets, benefits, pension/superannuation schemes and payroll taxes can vary greatly country to country. This approach ensures that we are offering equitable (not equal) compensation in each market.
  5. Our compensation bands are set using the 75th percentile within our competitive landscape in each country as the mid point and setting the low and high points using consistent band spreads.
  6. We do not compensate outside of our established bands—ever. Making exceptions to comp bands is a sure way to introduce pay inequity and is inconsistent with our diversity value.
    1. We will continue to monitor pay to ensure underrepresented groups are paid at the same rate as others in the same role / level / country.
    2. All of our compensation bands are set by our Total Rewards team using our compensation philosophies to ensure transparent and consistent compensation.
  7. We offer equity for all full-time positions where legally able. This is in the form of ISOs for US-based team members6 and NSOs for all non-US team members.
  8. We base compensation on current market data for a role / level / country. The point in the range a candidate is offered is dependent on the candidate’s experience in the market and internal pay equity. A candidate’s previous pay is not a factor in setting their compensation at dbt Labs.
    1. In competitive offer scenarios, we may leverage sign-on bonuses. This lever is reserved for special cases and used sparingly.
  9. We won’t reduce compensation in roles within the same market (country). A permanent or semi-permanent move to a new country will result in moving to that new local rate. More details on relocation can be found here.
  10. Changes in compensation may happen during the following events:
    1. For promotions, increases are based on the new role’s market range.
    2. For job changes through internal mobility you will be offered a salary in the range for the new role using the parameters outlines in #8.
    3. Everyone is eligible for an annual merit cycle in either Q4 (effective 2/1) or Q2 (effective 8/1). The cycle you are included in will be the one closest to the anniversary of your start date in your current role. Merit increases will ensure alignment to the market (by being within the entire range of the band) at your performance and experience level and resources will be allocated to top performing team members within the organization.
    4. Market adjustments are determined on an annual basis when we pull fresh market data. When we update the band for a role we will move all team members into the new salary band.
  11. We strive to offer benefit packages that provide our team members with strong medical coverage regardless of their location or care needs.
  12. We hire across the globe but are not location agnostic. A candidate’s time zone, the market pay in a region, proximity to users, customers, and partners, and the presence or absence of a dbt Labs legal entity can all be factors in the hiring process.

Questions​

If you have a specific question around your compensation, one of your direct reports’ compensation, or the compensation of a role that you’re hiring for, please reach out to your People Business Partner

Pay Day​

Employees are paid semimonthly by direct deposit on the 15th (for work performed the 1st to the 15th) and the last day of the month (for work performed the 16th to the last day). If payday happens to fall on a weekend or holiday, payment will be processed on the previous business day. View the payroll schedule here.

Global Compensation & Benefits​

Our compensation principles are applied to each country we employ in. This is because the labor markets, benefits, pension/superannuation schemes and payroll taxes can vary greatly country to country. This approach ensures that we are offering equitable (not equal) compensation in each market.

We pay local country rates using localized compensation data based on cost of market (also referred to as cost of labor). This means we will align our compensation targeting the 75th percentile in each country (looking at ”All UK” “All Germany”, “All Australia”, etc.).

Learn more about our Global Benefits Strategy & Stipend.

Relocation (Permanent or Semi-permanent)​

Learn more about the steps to pursue a relocation and the impact on your global compensation and benefits here.

Salary​

Compensation Philosophy / Salary Band Structures​

As mentioned in our Compensation Principles, we use 75th Percentile* as the basis for the midpoint as well as using a consistent range spread based on job level. We continue to use industry-specific data within local 'all country' data sets. This allows us to create consistency in bands across the organization. With this methodology, most of our bands' minimums stretch down to the 50th percentile and the maximum’s push slightly past the 90th percentile. This allows further flexibility and utilization of an entire range for a role. 

*The 75th percentile means that the salary data meets or exceeds 75% of data points for that role and level.
Consistent Band Spreads​

These indicate the % from the midpoint used to get the high and low points of each band. The spread increases as the roles become more senior because more senior roles may be career-roles, where folks will remain for a long period of time, potentially the rest of their career, and therefore require more room for growth in the band.

