Case Study: Lightning AI streamlines transparent hiring with Carta Total Comp

Lightning AI hires transparently with Carta Total Comp data

Lightning AI, founded in 2019, builds and trains machine learning models at scale. As an early-stage startup hiring in a tight labor market, the team was manually searching for compensation data for each role and needed a faster way to make competitive offers, support leveling, and maintain pay equity. Lightning AI turned to Carta Total Comp to get constant access to current compensation data.

With Carta Total Comp, Lightning AI implemented the tool within weeks and began using it to build leveling guides, set compensation bands, and explain its pay philosophy with data from over 20,000 companies. Alex Rose said the system streamlined the offer process, introduced automatic offer approvals, and removed the CEO from final compensation decisions, helping the team hire faster and retain top talent with greater confidence.

Lightning AI

Alex Rose

VP of People & Operations