Total Rewards Manager

General Matter • Los Angeles, CA

16h

About The Position

General Matter is a U.S. uranium enrichment company working to restore domestic nuclear fuel production and make nuclear energy more affordable. The company describes its culture as mission-driven, urgent, accountable, and transparent, with a lean team applying a first-principles approach to nuclear fuel production.

The Total Rewards Manager will build, own, and operate the company’s compensation and benefits infrastructure while maturing its rewards strategy, philosophy, and implementation. This hands-on, strategic role will address compensation challenges for specialized roles and a workforce spanning engineers, plant operators, and technicians. The manager will analyze data, develop models, and make clear recommendations to leadership, and will partner across engineering, nuclear operations, infrastructure, construction, security, legal, finance, and people. The role uses Rippling, Carta, and Pave, and includes building tools with AI.

The manager will own compensation benchmarking, pay structures and review cycles; administer benefits programs, renewals, vendors, and budgets; oversee pay transparency and benefits compliance; and optimize systems, data, tools, documentation, and guidance. Extended hours and weekends may be required as necessary.

Requirements

• Evidence of exceptional ability, such as building rewards programs, creating models or tools, or solving problems without an established playbook.
• At least 5 years of Total Rewards experience, with hands-on experience in both compensation and benefits.
• Experience running benefits renewals, sourcing and implementing vendors, and building and managing a benefits budget.
• Hands-on experience with market benchmarking, compensation analysis, and supporting or running compensation review cycles.
• Working knowledge of pay transparency laws, including California requirements.
• Fluency with modern HR and compensation tools such as Rippling, Carta, and Pave.
• Experience using AI tools to build models, automations, or internal tools for compensation work.
• Strong analytical and Excel/Sheets modeling skills, with the ability to turn data into clear recommendations.
• Exemplary record of handling highly confidential information with discretion.
• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary.

Nice To Haves

• Experience administering equity and stock option programs, including grants, refreshes, vesting, and cap table coordination in Carta.
• Experience designing compensation and benefits for hourly or shift-based workforces, including shift differentials, overtime, and premium pay.
• Experience designing benefits and compensation for multiple states.
• Experience at a high-growth startup, especially as an early or first Total Rewards hire.
• Experience in nuclear, energy, aerospace/defense, advanced manufacturing, or another regulated industrial environment.

Responsibilities

• Manage salary surveys and develop defensible market benchmarks for specialized roles with limited survey coverage.
• Build and maintain compensation bands, leveling alignment, and guidance for offers, promotions, and market adjustments.
• Conduct compensation analysis, including internal equity reviews, offer modeling, and cost projections, and present recommendations to leadership.
• Run compensation review cycles, including budget modeling, manager guidance, calibration support, and communicating outcomes.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition on competitive offers and with Finance on headcount and compensation budgeting.
• Own medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and wellness benefits programs end to end.
• Lead annual benefits renewals, manage broker and carrier relationships, analyze plan performance and cost trends, and negotiate outcomes.
• Source, evaluate, and implement benefits vendors as company needs and workforce grow.
• Build and manage the benefits budget, forecast costs, and identify savings while maintaining quality.
• Plan and run open enrollment and help employees understand and use benefits.
• Manage pay transparency compliance across California and other hiring states, including salary ranges, pay data reporting, and recordkeeping.
• Maintain compliance with applicable benefits regulations, including ERISA, ACA, COBRA, and HIPAA, in partnership with brokers, administrators, and counsel.
• Handle compensation and employee data with strict confidentiality and judgment.
• Administer and optimize the Total Rewards systems, including Rippling, Carta, and Pave, to maintain clean, connected, trustworthy data.
• Use AI to build tools such as compensation calculators, offer modeling tools, cycle workflows, and leadership dashboards.
• Write documentation and guidance explaining compensation practices to managers and employees.

Benefits

• Long-term incentives in the form of stock options may be available to full-time hires.
• Access to medical coverage.
• Access to vision coverage.
• Access to dental coverage.
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

What This Job Offers

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