  • Ex. L1 with a midpoint (75th percentile) of $100,000 will have a range of $88,000 - $112,000; L5 with a midpoint (75th percentile) of $200,000 will have a range of $170,000 - $230,000.
LevelBand Spread
L112%
L212%
L315%
L415%
L515%
L615%
L717.5%
L817.5%
L917.5%

Increased Data points​

As dbt Labs has continued to grow, so has our need for more robust data sources to further develop and benchmark our compensation structure. This is a common next step as we continue to mature and evolve our compensation benchmarking practices. After evaluating a handful of data sources, we have decided to use a combination of Radford, Mercer and Pave to create a robust and diverse base to build our salary ranges from.

We believe that with more data we can better target more specific roles7 within dbt Labs and will allow us to better navigate data outliers that are a result of low counts of specific data points (ex. Small or insufficient # of companies/employees reporting salaries for a specific role & level).

Another common practice in salary band development is to assess and utilize data based on the quality and veracity of that data set. While we believe that each of the sources we are using has its own merit for use, we have chosen to use a weighted structure to develop the midpoint of our ranges instead of using a straight average. This allows us to better index on data sources like Radford and Mercer which are considered a ‘Gold standard’ data sets within the compensation community.

Data Sources & Weighted Average Approach​

Data SetWeightData CutData TypeDescription of Data set
Radford34%All US - Private Companies - SoftwareTotal Cash - 75th PercentileRadford (AON) data is considered a gold standard in the compensation space and is a trusted data sources. Our radford data is cut for All US companies, Technology (Software), and Private companies. This allows us to more specifically target similar companies (peer's) in our bench marking with out getting to refined which can reduce available data. *We did review and audit a more refined filter approach (Head counts, Revenue, Capital Raised) and in general didn't find a sufficient delta in salaries compared to the reduced data available.
Mercer33%All US - Software SAASTotal Cash Actual - 75th PercentileMercer \ Comptryx, is a premier online solution for Private and Public technology-focused companies. This Addition data source is a quality robust data source that is specifically for Tech companies. This will broaden our compensation data that has more robust job leveling and job matches that can scale with dbt as we continue to grow. Mercer data is cut for All US companies, SAAS companies and if there is insufficient SAAS data we have included all companies to help round out our Salary ranges with this data set.
Pave33%All US - Valuation → 1B+Total Cash Compensation - 75th Percentile"Pave's data is sourced directly from employers HRIS systems and matched based on their internal job title system structure. The Data is cut by All Us Companies with a Valuation over 1 Billion. Valuation is the recommended data cut for for Pave and provides the best comparable data to benchmark against. As with all of our data cuts we are using total cash comp (Base + Variable + Bonuses) and does not include any Stock or Options valuations. We decided to include Pave for the exposure to high paying tech start ups which is reflected in the data.

Additionally, we outlined the step by step process around our process to form raw data into a refined salary band for roles.

Salary Bands Overview​

A salary band, in its simplest form, is the compensation range for a given role within an organization.

Learn more about how our salary bands are made here.

What ranges are built?​

Our salary range database is meant to include all roles we currently have or are planning to hire in the next fiscal year, +/- one level. It is not a comprehensive database of every role we will ever hire; plans may even change mid-year and we may add a role that we don't have a salary range for today. If that happens, we will create a salary band prior to kicking off the search.

How often will bands get updated?​

Salary bands are reviewed and updated on an annual basis during Q4 with a Q1 effective date. Additionally, we will review specific roles / functions should the ‘market’ shift significantly and require an ad-hoc review and potential changes (examples that could trigger an ad-hoc review - resources and research conducted by the Total Rewards team, Talent Acquisition's ability to hire and fill roles, consistent candidate/ internal retention feedback).

What is OTE and why do some roles have it?​

Some roles have a note about OTE which means ‘on target earnings’. This means that in order to make that total salary, these folks need to meet 100% of their goals / metrics; this is most common for revenue generating roles. Team members that are on ‘OTE’ have additional risk associated with their total cash compensation. A portion of that number is base salary and the rest is variable compensation (commission) tied to goals. Total rewards uses data to identify common roles that have commission eligibility and works with leaders to establish any new roles that could be commission eligible.

