How it works

As part of our commitment to transparency, we leverage a structured system for compensation that uses the following factors:

  • Role
  • Location (based on market rates)
  • Country
  • Region
  • Level
  • Step

This approach is heavily influenced by the great work done at PostHog.

Salary

We pay a competitive salary (based on role and level, backed by market data) plus equity and benefits.

We think the best work comes from a strong, lean, motivated team. We pay well and offer substantial career advancement opportunities.

Levels

Levels do not correlate with increased importance — they focus on impact. Your level is not a title. We don’t believe in having a huge hierarchy of roles, as everyone needs to feel and act like an owner of the company.

Very broadly, we think of the various levels as:

  • Junior: contributes to small or function-specific projects
  • Intermediate: owns small to medium sized projects, including working across functions
  • Senior: accountable for large projects and drives everything necessary to get them done
  • Lead: same as senior, but consistently drives strategic projects that impact the company

It’s important to note that this is not a checklist. These descriptions are indicative, and there will always be a degree of judgment by our Leadership Team to determine your level. Your own self-assessment is an important factor as well.

Step

Within each level, we think there is room for incremental steps. We define these as follows:

  • Learning: Starting to match expectations
  • Established: Matching expectations
  • Thriving: Exceeding expectations
  • Expert: Exceeding expectations consistently

As a general rule, we aim to hire into the Established step. This provides everyone the opportunity for success while leaving enough room for salary increases within a level.

Salary benchmarking

We benchmark salaries based on US market data. We use Pave to source salary data, helping us build a target range for each role. As we grow, we intend to refine our benchmarking to account for location-specific market rates.

While we aim to pay competitively, we are an early-stage startup and need to be careful with our cash resources. As such, we don’t match salaries with the biggest names in tech, but we do strive to bridge any gap with equity as well as other perks — namely impact and autonomy, but also flexibility and benefits.

Location factor

We take location into account when setting compensation and aim to be competitive in the markets where our team is based. Employees are paid in their local currency. Contractors will typically be paid in USD.

Pay reviews

We review pay proactively twice per year (July and January) to keep compensation at an appropriate level without you having to ask.

As we do these more frequently than most companies, team members should not expect these to result in a change to their Step or Level each time. Mostly they will stay the same. Additionally, team members will find that their Step — or place within a Step’s range — will change more frequently than their Level.

We may also change pay without adjusting the Step or Level if the market rates for the underlying benchmark have gone up. When we review pay we don’t take inflation into account, as this is already accounted for by market data. You won’t get a specific “inflation raise” as is typical in many localities, though our review process and benchmarking helps to ensure your salary remains in line with the market.

How the review process works

Pay increases are based only on our calculator and performance. This helps us to be as inclusive and fair as possible.

We want to increase pay in a proactive way, rather than putting the responsibility on team members to negotiate. We don’t make any changes outside of these reviews.

Any increases will be communicated by Zac and Jacob, as they are the only people responsible for communicating pay increases (compensation is not a manager’s responsibility at Datum). You will only hear from them if there has been a change in your pay, not if it is staying the same.

Steve will follow up with an email confirmation and make the pay increases in time for the next payroll. If you need to talk to someone about your compensation, you should ask the relevant member of the Leadership Team.

Equity

It’s important that all Datum employees are invested in the company’s success. Each of us plays a critical role in the business and deserves a share in the company’s success as it grows.

As part of your compensation, you will receive share options in the company based on your role and level. Options have been set up with the following favorable terms:

  • Standard 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff
  • 90 days to exercise your options in the event that you leave Datum
  • Double trigger acceleration
  • Vesting starts from your start date

See our dedicated overview of stock options for full details.

It can take time to approve options, as it requires a board meeting and company valuation. We can clarify the likely time frame at the time we’re hiring you. Vesting will always start from when you joined Datum, not from when you receive your option agreement. While we can commit to a particular number, we cannot commit to a particular strike price when offering share options, as that is determined by the valuation in place at the time the board approves the option grant.

Equity refreshes

Every employee will be eligible for equity refreshes each year you are working at Datum. These grants are between 5–10% of the value of a new grant for your current role. The percentage is based on your performance and can vary year by year.

These equity refreshes will be decided at our twice-per-year pay review cycles and are communicated by the relevant leadership team member at that time. You’ll be made aware of your grant being approved by the board when you get an email from Carta regarding the grant. These refresher grants will be on the same terms as your original grant with a 12-month cliff, and will likely be subject to a different strike price due to changes in our valuation over time.

Funding rounds disrupt when we are able to issue new grants, so approvals may be delayed if we are actively fundraising.

Probation period

We are fully committed to ensuring that you are set up for success, but also understand that it may take some time to determine whether or not there is a long-term fit between you and Datum.

Subject to certain exceptions, the first 3 months of your employment with Datum is a probation period. During this time, you can choose to end your employment at any time (although we request 1 week’s notice). If we choose to end your contract, Datum will pay you 3 weeks’ pay, but usually ask you to finish on the same day.

Your manager is responsible for monitoring and reviewing your performance throughout this initial period. If under-performance is a concern, or if there is any hesitation regarding the future at Datum, this should be discussed immediately between you and your manager.

At the end of your probation period, you won’t usually receive formal confirmation that you’ve passed probation. By that point, you should already have a clear understanding of your performance and progress through your 30/60/90-day check-ins with your manager.

Severance

Outside of the probation period, Datum aims to treat departing employees fairly and in accordance with applicable law. Separation terms will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Contracts

We currently operate employment contracts in the United States, where our entity is located. If you live in the US, you will be directly employed by Datum as an employee.

We currently hire independent contractors outside of the US. In these cases, you will invoice us monthly via Deel. As a contractor, you will be responsible for your own taxes.

Payroll

For international contractors, we pay monthly. Invoices are created automatically in Deel and are paid typically on the last day of the month.

In the US, we run payroll twice a month, on the 15th and on the last day of the month.