Senior Director, Total Rewards & People Ops

Copado•New Orleans, LA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

We are building a People function that operates as a true strategic partner to the business. The Senior Director of Total Rewards & People Ops will be the senior advisor shaping how we attract, reward, and retain talent in a competitive AI driven software market — and the architect of the operational backbone that lets the rest of the People function move with speed and confidence. This role delivers on our total compensation philosophy and equity strategy advising leaders, while also ensuring the systems, data, and infrastructure underneath every people decision are sound. This role sits on the People leadership team, reporting directly to the Chief People Officer.

Requirements

12+ years of progressive HR experience spanning both compensation/total rewards and HR operations, with demonstrated leadership at a senior level
A track record of advising leaders on compensation strategy, not just executing comp cycles
Technical expertise in compensation design — market pricing, job architecture, and pay equity — paired with command of HR systems
Experience managing equity programs at a private technology company
Demonstrated ability to influence and translate complex data into business recommendations
Experience scaling Total Rewards and People Operations at a B2B software company through a period of significant growth
Familiarity with multi-state and international compensation compliance
Prior experience at a private equity or venture-backed software company

Nice To Haves

Core Competencies: Business acumen — understands how the business makes money and translates it into people and organizational strategy
Core Competencies: Strategic advisor — brings an independent, data-grounded point of view to leadership
Core Competencies: Technical depth — commands the numbers and the systems
Core Competencies: Systems thinker — sees the full employee lifecycle and rewards ecosystem as connected, not siloed
Core Competencies: Operator's instinct, advisor's voice — balances hands-on ownership of infrastructure with the credibility to influence at the top of the house
Core Competencies: Future-focused — brings a forward-looking lens on how work, teams, and talent will evolve, including the impact of AI on organizational design

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic advisor on total compensation philosophy, pay positioning, and the trade-offs that come with scaling a competitive rewards strategy
Deliver on what is needed for the evolution of job architecture, leveling, and salary bands — ensuring our pay structure scales cleanly as the organization grows and reorganizes
Lead annual and mid-cycle compensation planning, partnering with the leadership team on merit philosophy, equity grants, budget allocation, and market positioning decisions
Own benefits strategy, bringing an external market lens to ensure our offering remains a genuine differentiator, not just a baseline
Partner with Finance on compensation cost modeling, headcount planning, and the financial implications of organizational design decisions
Lead pay equity strategy and analysis, advising leaders proactively rather than reactively while remaining compliant across all jurisdictions in which the company operates, partnering with Legal on emerging regulatory and pay transparency requirements
Own the People function's data and systems strategy — HRIS and the broader people technology stack, and the analytics that informs decision-making
Partner with the Senior Director of People Business Partners to deliver an organizational design built for the modern AI-agentic workforce, ensuring compensation, leveling, and job architecture evolve alongside how work itself is changing
Partner with Talent Acquisition on compensation and pay band decisioning when attracting talent, ensuring offers are competitive, internally consistent, and aligned to the company's pay philosophy
Lead People Operations with an automated, AI-driven point of view — proactively identifying where intelligent automation can create efficiency in People Team processes, from HRIS workflows to reporting and employee lifecycle administration