Head of Total Rewards

Notion•San Francisco, CA

13d•$315,000 - $360,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Notion is seeking a Head of Total Rewards to join their People Leadership Team and report to the Chief People Officer. This role is responsible for reimagining the company's total rewards philosophy to support rapid scaling, a competitive market, and the integration of AI into work processes. The Head of Total Rewards will lead a team across compensation, equity, and benefits, partnering with C-Suite, Finance, Recruiting, and the Compensation Committee. Key responsibilities include executive compensation, building operational systems (tooling, data, processes, governance) for speed and precision, and ensuring risk, compliance, and scale are considered. The ideal candidate is a high-agency builder who takes ownership and operates with urgency. This role is based in San Francisco with an expectation of in-office work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

Requirements

10+ years of experience leading compensation and equity programs in high-growth technology companies, including meaningful scope at senior/executive levels.
Proven ability to design compensation philosophies and architectures (job structures, market pricing, bands/ranges, governance) that scale with the business.
Deep experience with executive compensation and working with senior leadership and Boards/Compensation Committees.
Strong analytical capability paired with great judgment—able to move from complex data to simple, high-quality decisions.
A builder’s mindset: comfortable creating systems, processes, and tools from scratch, and iterating quickly based on feedback and outcomes.
High agency and ownership: you take initiative, own the outcome, and create momentum with urgency.
High standards for craft and clarity in communication; able to influence at all levels with directness and empathy.
Comfort operating globally, with an understanding of how to adapt frameworks across markets while maintaining coherence.
Curiosity and willingness to adopt AI tools to work smarter and deliver better results.

Nice To Haves

Experience building (or significantly modernizing) compensation tooling and workflows using Notion, BI, and/or HR systems—and leveraging AI to improve speed and quality.
Exposure to public-company readiness work or experience operating in environments with higher governance expectations.
Experience partnering with Finance on modeling, budgeting, and long-range planning for comp and equity programs.

Responsibilities

Set the vision for Total Rewards as a talent-density lever.
Define and evolve a clear compensation and equity philosophy that supports strategy, values, and operating model.
Design programs that drive clarity, motivation, and retention for high performers while maintaining internal equity and external competitiveness.
Reimagine the compensation architecture, including job/leveling alignment, pay bands, market pricing strategy, and decision frameworks.
Build mechanisms for fast, high-quality compensation decisions (offers, promotions, internal mobility, retention, and exceptions).
Lead equity strategy across the employee lifecycle, including the equity framework and refresh strategy in partnership with Finance and Legal.
Establish clear narratives and guidelines for understanding equity.
Own executive compensation and partner with senior leadership and the Board/Compensation Committee to design and deliver executive compensation programs and governance.
Prepare materials, analyses, and recommendations for the Compensation Committee.
Build AI-forward total rewards tooling, designing and shipping systems to automate workflows, improve data quality, and increase decision velocity.
Identify opportunities for AI to enhance benchmarking, insights, scenario modeling, communications, and manager enablement.
Establish metrics and dashboards to monitor competitiveness, equity, spend, and program effectiveness.
Ensure compensation governance is scalable and compliant across geographies, partnering with Legal and Finance on risk management and controls.
Support company scaling activities by ensuring compensation practices, documentation, and governance meet evolving expectations.
Lead, grow, and develop the Total Rewards team across compensation, equity, and benefits.
Coach cross-functional partners and leaders on compensation decision-making.
Create communication strategies and enablement to make compensation and equity easier to understand for leaders and employees.
Build trust through transparent frameworks, thoughtful education, and direct guidance.