Compensation Architect - Total Rewards

Mercor; Mumbai; On-site; INR 7,895,000 - 26,315,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is building a compensation and equity foundation from the ground up in Mumbai, India. We seek Total Rewards practitioners who can design compensation frameworks, equity programs, and global governance to attract and retain top talent.

You will own compensation design, merit and promotion processes, and work with executives to align pay with business goals while simplifying complex incentive structures for a growing, global workforce.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in total rewards or compensation design.
• Experience designing salary bands, leveling frameworks and bonus programs.
• Ability to defend pay decisions to executives and skeptical teams.
• Experience with equity programs, 409A valuations, and equity governance.

Responsibilities

• Design compensation philosophy and levels for a fast‑growing company.
• Lead equity program design, grant guidelines, and governance.
• Model and communicate equity value to candidates and employees.
• Partner with global teams to scale compensation for contractors and employees.

Skills

Compensation design

Equity program management

Benchmarking

Pay equity

Global compensation

Executive compensation

Job description

Mercor's People team is building its compensation and equity foundation from scratch. We want to think it through with people who have done it before.

We're looking for Total Rewards practitioners with depth in one or both of the following. Either one on its own is enough.

Compensation design & architecture

• Built salary bands, leveling frameworks, and job architecture from the ground up
• Owned an annual compensation cycle: merit planning, promotion decisions, bonus programs, equity refresh
• Benchmarked against a peer set you then had to defend to a skeptical exec team
• Designed incentive structures that were simple, credible, and changed behavior

Equity program management

• Designed option and RSU programs: grant guidelines, pool planning, vesting structures, refresh philosophy
• Worked through 409A valuations, plan governance, and grant administration at a venture-backed company
• Built the modeling and communication that lets candidates and employees understand what their equity is worth

Those two are what we screen on. Nothing below is required. If you have the whole Total Rewards picture, say so.

Also valuable

• Compensation philosophy, benchmarking methodology, pay equity and pay transparency
• Compensation design for a global or contractor workforce at scale
• Benefits program design, HRIS and compensation tooling
• Executive compensation, plan governance, or equity through IPO readiness

Context

Mercor is a Series C company at a $10B valuation, scaling from roughly 500 employees, with a large global contractor network alongside a growing full-time workforce. Nothing is settled yet: what the compensation philosophy should be, how levels map across very different functions, how equity gets granted and explained.

How this works

Applying starts with a short screen. If your background fits, we'll invite you to a paid conversation about a live question we're facing. You're paid for it whether or not anything follows.

Rate is $50-$200/hr depending on depth of experience. Engagements run a few hours at a time, scoped to one question.

We review every submission.