The breakdowns for our teams are:

  • Partnerships: 80% Base, 20% Variable
  • Solutions Architecture: 70% Base, 30% Variable
  • Sales Directors: 50% Base, 50% Variable
  • Sales Development: 70% Base, 30% Variable
  • Account Managers: 70% Base, 30% Variable
  • Revenue Marketing: 80% Base, 20% Variable

Roles & Levels​

The first step in building salary bands is determining all planned and existing roles. Roles describe a linear career path that has a common set of core responsibilities and duties within a given field of work (ie, Software Engineer). Levels then are used to further extrapolate the progression of expertise, complexity and scope of a specific job (ie, Software Engineer 1). While we offer a more robust framework regarding levels, for simplicity you can reference the title structure below as a generalized progression.

  1. Entry-level / Associate
  2. Developing
  3. Proficient / Career level
  4. Senior / Lead
  5. Staff / Expert
  6. Principal / Advisory
  7. Distinguished / Strategist

How Salary Bands are Made​

📌 Compensation & salary band development is both an art and a science. We strive to leverage data and best practices to develop bands that will allow us to both attract and retain top talent. The science is the clear process of developing and selecting data to produce a target market percentage. The art is sifting through the nuances of this imperfect data to ensure that career progression and cross-company comparisons align.

Process of Developing Salary Bands​

The Science

  1. Develop a comprehensive list of roles8 & levels that the team or organization has or will need in the next 12 months.
  2. Review and select the most appropriate market match for each role across each data set.
    1. OI & Pave - Match based on Job titles & mini descriptions. Due to smaller data sets, data is matched more into functional buckets & titles
    2. Mercer & Radford - Match based on robust descriptions that have a much wider breadth of options and distinctions.
  3. Once jobs have been matched to the “best9” match with the data, we used our weighted average approach across the four data points to arrive at a “raw” recommended midpoint.
  4. We then developed the bands by rounding the raw midpoint to nearest $1,000 for simplicity and used our standardized salary band spread approach to build out the mininimum and maximum from the midpoint. Learn more about our consistent band spreads.

The Art

  1. Review data points by role to identify and remove any egregious outliers10.
  2. Review the progression of data from the survey within a career path to identify any cross level compression that is skewing the data and, in turn, expected progression (ex. L5 data > L6 data)
  3. Review and analyze the updated midpoints compared to previous Bands to see and understand the $ & % difference and ensure these changes in bands ‘make sense’ based on our updated data.

International Salary Bands Overview​

Global Pay Practice​

We localize all compensation ranges at a company level using the same methodologies based on the specific country's local market. This practice and decision becomes increasingly important as companies scale and grow globally, especially when considering the all encompassing Total Rewards Strategy which is a blend of monetary and nonmonetary rewards. Countries have a variety of differences in government provided healthcare, pension plan requirement ranges, and cost of labor based on market data and cost of living; this means each country has nuances that must be considered when creating a total rewards offerings. We consistently leverage various data sources and reports as well as external consultants to help ensure we are leveraging ‘best practices’ as our foundation to build upon.

FAQs about International Pay​

- How are international salary bands built differently from US bands?

While there are many nuances to global compensation, in an effort to maintain a scalable and competitive international compensation strategy, we develop our international salary bands using a tiered structure that anchors to US Salary Bands and apply a consistent premium or discount percentage for a given country based on the localized data sets.

- How was each country's tier determined? Country tiers and their associated percentages are developed use 3 data sets.

  1. Radford Role Specific Data
  2. Mercer - Comptryx Role Specific Data
  3. Radford - Location Analytics Tool (Country Aggregate approach) Through these 3 data sets we were able to compile an average differential between the US and each country. This analysis and approach allows us to better “fill in the gaps” where there is missing data and also allows us to create a consistent and scalable framework.
CountryTierBand % Change
SwitzerlandTier 1+15%
AustraliaTier 1-10%
CanadaTier 1-10%
United KingdomTier 1-10%
GermanyTier 2-15%
IrelandTier 2-15%
New ZealandTier 2-15%
SwedenTier 2-15%
SpainTier 3-20%
AustriaTier 3-20%
FranceTier 3-20%
PhilippinesTier 3-75%

- How do we calculate the bands

You can reference How Salary Bands are made for a deeper dive into the process but we’ll break down an example into how all international location bands are built.

  1. US Bands are built based on the 75th percentile as the midpoint, leveraging our core data sources.
    1. Market data is reviewed and analyzed annually in prep for the new fiscal year.
  2. Country Tier % is then applied to the US Salary Band (ex. -15% for Germany)
    1. Example: If the midpoint was 100k USD, after the location percentage change (-15%) the midpoint would be 85k USD
  3. The annually established FX (Foreign Exchange) rate is used to convert the band to local currency.
    1. EUR/USD - 1.0791 → Local Midpoint EUR 79,000

- Why don’t we pay US salary everywhere?

