CompBrief BY VELARION

Companies Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab (RKLB): executive pay, fiscal 2025

Free brief. Every figure links to the company’s own filing.

Velarion Intel: free for 3 days, no card →

Email me Rocket Lab’s executive pay brief as a PDF

You get it on this page the moment you ask; press Download and a copy goes to your email too. Every figure is cited to its filing.

After the PDF, up to three short notes on the deeper reports for this company. Reply “unsubscribe” to any of them, any time.

Also free: The Pay Desk, the weekly executive pay briefing.
CEO total pay$6,830,680CEO Peter Beck · source
Say-on-pay support90.51%Latest vote · source
CEO vs. named peers21st pct.Of 15 peer CEOs
CEO pay ratio88:1To the median employee · source

CEO pay, last three years

  • $962,714FY2023
  • $20,110,758FY2024
  • $6,830,680FY2025

CEO total pay was $6,830,680 in fiscal 2025, down from $20,110,758 in fiscal 2024.

FY2025: salary $800,000 · bonus $0 · stock awards $6,030,680 · option awards $0

Frequently asked questions

Who was the highest-paid executive at Rocket Lab in fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, Peter Beck (President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board) was the highest-paid executive at Rocket Lab in fiscal 2025, with total compensation of $6,830,680.
How does Rocket Lab's chief executive pay compare to its disclosed peer group?
As disclosed, Peter Beck's total compensation ranked at the 21st percentile of Rocket Lab's disclosed peer group.
What is Rocket Lab's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio?
As disclosed, Rocket Lab's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 88:1.
How did shareholders vote on Rocket Lab's executive compensation?
As disclosed, 90.51% of shareholders supported Rocket Lab's executive compensation in the latest say-on-pay vote.
How much does Rocket Lab spend in total on board compensation for fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, Rocket Lab reported total board compensation of $1,554,955 for fiscal 2025.

Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.

Full detail

Every table from the filing. Open any section.

Summary compensation table
Named executive officerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension / NQDCAll otherTotal
Peter Beck$800,000$0$6,030,680$0$0$0$0$6,830,680
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Adam Spice443,6300000011,460455,090
Chief Financial Officer
Arjun Kampani436,0000000011,460447,460
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Frank Klein400,0000000026,025426,025
Chief Operations Officer

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officerFY2025 totalFY2024 totalFY2023 totalΔ FY2024→2025
Peter Beck$6,830,680$20,110,758$962,714↓ −13,280,078
Adam Spice455,090733,040688,322↓ −277,950
Arjun Kampani447,4601,845,679601,634↓ −1,398,219
Frank Klein426,0259,578,445—↓ −9,152,420

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

Our executive compensation program is guided by our overarching philosophy of paying for demonstrable performance, striving to provide a competitive program that rewards the achievement of business objectives and aligns executive officers' interests with those of stockholders. We emphasize variable compensation, primarily through time-based restricted stock units (RSUs) and discretionary cash bonuses, to link pay with long-term stockholder value creation and annual performance.

CEO STI target (% of salary)—
CEO LTI target (% of salary)—
Independent consultantCompensia
Clawback policytrue
Anti-hedgingtrue
Anti-pledgingtrue
Equity grants and outstanding awards

Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025

ExecutiveAwardGrant dateThresholdTargetGrantedMaximumGrant-date fair value
Peter BeckRSU2025-11-15——132,426—$6,030,680

Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type

Named executive officerTime-vested (RSU)Performance-vested (PSU)Options / SARs% performance-vested
Peter Beck$6,030,680$0$00.0%

% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.

Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025

ExecutiveAwardShares unvestedExercise priceMarket value unvested
Arjun KampaniRSU77,370—$5,397,331
Arjun KampaniRSU110,298—7,694,388
Peter BeckRSU124,150—8,660,704
Adam SpiceRSU229,691—16,023,244
Peter BeckRSU315,750—22,026,720
Frank KleinRSU893,750—62,348,000
Director compensation
DirectorCash feesStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveAll otherTotal
Merline SaintilIndependent · Lead Independent Director · Nominating and Corporate Governance (Chair) · Compensation$105,000$183,150———$288,150
Edward FrankIndependent · Compensation (Chair) · Audit79,999183,150———263,149
Jon OlsonIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Nominating and Corporate Governance77,500183,150———260,650
Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno (Ret.)Independent · Nominating and Corporate Governance · Government Security75,055183,150———258,205
Kenneth PossenriedeIndependent · Audit · Compensation67,452183,150———250,602
Alex SluskyIndependent51,049183,150———234,199
Matt OckoNot independent · Not standing for re-election · Departed during FY00———0
Peter BeckEmployee director · Board Chair—————0

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer$50,000
Annual equity retainer$180,000
Per board meeting fee—
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)20,000 / 20,000 / 15,000
Stock ownership guideline—

Total cost of the board

ComponentFY2025
Cash retainers and fees$456,055
Equity awards (grant-date value)$1,098,900
All other compensation$0
Total cost of the board$1,554,955

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

Peer group, and who names Rocket Lab as a peer

Companies that benchmark against RKLB

2 companies name RKLB as a compensation peer

Each company listed discloses RKLB in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named RKLB in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.

Disclosed peer group — fiscal year 2025

The compensation peer group as the company disclosed it in its own proxy — the reference set behind the percentile above.

Peer reciprocity

The companies Rocket Lab names as compensation peers that name it back in their own disclosed peer groups.

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.

RankCompanyFYChief executiveSalaryStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveTotal
1AeroVironment2026Wahid Nawabi$1,118,829$13,339,715$0$767,609$15,253,775
2AST SpaceMobile2025Abel Avellan014,222,5000014,222,500
3Viasat2026Mark Dankberg1,406,53810,305,39002,450,00014,208,178
4BlackLine2025Owen Ryan524,23110,603,0670473,37811,614,676
5Mercury Systems2026William Ballhaus1,049,2698,099,08701,946,16011,131,048
6Kratos Defense & Security Solutions2025Eric DeMarco1,000,0008,244,00001,500,00010,832,739
7Macom Technology Solutions2025Stephen Daly815,0008,147,39201,138,16510,102,699
8Lucid Group2025Marc Winterhoff842,0007,720,6930675,0009,708,987
9Iridium Communications2025Matthew Desch1,047,5097,612,0820330,6209,013,522
10QuantumScape2025Siva Sivaram821,5387,547,987008,377,033
11Impinj2025Chris Diorio449,7706,643,537007,108,558
12Rocket Lab2025Peter Beck800,0006,030,680006,830,680
13AppFolio2025Shane Trigg550,0004,000,3070814,0005,438,904
14Loar Holdings2025Dirkson Charles950,00001,783,0471,147,3683,890,915
15Globalstar2025Paul Jacobs500,000200,000001,012,452

Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

Incentive design against the same peers

CompanyAnnual incentive payoutLong-term vehicle mixPSU measures include TSRCompensation consultant
Rocket Labnot disclosedRSU 100not disclosedCompensia
AeroVironment62%PSU 65 · RSU 35NoPay Governance
AppFolio148%PSU 60 · RSU 40Nonot disclosed
AST SpaceMobile95% of target%RSUs 50 · PSUs 50NoMeridian Compensation Partners, LLC
BlackLine90.1%RSU 50 · PSU 50Yes — Relative TSRCompensia
Globalstarnot disclosednot disclosedNoIndependent compensation consultant (name not disclosed)
Impinjnot disclosedRSU 50 · PSU 50Yes — TSR relative to S&P Semiconductor Select Industry IndexCompensia
Iridium Communicationsnot disclosedRSU 50 · PRSU 50not disclosedClearBridge
Kratos Defense & Security Solutionsnot disclosedRSU 50 · PSU 50NoBoard Advisory, LLC
Loar Holdingsnot disclosedOption 100not disclosednot disclosed
Lucid Groupnot disclosedPSU 60 · RSU 40not disclosedPay Governance LLC
Macom Technology Solutions103.5%PSU 82 · RSU 18Yes — Relative TSRPearl Meyer & Partners, LLC
Mercury Systemsnot disclosedPSU 60 · RSU 40Yes — Relative TSRMeridian Compensation Partners, LLC
QuantumScape100%PSU 70 · RSU 30NoCompensia
Viasat121%RSU 50 · PSU 25 · Cash LTI 25Yes — Relative Total Shareholder Return (TSR) vs. Russell 3000 IndexCompensia

