Director of Total Rewards

Chainguard

7d • $204,000 - $240,000 • Remote

About The Position

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk. The role, in a nutshell: We're looking for a Director of Total Rewards to own compensation and benefits strategy as Chainguard scales from a startup into its next phase of growth. This role will lead our Total Rewards team, managing our Compensation Manager and Benefits team, and will be responsible for setting the strategy that keeps us competitive as we compete for talent against some of the biggest names in tech. You'll partner closely with the business to build a total rewards approach that's both employee-first and cost-effective, while helping us extend our compensation and benefits programs into new countries as we expand internationally. This is a role with real ownership and runway. You'll shape how we think about pay, benefits, and rewards as the company roughly doubles in size over the next several years.

Requirements

• 8-10 years of progressive compensation and benefits experience, including 3+ years in a management capacity.
• Proven experience setting total rewards strategy, with a strong background in either compensation or benefits (and working knowledge of the other)
• Experience scaling total rewards programs at a high-growth SaaS or startup company, ideally through a growth stage comparable to scaling from roughly 1,000 to 3,000+ employees
• End-to-end experience running compensation cycles — job architecture, market pricing, merit/promotion planning, and bonus design
• Experience with equity program design and administration, including cap table fluency (Carta, Shareworks, or similar)
• Strong command of market pricing and benchmarking tools (Radford, Pave, Mercer, or similar)
• International experience required, particularly across EMEA; experience in Japan, Singapore, or South America is a strong plus
• Experience partnering with or managing an Employer of Record (EOR) for international employees
• Working knowledge of pay equity and compliance considerations across multi-state and international jurisdictions
• Strong track record managing and developing a team
• Comfort operating with some ambiguity and building process where it doesn't yet exist
• Relevant experience is valued over certifications

Nice To Haves

• If your experience is close but doesn't fulfill all requirements, please apply. We're building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring "Chainguardians" with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Responsibilities

• Own and set Chainguard's total rewards strategy across compensation and benefits
• Manage and develop the Total Rewards team
• Lead our approach to global compensation and benefits strategy as we expand into new international markets, including the UK, Canada, and Germany, with more countries to follow
• Partner with the business to balance employee experience with cost efficiency, identifying legacy programs or underutilized benefits that can be redesigned or retired without eroding our benefits-rich culture
• Stay ahead of market trends in compensation and benefits, helping Chainguard remain competitive for talent against major players in the market
• Oversee banding, market pricing, and merit cycles, in partnership with the Compensation Manager
• Advise leadership on comp and benefits strategy tied to headcount growth and cost management as the company scales
• Build scalable total rewards processes as the team and company grow

Benefits

• Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
• Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
• 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
• ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
• 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.

What This Job Offers

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