While there are a lot of factors taken into consideration, there are 2 main reasons.

  1. Best Practice - It's largely seen as best practice to make this shift as companies mature and grow globally. As companies grow international, it becomes more apparent that each country has its own unique labor market (ie: Salaries), benefit coverage/requirements, retirement plans, taxes, cost of living etc. Because of this, we target consistency in our approach to be locally competitive. We will continue to build our ranges using the 75th Percentile as the anchor point for cash compensation and leverage international benefits brokers and feedback for locally relevant coverage.
  2. Golden Handcuffs - This can be a major concern when considering the long term implications for an individual that feels ‘stuck’ with a company or role due to higher than market salary, benefits or equity.

- You mention the total rewards strategy includes a blend of monetary(compensation) and non-monetary rewards(benefits). How do we know we are actually competitive?

Due to the complex and robust nature of US & International compensation and benefits, we leverage external resources, international consultants and firms to help ensure that we are:

  1. compliant with local labor laws
  2. locally competitive using local benchmark data
  3. locally relevant

You can find more information in Global Benefits Strategy & Stipend.

- Is hiring in lower cost of labor locations fair / equitable?

Hiring globally is a business and people decision that has many factors attached to it, from total cost, talent density, business need (sales presence, local expertise, etc). While we grow and expand into various countries we hold true to our values and our Compensation Principles to ensure we are rewarding people in a locally competitive, relevant and equitable way.

Salary Bands FY24​

All dbt Labs employees have access to our salary bands.

Equity​

We believe that employee ownership is a way for employees to share in the success of the company. As such, we issue stock options as part of all full-time employees' compensation packages.

If equity and stock options are a brand new concept for you and you'd like to learn more about the general concepts, check out these resources:

A Guide to Equity​

This guide is meant to help you understand the piece of dbt Labs that you’re going to own! Please note that while we hope this guide is a helpful overview, the governing terms and conditions are contained in your dbt Labs, Inc. 2019 Equity Incentive Plan (the "2019 Equity Plan") and your stock option agreement, all of which you are advised to read in full detail.

Why issue options?​

We want all employees to act with the financial interests of the company in mind. There is no better way to align incentives in this way than to give everyone a financial stake in the company. Granting ownership in a company via a stock option is common practice in high-growth businesses for exactly this reason.

We do not, however, see equity as a way to "bridge the gap" to below-market cash compensation. This is fairly standard practice at early-stage businesses (seed and prior)—because companies at this stage are extremely cash-poor, they offer employees minimal cash-based compensation and instead offer very large option grants to "make up the difference" with equity. dbt Labs is at a stage where we pay top market rates in the cash component of our compensation packages, and so we encourage employees to think of equity upside as an amazing potential outcome but not a primary reason to take a job here.

💡 All startups are risky, and the value of any particular option grant (at dbt Labs or elsewhere!) could go to zero. Our compensation principles ensure that employees are well-compensated (via the cash and other components of their package) even in such a scenario.

When do we issue stock option grants?​

There are generally 3 reasons or scenarios that will result in a grant -

  1. New Hire Grants: All new hires will be eligible for an equity grant based on the level of the job they are hired into.
  2. Promotion Grants: As employees progress in their role within dbt Labs, promotion grants equal to 50% of a new hire grant of the job level they are moving into will be awarded to employees for their increased contribution and growth with dbt Labs.
  3. Refresh Grants: Refresh grants are designed to refresh employees’ stock options as shares vest over time. These grants are generally awarded after an employee has been with dbt Labs for 2 years, at which time they are eligible for up to 25% of new hire grant of their current job level in conjunction with additional eligibility requirements.

You can find the current equity information and more detailed information about each of these grant types here.

What type of options do we issue?​

At dbt Labs, we give equity grants in the form of Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs). The difference in these two types of grants are, generally, as follows: ISOs are issued to US employees and carry a special form of tax treatment recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). NSOs were granted to employees prior to August 2020 (see company history for more information) and are currently granted to contractors and non-US employees.

