Director, Compensation

AAA Mountain West Group • Walnut Creek, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Compensation is a strategic leader responsible for the enterprise-wide compensation ecosystem, including corporate and incentive compensation. The role leads job architecture and total compensation processes, oversees variable pay execution, and develops compensation objectives and procedures that support employee attraction, motivation, and retention. This is a hybrid position requiring three days per week in the Walnut Creek, California office.

The director leads corporate compensation architecture and governance, including job structures, title and level frameworks, salary structures, internal equity, market pricing, pay transparency, bonus structures, and compliance. The role owns cyclical compensation events and works with executive leadership, HR, and the Head of Total Rewards on talent challenges and the executive compensation roadmap. It also leads market benchmarking, geographic differential reviews, and the preparation of materials for the Human Capital Committee.

The role provides strategic oversight of variable compensation, guiding sales compensation leaders in incentive plan design, modeling, forecasting, and ROI analysis. It partners across Sales, Strategy, and Finance, oversees integration with the Varicent processing tool, and drives automation and operational accuracy for short-term incentive calculations and payroll-related processes. The director also manages the departmental compensation budget and collaborates with management across the organization.

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.
• Ability to evaluate situations conceptually and 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 advising senior leaders on sensitive pay equity, incentive compensation, and complex job architecture initiatives.
• Educational background in Finance, Business, Operations, or a similar discipline.

Nice To Haves

• Workday HCM experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and governance of job structures, job catalogs, title and leveling frameworks, salary structures, and internal equity.
• Design and administer corporate compensation programs, including pay-for-performance programs, pay transparency, market pricing, bonus structures, and regulatory compliance.
• Own cyclical compensation events, including focal review cycles, broad-based promotion frameworks, 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.
• Prepare materials for the Human Capital Committee, including market analysis and benchmarking related to executive programs.
• Direct geographic differential evaluations and market benchmarking using compensation surveys, and manage pay grades to maintain competitiveness.
• Design, model, and implement compensation and performance matrices aligned with employee performance and allocated budgets.
• Lead variable compensation strategy, including guidance on incentive plan modeling and analysis, fiscal responsibility, forecasting, and ROI.
• Define incentive design principles, commission structures, and targeted sales campaigns aligned with broader strategic objectives.
• Partner with Sales, Strategy, and Finance to evaluate incentive design trade-offs and prevent plan cannibalization across product lines.
• Lead integrations with Varicent to streamline incentive processing and reduce manual work.
• Oversee bi-weekly, non-arrears short-term incentive calculations and ensure data anomalies are resolved promptly and accurately.
• Drive automation and configuration of internal systems to reduce manual file dependencies.
• Collaborate with management across disciplines, addressing sensitive and complex matters while maintaining organizational relationships.
• Manage the departmental compensation budget and ensure compensation decisions support enterprise results.

Benefits

• AAA discretionary annual incentive plan or other incentive plans, depending on position
• 401(k) with a dollar-for-dollar company match up to 6% of eligible earnings per pay period
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Wellness program
• Paid holidays
• Paid time off accrued monthly
• Up to 24 additional hours per year earmarked for volunteer activities, depending on position
• 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