What Nua Group does

Nua Group is a San Francisco-based human resource consulting firm founded in 2017 by Joe Farris and Gerry Murphy after departing from senior leadership roles at larger HR consulting firms. The firm is structured as a privately held LLC (Nua Group LLC), is independently owned by its partners, and has no institutional, venture, or private equity backing — an ownership posture the founding partners have explicitly tied to their ability to deliver unbiased recommendations without internal revenue targets, vendor commissions, or sales quotas. As of 2025, Nua operates with a team in the 11-50 employee range and includes partners Elizabeth McFarlan Scott and a bench of named consultants, several of whom (e.g., Erin Richards) joined with prior in-house operating experience at technology companies such as Fitbit/Google. Geographic operation is California/USA, though client logos span US enterprise customers in multiple regions.

The firm delivers professional services across five distinct practice lines: Total Rewards (compensation, incentive, equity, sales compensation, benefits, and international rewards program design and management); Job Architecture (job families, leveling structures, career frameworks, and pay governance); HR Strategy & Operations (operating model design, service delivery models, workforce planning, and HR technology strategy); Embedded Support (interim leadership and practitioner integration directly into client teams); and AI Strategy & Activation (HR AI readiness, operating model redesign, and practical AI implementation). Nua explicitly does not sell or resell HR software, insurance, or benefits products, and does not derive commission from third-party vendors — this independence is the core of its value proposition and the primary differentiator versus larger consultancies.

Nua's go-to-market is sales-led and content-led: direct business development, referrals, inbound inquiries, blog and LinkedIn thought leadership, and speaking engagements at industry events such as PAVE's Total Rewards Live 2026. Pricing is custom per engagement scope and is not publicly disclosed. The firm serves mid-market and enterprise organizations, with particular focus on investor-backed and high-growth companies preparing for scale or liquidity events, and on organizations undergoing M&A or transformation. Named customer logos span Technology (Mozilla, Electronic Arts, Rakuten, Thunderbird, Slack, Yelp, Ancestry, Bill, Chargepoint, FLYR, Corsair), Healthcare (Recursion, Dignity Health, Grand Rounds), Retail (Allbirds, J.Crew, Les Schwab), and Food & Beverage (Sovos Brands). Revenue figures and contract values are not publicly disclosed.

Name

Nua Group

Legal name

Nua Group LLC

Website

https://nuahr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Nua Group is a San Francisco-based HR consulting firm founded in 2017 that delivers independent total rewards, job architecture, HR strategy, embedded support, and AI advisory services to mid-market and enterprise organizations across technology, healthcare, retail, and other sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

HR Consulting

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

HR Technology (HRIS/HCM) Advisory & Implementation (BPAHAGAG)

Keywords

• HR consulting services
• Total rewards advisory
• Job architecture design
• Compensation strategy consulting
• HR strategy operations

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. HR Consulting Services: Nua Group generates revenue through professional consulting engagements with client organizations. Services are delivered by experienced HR practitioners who work alongside client teams on projects spanning total rewards design, job architecture development, HR strategy, embedded support, and AI strategy. Engagements are typically project-based or ongoing advisory relationships with mid-market and enterprise clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Nua Group is an independent HR consulting firm that advises mid-market, enterprise, and investor-backed organizations across five service lines: Total Rewards (compensation, benefits, equity program design and management), Job Architecture (job families, career frameworks, leveling, pay governance), HR Strategy & Operations (operating model, processes, workforce planning), Embedded Support (interim HR leadership and project delivery inside client teams), and AI Strategy & Activation (AI readiness assessment and HR AI implementation). Engagements are delivered as project-based or ongoing advisory consulting work by senior practitioners rather than as software products.