This financial instrument is called an "option" because you have the option to buy dbt Labs stock at a later date, subject to vesting terms, at the exercise price provided at the time of grant. Solely for the purposes of example, if you are granted stock options with an exercise price of $1 per share of common stock today, and if dbt Labs grows and its common stock is worth $20 per share, you will still be able to buy the common stock upon exercise of your option for $1 per share.

How does vesting work?​

Vesting means that you have to remain employed by, or are otherwise a service provider to, dbt Labs for a certain period of time before you can fully purchase and own the stock within your stock option agreement. This means that, over time, you will have the right to purchase the stock based on the schedule defined in your stock agreement. This process is called vesting and different companies offer vesting schedules of different lengths.

Our standard practice is that all new hire grants are issued with a four-year vesting schedule and a 1 year cliff. This means you would have the option to purchase 25% of your stock after 12 months, 50% of your stock after two years, and all of it after 4 years. Our vesting occurs on a monthly basis (so you vest 1/48 of your options each month); however, many vesting schedules include a cliff. A cliff is a period at the beginning of the vesting period where your equity does not vest monthly, but instead a portion vests at the end of the cliff period. At most companies, including dbt Labs, this cliff period is generally one year for new hire grants. This means that if you leave your job either voluntarily or involuntarily before you’ve worked for a whole year, none of your options will be vested. At the end of the first year, you’ll vest the entire first year’s worth (12 months) of equity all at once. This helps keep the ownership of dbt Labs stock to folks who have worked at the Company for a meaningful amount of time.

Promotion Grants & Refresh Grants are issued with a four-year vesting schedule with no cliff, meaning they will vest 1/48 each month.

What is a stock split?​

A Stock Split is a decision by a company to increase the number of shares outstanding by issuing more shares to current shareholders. As the number of shares increases, the stock price decreases at the same proportion.

  • An example of this would be if you took a large pizza that was worth $20 and cut it into 4 slices each worth $5. A stock split is the equivalent to cutting those 4 slices into 8 slices which still leads to the same size pizza worth $20 except each slice is now worth $2.50 and you have 2 slices instead of 1. This does not change the overall value of the company.**

If the value does not change, why do a stock split?

A Stock Split lowers the share price, which makes the stock appear more attractive to investors and future shareholders. The new outstanding share count should now be comparable to other companies at our stage which should make the equity component of an offer in line with other offers that a candidate might receive (purely on a share count basis).

As part of the Series D financing, dbt Labs announced a 5:1 stock split. For more information, check out this update.

What is dilution and how does it work?​

Dilution happens to all companies as they issue new equity over time. For example, if company XYZ needs to raise money from outside investors, it typically needs to create new shares of stock to sell to those investors. The effect of additional stock issuances by company XYZ is that, while you will own the same number of shares as you did before such issuance, there will be more total shares outstanding. As a result, you will own a smaller percentage of the company. This is called dilution.

Important Dates to Understand​

  • Grant Date: The grant date is the date that the board approves the grant. Your grant date will almost always be after your vesting date.
  • Vesting Date: The vesting date will generally align to either your hire date (for new hire grants) or your promotion or review date (for refresh or promotion grants). This is when your vesting schedule starts. If the grant date occurs after your vesting date, that does not change your vesting date.
  • Exercise Window: If you leave the company and have ISOs you will have 90 days to exercise your option for any shares that are vested (from the last day of service). For NSOs, you will have 90 days to exercise your options for any shares that are vested (from the last day of service).
    • As of December 8, 2021, for those that leave after at least 2 years of service to the company, dbt Labs has extended the exercise window to 5 years from termination . Please see this update for details. If you have an ISO and elect not to exercise your option in the 90-day period, it will convert to an NSO.
  • Option Expiration: If not otherwise expired (through termination of your employment and not exercising within the exercise period), your stock options expire 10 years after the grant date.

Taxes​

Tax law is complex and you should consult a tax attorney or other tax advisor who is familiar with startup stock options before making any decisions.

Below is an overview of Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs).

  • Incentive Stock Options (ISOs)

    • No tax is due at the time of exercise unless the $100k ISO limit is reached. This is based on FMV of the original grant. Read more about that here.
    • Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) may be applicable in the year the option is exercised.
    • In most cases, tax will be due when the shares are sold. The amount of tax due will be determined by the holding period of the shares once exercised. Again, there are many nuances here so it is recommended that you consult a tax advisor regarding any questions about your personal circumstances.
    • Must be exercised within 90 days of the termination date. This is a requirement of the IRS in order to qualify for ISO tax treatment.
    • Can only be issued to US employees.
    • Can only be issued by Corporations.

  • Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs)

    • Tax due at time of exercise.
      • The difference between the strike price of your grant and the current FMV is subject to ordinary income tax.
    • NSOs allow for longer exercise periods. At dbt Labs, the default is 180 days after the termination date.
    • NSOs can be issued to employees and non-employees.
    • Can be issued by any entity.

Tax Resources:

You are strongly encouraged to consult a tax advisor.

Option Plan Administration​

All option grants must be approved by the Board of Directors. Grants are typically approved on a monthly basis unless a company is going through a financing round or waiting on a 409A valuation.

How to Set Up Your Option Plan Account​

Learn how to set up your option plan account, adminstered through Carta, here.

How to Exercise Your Options​

"Exercising your options" means that you are purchasing the shares guaranteed by your options. Options can only be exercised if they are vested.

Learn how to exercise your options here.

Company Timeline​

  • In May of 2016, Fishtown Analytics was formed as an LLC.
  • In June 2019, the 2019 Equity Plan was created, kicking off the first 409A.
  • On November 4, 2019, the Company converted from an LLC to a C Corporation as a part of the seed financing. This required another 409A valuation.
  • April 2020, Series A was closed. This required another 409A valuation.
  • August 2020, Series B was closed. This required another 409A valuation.
  • May 2021, Series C was closed. This required another 409A valuation.
  • February 2022, Series D was closed. This required another 409A valuation.
  • May 2022, a Tender Offer was presented to employees that have been employed for 2+ years. Details can be found here: 2022 Tender Offer. The company will continue to explore this as an option each year, but is not guaranteed to occur.
  • February 2023, annual 409A valuation complete.

409A Valuations & Exercise Prices​

Learn more about our current valuations and exercise prices here.

How Equity Bands are Made​

The US11 equity ranges are developed using relevant functional market data from Options Impact & Carta based on similar companies (Capital Raised, Value etc) and evaluated these aggregated market data points against the 75th percentile of both gross values and percent ownership. Our final equity ranges are a combination of 65th percentile of % ownership in Carta and the 90th percentile of gross value in Options Impact.

Functional breakouts directly align with the data output and allow us to create competitive compensation in each function using a mixture of both long term (equity) and short term (cash) incentives.

  • Note: A function doesn’t always align with an org at dbt Labs. For example; where G&A is an org, reporting into the CFO; the functions are broken into Finance, Legal, People and Operations.

We believe this positions us well to be competitive in our market.

Equity Bands FY24​

All employees have access to our equity bands and they can be accessed here.

  1. This helps to ensure pay equity. It also creates an environment where compensation—so often a touchy subject!—is de-stigmatized. Talking about compensation should be straightforward; it should involve no risk and no surprises.↩
  2. This helps to ensure that candidates have aligned expectations when starting an interview process with us and helps the offer stage tremendously.↩
  3. This is a public commitment to candidates who have not yet seen a demonstration of how we live our values.↩
  4. At a minimum 1x/year, but also when certain events occur. For example, fundraising events have historically caused us to need to update our comp bands.↩
  5. We leverage data from Radford, Mercer and Pave.↩
  6. ISOs are specifically US-based because they are an outcome of US tax law.↩
  7. Specific Roles - Both Radford and Mercer have 100+ different jobs / roles that we can match to which allows us to get more specific with the roles and duties to ensure that our role bands are developed using the most correlated data and skill set. This is vital to ensure we aren’t over or under targeting pay for roles that have been lumped into 1 large, potentially vague, bucket.↩
  8. Roles - Each functional area of the business has ‘buckets’ of work / responsibilities that are assigned various roles on the team. Different roles are developed to ensure the salary band and market data is the most appropriate to benchmark to. Additional roles are recommended if roles are more than 30% different in skills and responsibilities. ↩
  9. “Best” - When matching our internal roles against built descriptions within each data set, we frequently find that an 80% match is strong enough to trust the data.↩
  10. Removing data outliers is a pretty standard and common practice once you start involving multiple data sources to help prevent outlier data from skewing the average due to small incumbent counts being reported.↩
  11. We currently use the same equity offerings regardless of location. As we continue to mature our global total rewards practices, we will further break down equity offerings to align with local markets.↩