The Scoop #51: Pinterest’s new levels and reduced compensation bands

Also: pay rises at Shopify, potential buyers of Lyft, and advice on how to split compensation between cash and stock

The Scoop is a series covering insights, patterns, and trends I observe and hear about within Big Tech and at high growth startups. Have a scoop to share? Send me a message! I treat all such messages as anonymous.

Today's topics are:

1. Pinterest’s new levels and reduced compensation bands. L15 is the new L5 in Pinterest’s new leveling system. As the new levels were rolled out, compensation targets dropped by around 30%. I checked in with current engineers on how they feel about the change. Exclusive.

2. Pay rises at Shopify. Together with recent re-leveling, the company awarded unexpected raises. I got details on the numbers, including what high performers got. Exclusive.

3. Should you optimize for all-cash compensation, if possible? Although still rare in the industry, companies like Netflix and Shopify let employees choose how much of their total compensation is stock. What are the approaches to take? Opinion.

4. Who might buy Lyft? There’s signs that the US’s #2 ridesharing company could be open to a sale. Who might buy it? Analysis. 

The Scoop sometimes delivers first hand, original reporting. I’m adding an ‘Exclusive’ label to news that features original reporting direct from my sources, as distinct from analysis, opinion, and reaction to events. Of course, I also analyze what’s happening in the tech industry, citing other media sources and quoting them as I dive into trends I observe. These sections do not carry the ‘Exclusive’ mark.

1. Pinterest’s new levels and reduced compensation bands

It’s not just Shopify which recently introduced new levels; Pinterest also has. The company’s HR team has been working on a new leveling system for around 8 months, I’ve learned from software engineers there. The new levels came into effect on 1 June.

Here are the levels before the adjustment: