Software Engineer in Test Compensation Roadmap

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Attribute	Grade	Comment
Materials	B	We are trailing behind on visionaries where the role is a Developer focused solely on test tools and infrastructure e.g. Google SETIs. Career development artifacts for Quality Engineer Managers need to be developed.
Talent Acquisition	B	We are attracting candidates and routinely on our hiring plan, though we have lost some candidates due to compensation expectations.
Employee Satisfaction	C	There is sensitivity around the Backend Engineer benchmark being higher because it is a close peer to this role.
External Comparables	C	The industry treats Software Engineer in Test at the same role complexity & pay as general Software Engineers. In addition, our Software Engineers in Test are being approached with higher salaries by external recruiters.
Internal Comparables	C	Comp is 6.67% below Backend/Frontend Engineer and 20% below Site Reliability Engineer, yet both have commonalities with this role's technical and communication skills. We should probably be closer to those roles in salary.
Bonus	C	This role has incentive bonuses at the Distinguished/Director level and above, but not at the Staff/Manager level

Materials include the title, the job descriptions, and career development artifacts.
Talent Acquisition is how we are doing against our hiring plan.
Employee Satisfaction can be based on survey results, comments in 1:1's, etc.
External Comparables should be based on market data and come from our Total Rewards Analysts .
Internal Comparables are based on other GitLab role benchmarks that are typically paid at the same rate and should be agreed upon by our Total Rewards Analysts.
Bonus is based on whether a bonus should be paid, and whether the amount is correct based on market.

A = People are happy, we easily meet our business goals, and we compare favorably to peer companies.
B = Most people are happy, but we can be always be better.
C = People are split but we think we know what we need to do but we need to get it approved.
D = Most people are upset, we're not meeting our business goals, and have ideas but no consensus.
F = Everyone is upset, we're badly missing our business goals, and we don't know how to fix it.

As of March 18, 2022 we believe we should advocate for the following:

We will review the benchmark before end of CY2022
We will expand career materials for Quality Engineering Managers before the end of CY2022.
We will try to make the case for an incentive bonus for the Staff/Manager level before end of CY2023.