Product overview

Nua Group offers a portfolio of five distinct HR consulting service lines: Total Rewards (compensation, benefits, and equity program design and management), Job Architecture (job families, career frameworks, leveling structures, and pay governance), HR Strategy & Operations (operating model design, HR processes, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness), Embedded Support (integrated consultants embedded within client teams for interim leadership and project delivery), and AI Strategy & Activation (AI readiness assessment, strategy development, and practical HR AI implementation). These services are delivered as consulting engagements rather than software products, with a focus on mid-market, enterprise, investor-backed, and high-growth organizations. Nua Group is independent and does not receive commissions from vendors, ensuring unbiased recommendations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Total Rewards Advisory, program design, and program management consulting for broad-based compensation, incentive and equity programs, sales compensation, employee benefits, career opportunity structures, and international workforce programs, delivered to mid-market and enterprise clients.
• Job Architecture Consulting on the development of job families, career frameworks, job leveling structures, career paths, pay structures, and governance models to support organizational decision-making for mid-market and enterprise organizations.
• HR Strategy & Operations Consulting for the design and optimization of HR operating models, service delivery models, HR processes, workforce planning approaches, HR technology strategies, and organizational effectiveness initiatives for mid-market and enterprise clients.
• Embedded Support Engagement of experienced HR and rewards practitioners who integrate directly into client teams to provide interim leadership, project delivery, specialized expertise, operational support, and additional capacity on a consulting basis.
• AI Strategy & Activation Consulting support for HR organizations adopting artificial intelligence, including AI readiness assessments, operating model design, process redesign, workforce implications, and practical AI implementation within HR functions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Client testimonials describe Nua's work in benefits delivery and compensation design as 'flawless' and the team as 'exceptional' and 'tremendous'

Named customers17 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• PAVEminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2025Nua Group partners with PAVE (a compensation intelligence platform) for industry events. Nua consultants Chelsea Penaloza and Erin Richards spoke at PAVE's Total Rewards Live 2026 conference on job architecture topics. This represents a thought leadership collaboration rather than a commercial partnership.
• PaveminorGTM or Marketing PartnerNua Group partnered with Pave (compensation intelligence platform) to co-develop a practical guide on compensation planning best practices. Nua contributed expertise to content development while Pave provided the distribution platform. The partnership serves lead generation for both parties.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Mercer: Global consulting leader in health, wealth, and career advisory with top-tier rewards consulting. Mercer is the largest direct incumbent against which Nua pitches its independent boutique alternative.
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW): Multinational advisory, broking, and solutions firm with deep Total Rewards and Talent practices. WTW is one of the Big 3 benefits/compensation incumbents that Nua explicitly positions itself against on independence.
• Aon: Global professional services firm with a major Human Capital practice covering total rewards and job architecture. Included because Aon, Mercer, and WTW form the dominant incumbents Nua competes to displace.
• Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm with a substantial Rewards & Benefits Solutions practice, a major broad incumbent competing across Nua's full service stack but at significantly larger scale.

Direct peers

• Pearl Meyer: Specialist compensation and total rewards consulting firm serving mid-market and enterprise clients. Pearl Meyer is the most direct boutique competitor to Nua Group in independent, vendor-neutral compensation advisory.
• Radford (Aon): Compensation data, benchmarking, and consulting business now under Aon, with strong tech-sector specialty. Direct adjacency to Nua's compensation technology and total rewards work for tech clients like Mozilla, Ancestry, Bill, and ChargePoint.
• Compensation Advisory Partners: Specialized executive and broad-based compensation consulting firm serving mid-cap and large public companies. Directly comparable to Nua's Total Rewards practice with similar vendor-independent positioning.
• Semler Brossy: Boutique executive compensation and human capital advisory firm focused on independent compensation consulting for public and pre-IPO companies. Closely overlaps Nua's total rewards and job architecture work, particularly for investor-backed clients.

Emerging players

• HRCI / HCI (Human Capital Institute): HR strategy, talent, and workforce planning advisory firm that publishes thought leadership alongside its consulting practice. Comparable to Nua on the HR Strategy & Operations and content-driven GTM dimensions.
• The Alexander Group: Specialized sales compensation and incentive design consulting firm with a similar boutique-but-deep-expertise profile to Nua, overlapping in the incentive compensation segment of Nua's Total Rewards practice.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nuagroup
• Xx.com/nuagroup
• Facebookfacebook.com/thenuagroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nua Group