Head of Total Rewards

Verda; Helsinki; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Office in Helsinki

Job summary

Verda is building a European AI cloud and is seeking a Head of Total Rewards to lay the foundations of its global rewards function.

You will define compensation, benefits, equity, and job architecture, design scalable frameworks and salary bands, benchmark markets, and partner with People, Finance and Legal as we scale internationally.

This role combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution in Helsinki's hybrid setup.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits, or related field.
• Experience designing compensation frameworks in growing international organizations.
• Strong data analysis and market benchmarking experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and own Verda's global Total Rewards strategy, including compensation, benefits, and job architecture foundations.
• Design scalable compensation frameworks, salary bands, and governance processes.
• Lead compensation benchmarking and market analysis to ensure internal equity and external competitiveness.
• Build and evolve global benefits offerings in collaboration with vendors and stakeholders.
• Support workforce planning and budgeting through compensation analytics across countries.
• Establish scalable governance and systems for a growing Total Rewards function.

Skills

Total Rewards

Compensation & Benefits

Equity/Stock compensation

Job architecture

Pay equity

Data analytics

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Tools

Ravio

Figures

Mercer

Radford

Pave

Job description

At Verda, we're building a fully featured European AI cloud - with everything needed to train, experiment with, and deploy AI models at scale. We are a full-stack AI infrastructure company, meaning we design, operate, and optimize the compute powering modern AI workloads across training and inference. Our infrastructure runs on 100% renewable energy, helping build a more sustainable AI ecosystem. Join Verda while it's still being built - not once it's finished.

About The Role

As we continue to scale internationally, we are looking for a Head of Total Rewards to build the foundations of our global rewards function. This is not a role where you'll inherit a mature compensation team, established frameworks, and years of historical processes. Instead, you'll start with the fundamentals - creating the structures, principles, and programs that will support Verda as we grow from a few hundred employees today into a significantly larger global organization.

You will be responsible for defining how we approach compensation, benefits, equity, and rewards globally. Working closely with People, Finance, Legal and leadership teams, you will build scalable frameworks that enable us to attract, retain, and reward exceptional talent while maintaining fairness, transparency, and operational simplicity.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building from scratch, balancing strategy with execution, and creating long-term foundations rather than simply maintaining existing programs.

Your Responsibilities

You will define and own Verda's global Total Rewards strategy, building the compensation, benefits, and job architecture foundations that support our next phase of growth.

You will design scalable compensation frameworks, job levels, salary bands, and governance processes that enable consistent, transparent, and data-driven reward decisions across the company.

You will lead compensation benchmarking and market analysis, ensuring we remain competitive while maintaining internal equity and alignment with our reward philosophy.

You will build and evolve our global benefits offering, partnering with vendors and internal stakeholders to create programs that support employee wellbeing and business objectives.

Working closely with Finance, Talent Acquisition, and People Operations, you will support workforce planning, budgeting, and hiring decisions through compensation analytics and market insights.

As we expand internationally, you will shape our approach to compensation and benefits across multiple countries, balancing global consistency with local market realities.

Finally, you will establish the systems, processes, and governance that will allow the Total Rewards function to scale alongside the business.

Your key competencies

• 8+ years of experience in Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits, Reward Consulting, or a related field
• Experience designing and implementing compensation frameworks in growing international organizations
• Solid expertise in compensation benchmarking, salary structures, job architecture, leveling frameworks, equity/option schemes and benefits strategy
• Strong analytical skills and experience working with compensation data, workforce analytics, and financial models
• Experience partnering with senior leaders and executives on compensation and workforce decisions
• Strong understanding of compensation governance, pay equity, and reward best practices
• Experience working across multiple countries and compensation markets
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands‑on execution
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Builder mindset with a passion for creating scalable foundations from the ground up

Nice to have

• Experience in a technology, cloud, AI, or scale‑up environment
• Experience supporting organizations through periods of rapid international growth
• Experience with equity programs, share schemes, and long‑term incentive plans
• Familiarity with compensation platforms such as Ravio, Figures, Mercer, Radford, Pave, or similar
• Experience leveraging AI and automation to improve reward analytics and processes

Practicalities

• Location: Helsinki
• Hybrid mode: 3 days per week in the office
• Employment type: Full-time and permanent
• Reporting line: VP People

What's Next

We're building fast and this role needs the right person behind it. There's no artificial deadline, but when we find who we're looking for, we move.

If this sounds like your next move, apply now. Please submit your application through our Careers page. We don't accept applications sent by email.