Setting compensation bands

Set a band you can defend in the room

You are setting comp bands for a sector your company has not hired into before, or for a new geography, and the board will ask where the numbers came from. Your existing bands were calibrated against a different role mix. Recruiters keep saying a number is competitive, but they are also trying to close the placement, and a single coffee conversation samples fewer than ten data points you cannot reproduce. The alternatives cost more than they should: Mercer publishes once a year and lands 12 to 18 months stale for tens of thousands, and the Hays guide is a broad-band PDF you read once and file. You need a primary-source reference, sourced and dated, that holds up when finance pushes back.

How Tenure solves it

Tenure gives you the percentile distribution for every role and level across UAE and Saudi, with the evidence attached.

The Salary Explorer shows P25, median, and P75 in total monthly cash for each role, level, country, and city. Every row carries a source count, so you see how much evidence stands behind a band before you use it. Verified candidate submissions weigh above unverified ones, recent observations above older ones, and statistical outliers are excluded.

The source breakdown panel splits each band by where the data came from: job postings, JD signal mining, LinkedIn open-salary disclosures, and candidate submissions. A band built on a broad mix is sturdier than one leaning on a single channel.

CSV export carries the percentile range and the source count together, so the number and its evidence land in your comp planning sheet as one object. The methodology page documents the whole approach at a link you can hand to the board. No band publishes on fewer than three sources, the floor that keeps a thin row from becoming a defended number.

The workflow, step by step

Open the Salary Explorer and filter to your sector, level, and country. Expand the row to read the source breakdown panel and confirm the band rests on a broad enough mix. Check the source count: five or more verified sources is enough to set a range. Export the percentile range as CSV with the source count attached. Paste it into your comp planning sheet next to the role. When the band reaches the next leadership meeting, you defend it with the citation already attached: Pay Index, the refresh month, and the number of verified sources behind the figure. Setting a band you can defend takes less than a working day, not a procurement cycle. If the role mix you need sits below the publish threshold, the Explorer shows the limited-data marker rather than a smoothed guess, so you know exactly where the evidence runs thin.

Sample bands

The table at the foot of this page shows representative Investment Banking bands, pulled live from the same Pay Index the dashboard serves, so the marketing-surface numbers always match what a subscriber sees. The full view covers all 12 sectors across UAE and Saudi, broken out by level and city, with the source count on every row. Open the dashboard to filter to the exact role, level, and city you are banding.

FAQs

How do I set a compensation band for an Investment Banking VP in Dubai? Open the Salary Explorer, filter to Investment Banking, VP level, UAE, Dubai. Read the P25, median, and P75 for total monthly cash, then check the source count on the row before you commit. Bands with five or more verified sources are solid for setting a range; below five, Tenure flags the row as limited. Export the percentile range as CSV with the source count attached, so the figure and its evidence travel together into your comp planning sheet.

What is a defensible source for Gulf salary data? A defensible source is one you can name, date, and reproduce. Tenure publishes the source count on every band and a public methodology page documenting where the data comes from: live job postings, JD signal mining, LinkedIn open-salary disclosures, and verified candidate submissions. No band publishes on fewer than three sources. That is the difference between citing Pay Index, May 2026, 14 verified sources, and citing a recruiter range you cannot reproduce in the room.

How often should comp bands be refreshed? At least quarterly for stable roles, and monthly for roles where the market is moving, which in the Gulf right now includes anything touching Vision 2030 mandates. The Tenure Pay Index refreshes quarterly and timestamps every band, so you can see how fresh a number is before you anchor to it. An annual survey cannot tell you when a band last moved; a quarterly refresh with per-row dates can.

Take the band to the next planning cycle

Filter the Salary Explorer to the roles you are banding, export the percentile ranges with their source counts, and bring the citations into your next comp review. The methodology behind every figure is public at the methodology page.