Compensation & Benefits Director

Cognite - AI for Industry • Phoenix, AZ

7d • Hybrid

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 role involves evolving the compensation and benefits frameworks that reinforce performance culture, attract and retain world-class talent, and scale with Cognite’s growth. The position reports directly to the VP, People Operations & Rewards, and serves as the subject matter expert to the CHRO and CFO alongside the broader People & Organization team. The global footprint spans the US (Phoenix, Houston, and multistate presence), Norway, India (Bangalore), Japan, Western Europe, and the UAE.

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.
• 3-4 days Hybrid in Tempe office, AZ, with willingness to travel if required.

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