Read from each company’s Compensation Discussion and Analysis: annual incentive payout as a percentage of target, the disclosed long-term vehicle mix, whether performance-share measures include a total shareholder return component, and the retained compensation consultant. “Not disclosed” appears only where the company’s filing does not state the item.

Say-on-pay history and pay ratio
Meeting yearMeeting dateForAgainstAbstainSupportOutcome
20262026-05-20319,120,48033,477,640972,01390.51%Passed
20252025-08-27240,340,77258,526,3652,124,25780.42%Passed
20242024-06-12245,635,4503,098,739928,74998.75%Passed
20232023-06-14231,348,87229,184,869766,59588.8%Passed

Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.

Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation

Meeting yearMeeting dateApproval — company’s computation
20262026-05-2090.51%a
20252025-08-2780.42%b
20242024-06-1298.75%c

a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Proposal Three—Non-Binding Advisory Vote to Approve the Compensation of Our Named Executive Officers The proposal to approve the compensation of our named executive officers, on a non-binding advisory basis, requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes properly cast "FOR" or "AGAINST" such proposal. || Abstentions: Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the results of this vote.”.

b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Vote Required The approval of this advisory non-binding proposal requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes properly cast at the Annual Meeting and entitled to vote thereon. || Abstentions: Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on this proposal.”.

c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and Broker non-votes will have no effect on the results of this vote.”.

Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.

CEO pay ratio

Ratio (CEO : median employee)88 : 1
CEO total compensation$6,830,680
Median employee compensation$78,031
Insider trades since the proxy

Every insider equity transaction reported on Form 4 after the 2025 proxy statement — acquisitions, dispositions, exercises, and withholdings — and therefore not reflected in any table in that document.

InsiderRoleTransaction dateCodeSharesPriceValueSecuritySource
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-10-01D140,157$0$0Derivative, Class A CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-10-01D15,200721,091,150CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-10-01D85,288716,046,254CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-10-01D39,669702,788,044CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-10-01A140,1571152,771CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D140,15700Derivative, Class A CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D6,70655367,388CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D37,950542,052,063CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D33,681531,794,807CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D14,26652745,595CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02D47,554512,438,588CommonForm 4 ↗
Adam SpiceChief Financial Officer2026-11-02A140,1571152,771CommonForm 4 ↗
Nina ArmagnoDirector2026-11-02D100555,501CommonForm 4 ↗
Nina ArmagnoDirector2026-11-02D2,30054124,973CommonForm 4 ↗
Nina ArmagnoDirector2026-11-02D3,00054160,656CommonForm 4 ↗
Nina ArmagnoDirector2026-11-02D1,5005378,946CommonForm 4 ↗
Nina ArmagnoDirector2026-11-02D4,02651206,571CommonForm 4 ↗

Transaction codes per Form 4: A acquisition · S open-market sale · F tax withholding · M option exercise · G gift. Value = shares × price as reported. Dividend-equivalent and fractional-share accrual rows (derivative Class A, under $10,000 and under 2,000 shares) are aggregated per date; every row appears in full below.

