Compensation & Benefits Director

Cognite - AI for Industry • Austin, TX

9d

About The Position

Cognite is seeking a Compensation & Benefits Director to serve as the global owner of Cognite’s compensation philosophy & strategy, and operational governance. This is a high-impact, business-critical role at the intersection of strategy, financial rigor, and employee experience. The company has a global footprint spanning the US, Norway, India, Japan, Western Europe, and the UAE, with continued growth. The role involves evolving compensation and benefits frameworks to reinforce performance culture, attract and retain talent, and scale with growth. The position requires a hands-on subject matter expert and team player, comfortable with both long-term strategy and execution. The Director will report to the VP, People Operations & Rewards and serve as a subject matter expert to the CHRO and CFO.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive experience in Compensation, Total Rewards, or related disciplines, with global scope and direct program leadership.
• Expertise in international compensation practices and frameworks including executive pay, and incentive design — with experience managing equity pools, and Board-level reporting.
• Proven background in a high-growth technology or SaaS environment, including advisory experience at C-suite or Board level.
• Experience designing and governing compensation frameworks across multiple geographies, including pay transparency and compliance requirements.
• Hands-on operator: lead from the front, roll up sleeves, and take personal accountability for outcomes.
• Strong collaborator and genuine partner across People & Organization, Finance, and the business.
• Exceptional executive presence: structured, clear, and confident in front of the CHRO, CFO, and Board.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen — able to build models, stress-test scenarios, and translate data into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Strong AI literacy and HR technology acumen, with experience leveraging modern tools to drive efficiency and insight in the rewards function.
• High ownership mindset: thrive in ambiguity, move with urgency, and hold yourself and your team to a high standard.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with Global Mobility, including EOR models, tax, pay, and cross-border compliance requirements.
• Experience with compensation benchmarking platforms such as Pave, Radford, or similar tools.
• Experience designing compensation for technical, AI, and engineering talent markets.
• Experience supporting a company through IPO preparation, public-company transition, and/or M&A processes.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Cognite’s global compensation philosophy and strategy, ensuring alignment with business growth, talent strategy, and shareholder value creation.
• Architect scalable compensation frameworks across base salary, annual bonus, equity, and long-term incentive programs.
• Evolve compensation structures for new and existing geographies, ensuring market competitiveness, regulatory compliance, and alignment with local market dynamics.
• Drive performance differentiation through compensation design, linking directly to Cognite’s performance frameworks, ratings, and career architecture.
• Monitor global market trends, emerging compensation practices, and evolving pay transparency regulations — proactively adjusting Cognite’s approach to remain competitive and compliant.
• Ensure compensation governance frameworks are robust, auditable, and scalable across all geographies — appropriate for a company building toward public-company readiness.
• Prepare clear, structured materials for Board and Compensation Committee reviews.
• Design and continuously refine annual bonus structures and incentive frameworks across technical, commercial, and leadership populations.
• Partner with HRBP, business Operations, Finance, and executive leadership to ensure incentive models and commission structures align with Cognite’s global Compensation strategy.
• Develop compensation models tied to career architecture, creating clear progression pathways and meaningful reward differentiation across levels and functions.
• Own the end-to-end operational execution of global compensation programs: annual review cycles, bonus processing, equity planning, and promotion-related adjustments.
• Manage and scale automated compensation processes leveraging platforms such as Pave, Radford, and Cognite’s HRIS to ensure efficiency, accuracy, and governance.
• In alignment with HRBP, partner with Finance Partners to align compensation planning with headcount budgets & financial forecasts.
• Ensure all compensation processes, records, and decisions meet compliant auditability and controls standards.
• Define and track key Compensation metrics including market positioning, pay equity, compa-ratio distribution, retention impact, and incentive effectiveness.
• Interpret workforce analytics to proactively inform compensation strategy, identify talent risk, and surface actionable insights for senior leadership and the Board.
• Provide internal and external reporting and people data for respective audit and compliance requirements.
• Enhance practices in accordance with global pay transparency regulations and leverage data across HRIS, Finance, and benchmarking platforms to maintain a clear, real-time picture of Cognite’s compensation competitiveness.
• Serve as a trusted subject matter expert and advisor to the CHRO, CFO, and senior leadership on all compensation, equity, and mobility matters.
• Partner closely with People Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, and Finance to ensure the compensation strategy is embedded in hiring, performance, and planning processes.
• Collaborate across the People & Organization team as a genuine, hands-on partner — sharing knowledge, supporting others, and building the function’s credibility through delivery.
• Build effective partnerships with regional People Ops teams to ensure compensation & benefits is correctly reflected in our system (data accuracy and data management).

Benefits

• Competitive compensation
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Competitive health, dental, vision & disability coverages for employees and all dependents
• Unlimited PTO
• Paid Parental Leave Program
• Employee Referral Program

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed