$50–200/hr · Mercor · Hourly
A rewards strategist who builds compensation and equity programs for scaling companies.
What you would do
- Design salary bands, leveling frameworks, and job architecture that scale across functions and regions
- Manage annual compensation cycles including merit planning, promotion decisions, and bonus programs
- Build and administer equity programs including option pools, RSU grants, vesting structures, and refresh philosophy
- Create and defend compensation benchmarking analysis against peer companies and industry standards
Who they want
- Deep expertise in compensation design and architecture or equity program management, ideally both
- Demonstrated experience building compensation frameworks and architectures from scratch
- Experience managing 409A valuations, plan governance, and grant administration
- Ability to build financial models and communicate equity concepts to employees and candidates
- Experience with global and contractor workforce compensation at scale
Main skills
What the interview asks about
1.Designing leveling frameworks
Creating coherent job levels across different functions requires balancing market data, internal equity, and business strategy - all critical for scaling organizations.
For example: “Your company has grown from 500 to 800 employees but levels are inconsistent between engineering and operations. A senior ops leader makes less than a mid-level engineer. How would you approach redesigning the framework?”
2.Annual merit and bonus planning
Merit cycles determine retention and morale; consultants must design cycles that are defensible to leadership, fair to employees, and aligned with business results.
For example: “You're planning an annual merit cycle with a 3% budget increase while top performers left last year due to perceived inequity. How would you structure merit and promotions to rebuild confidence?”
3.Equity pool sizing and grants
Grant guidelines and pool planning directly impact dilution, retention, and competitiveness; getting this right requires understanding both market practice and company runway.
For example: “A Series C with 3 years of runway is deciding on annual equity refresh percentages. New hires expect 0.5-1%, but retention requires refresh for existing employees too. What framework would you recommend?”
4.Benchmarking and market positioning
Compensation benchmarking must be rigorous and defensible to leadership; consultants balance external market data with internal constraints and strategy.
For example: “You've benchmarked 50th percentile salary but leadership wants 35th percentile to preserve cash. Your data shows you'll lose top talent. How do you present this tradeoff?”
5.Equity communication and modeling
Most employees don't understand equity value; effective communication affects retention and candidate decisions in equity-heavy comp structures.
For example: “You're communicating RSU value to an employee expecting a 50-year vesting cliff and another expecting immediate payout. How do you model and explain the actual economics?”
A task you may get
Design a compensation and equity framework for a Series C company scaling globally: salary bands, annual cycle, RSU program, and 409A strategy.
How to prepare
- Review recent market benchmarking surveys and understand how to interpret and present compensation data
- Study leveling framework approaches for different company stages and functions
- Research RSU and option plan structures, 409A valuation concepts, and equity communication best practices
- Prepare case studies or examples of compensation redesigns you've led
The facts
- Pay
- $50–200/hr
- Hours
- Hourly
- Where
- Remote
- Field
- Business Operations
- Posted
- 8/25/2026
- Places left
- 5
We wrote this page from the public Mercor listing. It may be out of date, so read the full posting before you apply.