Compensation Manager

Firefly Aerospace, Inc.; Cedar Park (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision plans

Relocation benefits

Educational reimbursement

Flexible PTO

Job summary

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

You will build the job architecture, pay structures, and lead annual compensation planning and equity discussions in a public-company setting. In this hands-on role, you will collaborate with HR, Finance, Legal, and business leaders to translate market data and budget constraints into actionable pay

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Finance, Business or related field; 10+ years of compensation experience.
• Experience with salary structures, market pricing, and executive compensation benchmarking.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling; ability to translate analyses into recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and manage compensation programs across engineering, production, and corporate functions.
• Lead annual compensation planning and equity grant processes; manage budget constraints and governance.
• Develop pay structures, market pricing methodologies, and career frameworks; collaborate with HR and Legal.

Skills

Compensation strategy

Market pricing

Salary structures

Executive compensation

Excel modeling

Radford surveys

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Finance

Tools

Workday

Radford

Excel

Job description

At Firefly, we’re focused on making space attainable for everyone – including you! Each team member’s passion, dedication, and innovative ideas have a direct impact on fueling our successful trajectory into space. And there’s no shortage of meaningful projects to work on at Firefly. With launch, lunar, and orbital vehicles, Firefly has a diverse line of business with opportunities to get hands‑on experience launching rockets, operating in space, and landing on the Moon.

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Honoring veterans means more than recognizing ...

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Let the good times roll...to the Moon!
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Let the good times roll...to the Moon!
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Two bold Texas companies, Firefly and ...

Two bold Texas companies, Firefly and ...

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Miranda is the most powerful engine in our ...

Miranda is the most powerful engine in our ...

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Our missions are powered by our incredible team ...

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What does SciTec bring to the Firefly family?
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Our Values

Headquartered in the Lone Star State, Firefly’s hardworking team reflects Texas’ GO BIG culture in everything we do. We build big, achieve big, and dream big. We’re building launch vehicles and spacecraft to provide rapid, reliable space access. We’ve achieved some incredible wins, including the first successful commercial Moon landing. And we’re dreaming bigger than this planet with ambitions to Mars, Venus, and beyond. Our core values are what drive us along the way.

Passion

Fireflies believe in perseverance, responsiveness, and mentoring others with a focus on inspiring a better future.

Accountability

Fireflies act with integrity and take ownership of our actions, commitments, decisions, and outcomes.

Fireflies work in alignment across teams and communicate clearly with mutual respect for one another.

Fireflies deliver high-quality work through technical rigor and timely disciplined execution for our customers.

We take care of our Fireflies with some of the best benefits in the industry. Our mission to make space for everyone starts with our employees and allowing them to make space for their family, their career, and their future.

Space for You

• Unlimited PTO for exempt employees
• 3-month sabbatical for every 5 years of service
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance
• Mental health services
• Paid military leave

Space for Your Family

• 12 weeks paid maternity leave
• 4 weeks paid spouse leave
• $20k towards family planning: fertility, surrogacy, adoption
• Dog friendly workplace

Space for Your Career

• $10k/year towards trade school or college
• Ongoing coaching to advance leadership skills
  • Employee-ownership with stock bonuses
  • 4% Safe Harbor 401(k) matching
  • $10k bonus for home purchase in Cedar Park, Texas

Job Openings

From launch technicians to propulsion engineers, Firefly has open roles across the company. We’re looking for passionate, bright innovators to join our team and help make space an achievable dream for everyone.

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.

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.