Compensation Manager

Firefly Aerospace; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision plans

Parental leave

Relocation benefits

Educational reimbursement

Short term disability

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Firefly Aerospace seeks a Compensation Manager to own the design, implementation, and ongoing management of compensation programs across engineering, production, and corporate functions.

You will build job architecture and pay structures, lead annual planning, and shape executive and equity compensation in a public-company environment. This hands-on IC role collaborates with HR, Finance, Legal, and business leaders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Finance, Business, or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience including ownership of salary structures.
• Experience with market pricing, job evaluation, and salary range design using survey data.
• Experience with executive compensation benchmarking or design and equity programs.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills with the ability to translate analyses for senior leaders.
• Experience with Workday Compensation or Advanced Compensation, including configuration and cycle administration.

Responsibilities

• Own compensation policies, approval workflows, and exception tracking.
• Lead annual merit, bonus, and equity refresh cycles and budget modeling.
• Model funding scenarios and forecast costs with Finance.
• Coordinate with HRIS and Payroll for Workday processes and payouts.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, and external advisors on executive compensation benchmarking and equity design.

Skills

Market pricing

Job evaluation

Salary range design

Executive compensation benchmarking

Cross-functional leadership

Financial modeling

Data-driven recommendations

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Finance/Business or related field

CCP designation (preferred)

Tools

Workday Compensation

Advanced Excel

Job description

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24‑hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

About Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company that enables our world to launch, land, and operate in space – anywhere, anytime. As the partner of choice for critical space missions, Firefly is the only commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with 24‑hour notice and the only company to achieve a successful Moon landing. Our launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide government and commercial customers with full mission services from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Headquartered in north Austin, Texas, Firefly is looking for passionate, hardworking innovators to join our team and help fuel our successful trajectory into space.

Summary

Firefly Aerospace is seeking a Compensation Manager to own the design, implementation, and ongoing management of our compensation programs across engineering, production, and corporate functions. You will build the job architecture and pay structures that support a growing aerospace manufacturer, lead annual compensation planning, and help shape executive and equity compensation in a public‑company environment.

In this hands‑on individual contributor role, you will lead cross‑functional work with HR, Finance, Legal, and business leaders. You will translate market data, workforce needs, and budget constraints into pay recommendations that leaders can understand and apply consistently.

Responsibilities

Job Architecture and Market Pricing

• Build and maintain job families, career tracks, job levels, salary ranges, and geographic pay practices. Lead the compensation workstream with external consultants, validate recommendations with business leaders, and establish a process for HR to maintain the framework.
• Set the market pricing methodology, select relevant aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and technology survey cuts, and refresh benchmarks and ranges on a regular cadence.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and HR Business Partners on offers, promotions, job leveling, and pay for hard‑to‑fill roles. Evaluate market competitiveness, internal equity, and budget impact when recommending exceptions.

Annual Compensation Planning

• Lead the annual merit, bonus, and equity refresh cycle from planning and budget modeling through approvals, manager guidance, and final reconciliation.
• Partner with Finance to model funding scenarios and forecast costs. Partner with HRIS and Payroll to configure and test Workday processes, validate approved changes, and reconcile final payouts.

Executive and Equity Compensation

• Partner with HR leadership, Finance, Legal, and external advisors on executive and director compensation benchmarking, peer group selection, pay mix, and incentive design.
• Prepare analyses and materials for executive leadership and the Compensation Committee, including pay‑for‑performance analysis, executive compensation summaries, and recommendations for annual equity grant budgets.
• Model equity grant scenarios, share pool usage, burn rate, and dilution. Coordinate with Legal, Finance, and stock administration to reconcile approved grants and support compensation disclosures.

Compensation Governance

• Own compensation policies, approval workflows, and exception tracking. Document the rationale and approvals for pay decisions and maintain evidence for compensation controls and audits.
• Lead periodic pay equity reviews, identify gaps that warrant investigation, and recommend adjustments in partnership with HR and Legal.
• Partner with Legal and HR on pay transparency, job classification, and public‑company reporting. Provide compensation data and analysis for disclosures, control testing, and audit requests.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, including ownership of salary structures or job architecture and leadership of at least three annual compensation planning cycles.
• Hands‑on experience in market pricing, job evaluation, and salary range design using Radford or comparable survey data.
• Experience with executive compensation benchmarking or design and with equity or other long‑term incentive programs.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, including the ability to translate complex analyses into clear recommendations for senior leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross‑functional projects, manage competing deadlines, and exercise sound judgment with confidential information.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, or advanced manufacturing, particularly in a growing organization with hourly production and salaried technical workforces.
• Experience with Workday Compensation or Advanced Compensation, including configuration, testing, or cycle administration.

Preferred

• Public‑company compensation experience, including Compensation Committee support, executive compensation disclosures, or compensation controls.
• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation.

Benefits

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, relocation benefits, educational reimbursement, short term disability, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.