Sources (53 citations)

Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

  • Section 01, Peter Beck. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table” · page 31. As printed: 6,830,680. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Adam Spice. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table” · page 31. As printed: 455,090. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Arjun Kampani. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table” · page 31. As printed: 447,460. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Frank Klein. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “2025 Summary Compensation Table” · page 31. As printed: 426,025. View filing ↗
  • Section 03, Peter Beck RSU. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Grants of Plan-Based Awards Table for Fiscal Year 2025” · grants of plan-based awards table. View filing ↗
  • Section 07, pay ratio. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 88 : 1. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Merline Saintil. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 288,150. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Edward Frank. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 263,149. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Jon Olson. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 260,650. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno (Ret.). DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 258,205. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Kenneth Possenriede. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 250,602. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Alex Slusky. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 234,199. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Matt Ocko. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Peter Beck. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-10-01. Form 4, filed 2026-10-02. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-10-01. Form 4, filed 2026-10-02. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-10-01. Form 4, filed 2026-10-02. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-10-01. Form 4, filed 2026-10-02. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-10-01. Form 4, filed 2026-10-02. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Adam Spice 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Nina Armagno 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Nina Armagno 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Nina Armagno 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Nina Armagno 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 02, Nina Armagno 2026-11-02. Form 4, filed 2026-11-03. Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2026 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2026-05-21. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 90.51% (votes for as printed: 319,120,480). View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2025 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2025-08-29. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 80.42% (votes for as printed: 240,340,772). View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2024 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2024-06-14. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 98.75% (votes for as printed: 245,635,450). View filing ↗
  • Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
  • Section 03b vehicle mix (computed). Computed. RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).
  • Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 456,055 + equity 1,098,900 + all other 0 = 1,554,955, summed across the director compensation table rows.
  • AeroVironment, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-08-14. CEO total compensation as printed in AeroVironment's own proxy. As printed: 15,253,775. View filing ↗
  • AST SpaceMobile, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-28. CEO total compensation as printed in AST SpaceMobile's own proxy. As printed: 14,222,500. View filing ↗
  • Viasat, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-07-27. CEO total compensation as printed in Viasat's own proxy. As printed: 14,208,178. View filing ↗
  • BlackLine, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-25. CEO total compensation as printed in BlackLine's own proxy. As printed: 11,614,676. View filing ↗
  • Mercury Systems, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-09-17. CEO total compensation as printed in Mercury Systems's own proxy. As printed: 11,131,048. View filing ↗
  • Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-02. CEO total compensation as printed in Kratos Defense & Security Solutions's own proxy. As printed: 10,832,739. View filing ↗
  • Macom Technology Solutions, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-01-16. CEO total compensation as printed in Macom Technology Solutions's own proxy. As printed: 10,102,699. View filing ↗
  • Lucid Group, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-23. CEO total compensation as printed in Lucid Group's own proxy. As printed: 9,708,987. View filing ↗
  • Iridium Communications, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-02. CEO total compensation as printed in Iridium Communications's own proxy. As printed: 9,013,522. View filing ↗
  • QuantumScape, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-23. CEO total compensation as printed in QuantumScape's own proxy. As printed: 8,377,033. View filing ↗
  • Impinj, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-16. CEO total compensation as printed in Impinj's own proxy. As printed: 7,108,558. View filing ↗
  • Rocket Lab (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-06. CEO total compensation as printed in Rocket Lab's own proxy. As printed: 6,830,680. View filing ↗
  • AppFolio, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-28. CEO total compensation as printed in AppFolio's own proxy. As printed: 5,438,904. View filing ↗
  • Loar Holdings, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-14. CEO total compensation as printed in Loar Holdings's own proxy. As printed: 3,890,915. View filing ↗
  • Globalstar, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-02. CEO total compensation as printed in Globalstar's own proxy. As printed: 1,012,452. View filing ↗
  • Section 10a, AST SpaceMobile reciprocity. DEF 14A. AST SpaceMobile names Rocket Lab in its own disclosed peer group (read from its most recent proxy). View filing ↗
Get the full report — $299