Director, Compensation

AAA Mountain West Group • Walnut Creek, CA

2d • $190,750 - $238,437 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Compensation is a strategic leader responsible for AAA’s enterprise-wide compensation ecosystem, including corporate and incentive compensation. The role leads the evolution and governance of job architecture, total compensation processes, salary structures, and variable-pay programs to help attract, motivate, and retain talent while supporting competitive, compliant, and fiscally responsible practices. The position partners with executive leadership, HR, Sales, Strategy, Finance, and the Head of Total Rewards, and oversees incentive operations and payroll-related accuracy. This is a hybrid role requiring three days per week in the Walnut Creek, California office.

Requirements

• 8–10+ years of related professional compensation experience, including leadership in corporate and variable compensation.
• Advanced professional knowledge of broad-based corporate rewards, including job evaluation, merit metrics, and compliance, as well as variable sales incentive design and mechanics.
• Demonstrated ability to manage high-volume transactional cycles and quick-turnaround payroll windows with operational accuracy.
• Advanced financial modeling and data-concepts tracking capability, with the ability to align compensation strategy with company objectives.
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills, including the ability to reconcile stakeholder views, manage senior business-line pushback, and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Proven expertise designing and governing cyclical merit processes, salary structures, and automated enterprise Incentive Compensation Management systems.
• Demonstrated experience directly advising senior leaders on pay equity, incentive compensation, and complex job architecture initiatives.

Nice To Haves

• Workday HCM experience.
• Educational background in Finance, Business, Operations, or a similar discipline.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and governance of job structures and catalogs, title and leveling frameworks, salary structures, internal equity, and corporate compensation programs.
• Govern compensation practices and programs, including pay-for-performance, pay transparency, market pricing, bonus structures, and regulatory compliance.
• Own cyclical compensation events, including focal reviews, broad-based promotions, equitable use of compensation elements, and equity allocations.
• Partner with executive leadership and HR to address complex talent attraction and retention challenges.
• Work with the Head of Total Rewards to implement the executive compensation roadmap and prepare materials for the Human Capital Committee, including market analysis and benchmarking.
• Direct geographic differential evaluations and market benchmarking using major surveys such as Mercer, Radford, and WTW, and maintain competitive pay grades and salary structures.
• Design, model, and implement compensation and performance matrices that connect employee performance to compensation adjustments and align financial models with budgets.
• Guide incentive compensation leaders in modeling and analyzing plans for fiscal responsibility, accurate forecasting, and measurable return on investment.
• Define incentive design principles, commission structures, and sales campaigns aligned with broader strategic objectives.
• Partner across Sales, Strategy, and Finance to evaluate incentive plan trade-offs and prevent plan cannibalization across product lines.
• Lead integrations with the Varicent processing tool to reduce manual work and streamline incentive processing.
• Oversee the bi-weekly, non-arrears short-term incentive calculation process and ensure data anomalies are resolved promptly.
• Drive internal systems automation and configuration to reduce manual file dependencies.
• Educate and influence management across disciplines in sensitive, complex situations while preserving organizational relationships.
• Maintain oversight of the compensation department budget and ensure compensation adjustments, promotions, and variable-pay structures contribute to enterprise results.

Benefits

• Opportunity to participate in an AAA discretionary annual incentive plan or other incentive plans, depending on position.
• $1-for-$1 401(k) company match up to 6% of eligible earnings per pay period.
• Medical, dental, vision, and wellness benefits.
• Paid holidays.
• Paid time off accrued monthly; depending on position, an additional 24 hours per year are earmarked for volunteer activities.
• Free AAA Classic Membership.
• AAA product discounts.
• Tuition reimbursement program.

What This Job Offers

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