Compensation manager

Watershed; San Francisco, New York (CA, NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

In-office four days per week

Flexible work arrangements

Job summary

Watershed is seeking a hands-on compensation leader to own global compensation planning and related tools. You will work across the U.S., EMEA, Australia, and Latin America to build models, validate benchmarks, run cycles, and educate employees and managers about pay and equity.

You will partner with Finance, People Operations, and leaders to shape strategy, orchestrate budgeting, and roll out programs. This role emphasizes automation, data quality, and cross-functional collaboration across time

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in compensation, with hands-on ownership of programs and cycles.
• Experience at technology companies, including SaaS, with cash and equity considerations.
• Strong fundamentals: market pricing, survey participation, job matching, and budgeting.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve compensation planning tools, models, and workflows.
• Run compensation cycles end to end: timelines, eligibility, budgeting, approvals, data validation.
• Lead global benchmarking: market data, survey participation, and benchmark maintenance.
• Build compensation understanding for employees and managers through guides and training.
• Advise partners on offers, promotions, and compensation questions with data-backed recommendations.
• Maintain accurate records and improve reporting with automation and AI while protecting data.

Skills

Compensation expertise

SaaS compensation

Market pricing knowledge

Advanced Excel

Cross-functional partnering

Tools

Spreadsheet software

Job description

About Watershed

Watershed is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb, Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for voluntary and regulatory reporting including CSRD, and drive real decarbonization. We are looking for team members who love product-building, want to work hard at a mission-oriented startup, and will collaborate with us in shaping the culture of a growing team.

We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Mexico City, and remote team members across the US and Europe. We hope that you'll be interested in joining us!

The role

You’ll lead Watershed’s global compensation program. You’ll be our sole dedicated compensation team member, taking ownership of an established, increasingly complex program across the U.S., EMEA, Australia, and Mexico City. This is a hands‑on individual contributor role reporting to our Head of People: you’ll build and check the models, validate market benchmarks, run compensation planning, and help employees understand their pay. You’ll bring sound judgment to decisions that balance competitiveness, performance, and financial discipline.

Reporting to the Head of People, you’ll partner closely with Finance, People Business Partners, Recruiting, People Operations, and business leaders. You’ll help shape compensation strategy through analysis and recommendations to the Head of People and founders. You’ll independently own execution of our programs including budgeting, planning, education and rollout.

A major focus will be our compensation tools and planning workflows. You’ll help us move away from manual work toward reliable data, well-tested systems, and a better experience for employees as well as the people making and communicating compensation outcomes.

You will

• Own and evolve compensation planning and tools. Lead the development and continuous improvement of planning tools, models, and workflows to strengthen reliability, usability, and efficiency. Identify opportunities to build new capabilities, reduce manual work, and recommend tools and process improvements that support the company’s evolving compensation needs.

• Run compensation cycles end to end. Manage timelines, eligibility, cash and equity modeling, budget tracking, approvals, data validation, and final handoffs. Partner with Finance and People Operations to ensure approved decisions are implemented accurately and on time.

• Lead global benchmarking. Validate market data and job matches, manage survey participation, and maintain compensation ranges across functions and geographies. Bring judgment to imperfect data, document assumptions, and flag where our benchmarks no longer reflect the talent markets we compete in.

• Build compensation understanding. Help employees understand their compensation and equity, equip managers to communicate decisions, and enable recruiters to explain our programs to candidates. Develop practical guides, FAQs, training, and cycle communications, and help deliver education across time zones.

• Be the compensation expert for business partners. Advise Recruiting, People Business Partners, and leaders on offers, promotions, role changes, and compensation questions. Make clear, data-backed recommendations and explain the trade-offs.

• Keep data and processes dependable. Maintain accurate compensation records, documented decision rules, and appropriate checks and access controls. Improve reporting and reduce recurring manual work using approved automation and AI, with careful protection of employee information and verification of outputs.

• Execute executive compensation programs. Prepare analyses and models, coordinate approvals, and carry approved executive compensation decisions through implementation in partnership with the Head of People, founders, Finance, and Legal.

• Coordinate across global and functional partners. Work with Finance, Legal, People Operations, and Revenue Operations on local requirements, compensation data, and implementation. Benefits and sales incentive design are owned elsewhere.

You have

• 7+ years of experience in compensation, or equivalent depth of expertise, including hands‑on ownership of compensation programs and cycles.

• Experience managing compensation programs at technology companies, including SaaS businesses, with an understanding of how cash and equity support hiring, performance, and retention.

• Strong compensation fundamentals: market pricing, survey participation, job matching, salary ranges, cash and equity compensation, and budget modeling.

• Experience implementing or materially improving compensation planning tools, including configuration, testing, rollout, and adoption. You can translate compensation rules into workflows.

• Advanced spreadsheet skills. You can build and audit complex models.

• Hands‑on experience with U.S. compensation practices and experience supporting compensation in at least one other country. You can learn unfamiliar local requirements and work effectively with regional experts. Experience in Mexico a strong plus!

• The ability to turn complex compensation concepts into clear employee education, manager guidance, and leadership recommendations.

• Practical fluency with AI tools and prompt engineering and a willingness to use them to improve analysis, documentation, and recurring workflows. You know how to validate outputs and protect sensitive compensation data.

• Strong project management, attention to detail, and discretion. You can prioritize independently, follow through, and deliver work that people trust.

• Comfort with ambiguity and a genuine interest in being a hands‑on, sole compensation specialist with strong cross‑functional partners.

Must be willing to work from an office 4 days per week (except for remote roles)

Watershed has hub offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Mexico City and satellite offices in Denver, Sydney, Paris, and Berlin. Where we have offices, employees are expected to be in office for 4 days per week. Certain jobs are open to being remote and will be specifically noted on the jobs page and in the job description if so.

What’s the interview process like?

It starts the same for every candidate: getting to know the team members through 1 to 2 conversations about Watershed, your experience, and your interests. Next steps can vary by role, but usual next steps are a skill or experience interview (e.g. a coding interview for an engineer, a portfolio review for a designer, deeper experience call for other roles) which leads to a virtual or in person interview panel. We prioritize transparency and lack of surprise throughout the process.

What if I need accommodations for my interview?

At Watershed, we are dedicated to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. We provide reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities, long‑term conditions, mental health needs, religious observances, neurodivergence, or pregnancy‑related support requirements. If you need assistance during your process, please contact your recruiter.