How We Pay?
How Hardal thinks about pay - what we pay, how we decide it, and why.
How we pay you says as much about what we value as anything else we do. So this is public, not something you find out by negotiating.
Market pay vs. negotiated pay
Ranges come from the market, not from what a candidate is willing to accept. We benchmark against remote-first, globally distributed software companies, the ones we actually compete with for talent, not a vague "market rate."
Where you land in that range comes from impact, not tenure or how well you negotiated. Two people at the same level with comparable impact get paid comparably, whatever their length of service.
What decides your pay
What counts:
- Your level, L1 to L6 for individual contributors, M1 to M3 for managers
- Your scope, and how it's grown since your last review
- Current market data for your role
- Internal equity across the team
What doesn't:
- How well you negotiated on the way in
- Tenure on its own, without matching impact
- A mechanical formula tied to your city's cost of living
Location can still come up. In reviews, we look at meaningful local economic shifts, like significant inflation or currency movement in a market where much of the team is based, but it's one input we weigh, never an automatic adjustment.
The USD anchor
All pay is set, reviewed, and communicated in USD, wherever you live and however you're engaged. If your local currency moves against the dollar, that's not something you have to absorb on your own, the anchor already does most of that work. Being remote-first is exactly what makes this possible: one leveling framework, one set of ranges, one review process, no matter where the team sits.
When pay actually moves
We run two formal review cycles a year, every January and July. That's when salary changes, promotions, and performance bonuses get decided, on the same schedule, for the whole team. Commission, for revenue roles, works differently: it's a planned, formula-based part of pay, set out in advance, not a discretionary bonus.
Equity follows its own framework, see Stock Options and Profit Sharing.