Paying Engineers like Salespeople – Arman Hezarkhani, Tenex
Dec 19, 2025 · 14:53
Arman Hezarkhani, CTO of Tenex, describes his company's outcome-based compensation model where engineers are paid per story point completed, tying incentives directly to shipped value. He argues that hourly billing and salary with equity fail to motivate engineers to use AI tools effectively, leading to misaligned incentives. Tenex's system involves strategists scoping tickets and engineers receiving a flat base plus quarterly story-point bonuses. Risks like inflated story points, quality drops, and sharp elbows are mitigated by strategist counterbalance, multi-round QA, and a rigorous hiring process. He cites examples: a billboard company's image moderation AI built in two weeks at 96% accuracy, and a retail heat-mapping project with five parallel models. Arman asserts that AI amplifies existing talent, and current compensation must change to unlock potential.
