How we split project pay, and why it is visible to everyone
Every job at Bolteryx carries a payout pool that is divided between the people who deliver it. Here is the mechanic, and what it changed.
Bolteryx runs on an unusual compensation model, and people ask about it often enough that it is worth writing down.
Every job has a payout pool — a portion of the project value set aside for the people delivering it. When a job is assigned, that pool is divided into explicit percentage shares. Those shares are visible to everyone on the job, and the resulting amount lands in each person's wallet when the job completes.
Why percentages, not hours
Hourly billing rewards slowness. Fixed salary is indifferent to outcome. Percentage shares reward the thing we actually want: delivering the job well, together.
It also removes a conversation nobody enjoys. Nobody negotiates their worth on each project in a private meeting. The split is proposed when the job is assigned, and everyone on it can see it.
The approval step exists for a reason
Admins can assign jobs and propose splits. Those proposals wait for the CEO to approve before they take effect.
This is not distrust. It is that share allocation is the one decision where a well-meaning mistake compounds — an unfair split discovered three weeks in poisons a project. One person holding a consistent view across all jobs keeps it fair.
Approval usually takes under an hour. When it is rejected, the reason is attached and visible.
What it changed
Two things we did not expect.
First, people volunteer for the unglamorous parts of a job. When the pool is fixed and the split is agreed, the deployment pipeline is worth as much as the feature work.
Second, scope creep gets flagged early and by anyone. A developer who can see the payout pool has a direct interest in noticing when a client quietly doubles the scope. That conversation now happens in week two instead of week nine.
What we would change
The model struggles with very long engagements, where payouts arrive months after the work. We are piloting milestone releases for anything over twelve weeks.
It also does not handle someone joining a job halfway through as gracefully as it should. Reassignment recalculates from the pool, but the person who carried the first six weeks deserves better than a straight percentage. That is the next thing we fix.