Compensation Planning Worksheet | Trimaren Human Capital Partners

Compensation planning in life sciences is rarely straightforward. You're competing for talent against large pharma, well-funded biotechs, and increasingly, tech companies, often with a leaner budget and a story to tell instead of a brand name. This worksheet is designed to help founders, operators, and people leaders build compensation structures that are defensible, competitive, and scalable as your organization grows from early-stage through commercial launch.

Step 1: Define Your Compensation Philosophy

Before you build pay bands or benchmark roles, you need a stated position on how you intend to pay. This doesn't need to be lengthy, but it must be deliberate.

Answer these questions as a leadership team:

[ ] What market(s) do we recruit from? (Local? National? Remote-first?)
[ ] What percentile do we target for base salary? (e.g., 50th, 60th, 75th of market)
[ ] Do we differentiate targets by function or level? (e.g., more aggressive for scientific/regulatory talent)
[ ] How does equity factor into total compensation? Is it a differentiator or a supplement?
[ ] What is our philosophy on pay transparency, internally and externally?
[ ] How often will we review and adjust compensation? (Annually? At each funding round?)

Document your answers. This philosophy statement becomes the foundation for every compensation decision that follows.

Step 2: Market Analysis Framework

Benchmarking without structure produces noise. Use this framework to gather and interpret data consistently.

Select Your Data Sources

[ ] Identify two to three reputable salary surveys relevant to life sciences (industry-specific surveys tend to be more accurate than general labor market data for specialized roles)
[ ] Note the survey publication date, data older than 18 months should be used with caution in a volatile talent market
[ ] Determine whether you'll age data forward to reflect current market conditions (typically a small percentage adjustment per quarter)

Define Your Comparison Group

[ ] Company stage (Series A/B, late-stage, commercial)
[ ] Headcount range
[ ] Therapeutic area or technology type, where relevant
[ ] Geography (consider whether you're benchmarking for a specific metro, national remote roles, or both)

Benchmark Each Role

For each position you're analyzing, capture:

[ ] Job title and internal level
[ ] Matched survey title and code (document the match rationale)
[ ] 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile base salary from each source
[ ] Median total cash (base + target bonus) where available
[ ] Long-term incentive or equity data if available in survey

> Worksheet tip: Build a simple spreadsheet with one row per role and columns for each data source. Average across sources to establish a blended market reference point. Flag roles where sources diverge significantly, those warrant closer review.

Step 3: Pay Band Development

Pay bands translate market data into an internal structure you can manage and communicate.

Band Construction Basics

[ ] Group roles into levels (e.g., Associate, Senior, Principal, Director, Senior Director, VP) within each function
[ ] Set the midpoint of each band at your target market percentile
[ ] Set the range spread (distance from minimum to maximum) based on role complexity and time-to-proficiency:
Narrower spreads (30–40%) for roles with clear, short learning curves
Wider spreads (50–70%) for highly specialized or senior roles where experience variation is significant
[ ] Ensure band minimums and maximums create reasonable overlap between adjacent levels (overlap signals growth opportunity without requiring promotion to earn more)

Validate Your Bands

[ ] Map current employee salaries into the new bands
[ ] Identify employees below the band minimum (these are compression or equity risks requiring near-term action)
[ ] Identify employees above the band maximum (these are "red circle" situations, flag for review and freeze increases until the band catches up)
[ ] Check for internal equity issues across gender, race, and tenure within the same band

> Note: Pay-equity analysis has legal implications that vary by state. Trimaren can run the analysis and design your corrective approach, coordinating specialized legal review before you take action or make representations about pay-equity compliance. Reach out to get this right.

Step 4: Variable Pay and Bonus Structure

[ ] Define eligibility by level (e.g., bonus-eligible at Manager level and above, or all employees)
[ ] Set target bonus as a percentage of base salary by level (e.g., 10% for individual contributors, 20–25% for directors, 30–40%+ for VP and above)
[ ] Establish whether bonuses are funded at the company level, individual level, or a combination
[ ] Define performance metrics and weighting (company milestones, functional goals, individual performance)
[ ] Determine payout timing and any proration rules for new hires or leaves

Step 5: Equity Planning

Equity is often your most powerful recruiting and retention tool in early-stage life sciences, and the most misunderstood.

[ ] Confirm your current option pool size and remaining availability
[ ] Establish equity grant ranges by level (expressed as a percentage of fully diluted shares or a share count range)
[ ] Benchmark equity against available survey data or comparable funding-stage companies
[ ] Define your vesting schedule (four-year with one-year cliff is standard; consider back-weighted schedules for retention-critical roles)
[ ] Determine refresh grant policy, will you grant additional equity at promotion, annually, or on a discretionary basis?
[ ] Ensure employees receive plain-language explanations of their grants, including current 409A valuation, strike price, and what their equity could be worth under various scenarios

> Note: Equity plan design and grant practices carry tax and securities-law implications. Trimaren can help you design the compensation framework and coordinate the specialized legal and tax counsel, experienced in life sciences equity, required to execute it.

Step 6: Annual Compensation Review Checklist

Use this checklist each time you conduct a formal compensation review cycle:

[ ] Refresh market data and re-benchmark key roles
[ ] Review and adjust pay bands if market has moved
[ ] Run a pay equity analysis before finalizing increases
[ ] Establish a merit budget and distribute guidance to managers
[ ] Confirm bonus pool funding and finalize performance ratings
[ ] Process equity refresh grants for eligible employees
[ ] Prepare manager talking points and employee communications
[ ] Update offer letter templates and compensation guidelines for recruiting

How Trimaren Can Help

Building a compensation structure that's competitive, equitable, and sustainable takes time, data, and judgment, resources that are often stretched thin in growing life sciences organizations. Trimaren Human Capital Partners works directly with founders and leadership teams to design and implement compensation frameworks tailored to your stage, funding, and talent strategy. Whether you need a full compensation architecture built from the ground up or a focused review of a specific issue, compression, equity refresh, or pre-Series B benchmarking, we can provide the senior HR expertise to get it done right. Reach out to learn how we can support your organization.