Director, Global Compensation & Strategy

Ultimate.ai; Colorado; Hybrid; USD 196,000 - 294,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Zendesk seeks a Director of Compensation to own strategy, governance and execution of global compensation programs. You will enable competitive pay decisions, support retention and growth, and drive scalable, equitable practices across regions.

You will lead analytics, policy, and systems, partnering with Finance, Legal, Payroll, HR, and executives to influence workforce planning, budget management, and talent strategy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required (HR, Business, Finance, Economics, or related field).
• 12+ years in global compensation, executive compensation, total rewards, analytics, or enterprise HR leadership.
• 5+ years in people leadership, including managing managers and scaling teams.
• Experience partnering with senior Finance, Legal, Payroll, HR, and business leaders on strategy and execution.
• Proven success building scalable compensation programs, playbooks, and governance frameworks.
• Experience with financial forecasting, budgeting, accruals, and compensation planning.
• Deep knowledge of compensation principles, market pricing, pay equity, job architecture, incentives, and compliance.
• Experience leading vendor strategy, including RFPs, negotiations, and contract reviews.
• Strong executive presence and ability to communicate complex issues to senior stakeholders.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity with disciplined accountability.
• Ability to handle highly confidential information with discretion.
• Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting data and turning insights into actionable recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Oversee global compensation function including advising, analytics, tools, policy governance and support.
• Develop and implement global compensation policies and procedures.
• Set strategies and operating models for pay decisions, market pricing, and annual cycles.
• Offer guidance on policy interpretation and exceptions for leaders and employees.
• Partner with Finance, Payroll, Legal, Talent Acquisition, and Total Rewards on planning and budgeting.
• Lead compensation analytics, benchmarking, pay equity, and executive reporting.
• Own compensation systems, workflow design, data integrity, and automation.
• Support executive compensation activities including offers and equity.
• Build forecasting for spend, merit cycles, promotions, and equity refreshes.
• Monitor program performance and compliance risks; take corrective action.
• Lead and develop the Global Compensation team.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Data-driven decisions

Executive communication

Stakeholder collaboration

People management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business, Finance, Economics, or related field

Job description

Zendesk seeks a Director of Compensation to own strategy, governance and execution of global compensation programs. You will enable competitive pay decisions, support retention and growth, and drive scalable, equitable practices across regions.

You will lead analytics, policy, and systems, partnering with Finance, Legal, Payroll, HR, and executives to influence workforce planning, budget management, and talent strategy.