Compensation guide

Compensation principles and the expectation we have from our team members

20 Jun 2023 | Updated 04 Oct 2023

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At Holdex, everybody contributing to the business should be treated and rewarded equitably, regardless of where they come from, how old and `experienced` they are, or what titles they have been assigned. It all may seem essential, but it doesn’t give you superpowers. It’s all about having the right attitude and the positive impact you can make. We established 2 fundamental rules to achieve it:

Clear incentives. All salaries and bonuses are based on a simple merit system. The more you contribute by independently delivering end results, the more rewards you will receive. Doing the same job at the same level is paid the same regardless of location or other factors.
Resilient framework. One that’s simple, consistent, and universally adhered to—without exceptions. A framework that can help people grow inside the team and help them understand what is expected from them.

> Check our open job positions if you are looking for challenges and new opportunities, or you are as excited for our mission as we are, check our open job positions .

Our approach

To help everyone on our team understand what is expected of them and where they can improve, we put together a framework decomposed into traits that we regularly track. Not just for developers but for everyone: designers, finance, strategy, partnership, customer relations, etc.

Team culture

	Entry	Intermediate	Lead	Principal
Align yourself with our missions, vision, and values	✅	✅	✅	✅
Respect our principles and guidelines and remind them to your teammates	✅	✅	✅	✅
Inspire, coach and lead team members in a project	❌	❌	✅	✅
Improve existing values, principles, rules, frameworks	❌	❌	❌	✅

Goals

	Entry	Intermediate	Lead	Principal
Understand / Align with goals	✅	✅	✅	✅
Decompose goals into problems	❌	✅	✅	✅
Research and provide the solution to the goals	❌	✅	✅	✅
Define goal timelines and blockers	❌	❌	✅	✅
Ensure goal achievement	❌	❌	✅	✅
Identify business goals	❌	❌	❌	✅
Define correct priority and value to the goal	❌	❌	❌	✅

Problems & Solutions

	Entry	Intermediate	Lead	Principal
Provide solutions for the Problems	✅	✅	✅	✅
Estimate the solution and follow it	✅	✅	✅	✅
Research independently	✅	✅	✅	✅
Interview stakeholders	✅	✅	✅	✅
Present solution to the stakeholders	✅	✅	✅	✅
Bug-free execution	❌	✅	✅	✅
Identify real problems	❌	✅	✅	✅
Break down problems into sub-problems	❌	✅	✅	✅
Define correct priority and value	❌	✅	✅	✅
Assist Entry team members	✅	✅	✅	❌
Review solutions implemented by other team members	❌	✅	✅	❌
Delegate and distribute problems to the best fitting member	❌	❌	✅	✅

Looking forward

A startup studio like Holdex has so many processes that we can’t put them all in a framework (although, we’d love that, haha). Some of them are hard to pack or to remember. Others get blurry and overlap constantly. Yet, we managed to add a bit of structure and expand more on our expectations from each level to help you figure out which areas to grow.

	Our expectations from you
Entry	Execute solutions to the problems. Be an excellent student eager to learn new things from more advanced team members. Ability to research for the necessary information independently. Explore and start mastering a strong point of view. Clearly communicate and explain your work to other people. Improve your skills but also master new things, like presenting to clients, understanding strategy, understanding the business side of things, etc. Be humble and don’t take feedback personally. It’s about solving the problem, and it is not about you. Expose yourself to the business part of things. Be aware of constraints, client dynamics, and business needs.
Intermediate	Great execution and great confidence. Identify real business and technical Problems. Figure Solutions to complex Problems yourself. Articulate your point of view with perfection. Become a trusted partner of the Lead and Principal. Adapt to every situation and challenge. Comfortable with discomfort. Develop leadership skills. Great communication skills with stakeholders. Leave your ego and collaborate with others (designers, strategists, stakeholders, devs, and so on) to make the project amazing. Inspire others. Become someone our Entry members look up to. Be generous and motivate them. Help Entry members grow. Help entry members when they are stuck. Be comfortable with being on the business side of things. (discussing timelines, partnerships, 3rd party integrations aligning with stakeholders on the values of certain things ) Look up to the next level. Will to become a Lead.
Lead	Leading a project (as a primary person) from start to finish. Capable of stepping in for your Principal when he is missing. Be a clear delegator and distribute workload across your team members. Praise your team’s efforts. Be able to join the action and show amazing crafting skills when needed. Become more of a coach than a player with full responsibility for the work being done. Display great ideas, great solutions, understand the strategy and the business processes of the customer and our company. Able to zoom in-and-out: from ideas and execution to big-picture strategy. Have very strong point of view but open to other people’s ideas too. No ego. Best collaborative attitude because it’s not about you anymore. It’s about leading. Be inspiring, solid and precise in meetings with clients and your team. Lead by example and make everyone on the team feel safe. They should look up to you. Participate in business discussions. Apply your vision over a project to define timelines and budgets, requirements etc. Have full perspective over a project, remain accountable and connect with everyone on the team and with the client.
Principal	Less hands-on and more brains-on. Be prepared to jump into the pitch and collaborate with team members directly. Own multiple projects of any size at the same time. Starting from the initial strategy to release celebration. Bring your strong point of view and develop passion in others Decode customer feedback and translate it to the team members in actionable items. Don’t micromanage. Let your team take the credit. They are probably more skilled. Improve team culture. Business is your second language. Understand all aspects of a project. Other teams and partners are your best friends. Help find new business opportunities for the company. Become the trusted partner of our customers. Be able to say NO to customers when they need to hear it. Be able to adapt to any situation or turn of events from customers, teams and business.

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