Compensation Manager

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.

Additional information

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.