Director, Head of Compensation

Samsung; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA) is seeking a Head of Compensation to lead the design, governance, and execution of the company’s compensation programs.

This executive role will own merit, promotion, and long-term incentive planning, market research, analytics, and day-to-day operations while building and guiding a team of compensation professionals. The Head of Compensation will champion AI-enabled workflows, align programs with global governance, and collaborate with HRBPs, Legal, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, Analytics, Finance, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience.
• 3+ years of people management experience.
• Experience leading annual compensation cycles (merit, bonus, promotion) end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary compensation expert and trusted advisor on pay strategy, competitiveness, and trends.
• Lead compensation programs and processes, including merit, promotion, and long-term incentive planning and governance.
• Manage executive compensation matters, offers, and retention agreements.
• Design, model, budget, and administer long-term incentive programs with cross-functional partners.
• Own end-to-end short-term incentive design, payout modeling, and communications.
• Direct annual merit, bonus, and promotion cycles with budget and system configuration.
• Lead market research and analytics, survey management, and job architecture maintenance.
• Partner with HRBPs, Recruiting, and Legal on executive compensation requests and agreements.
• Oversee pay equity compliance and periodic reviews of targeted populations.

Skills

Leadership

Compensation design & governance

Analytics & market research

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR / Business / Analytics / Finance

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

Position Summary

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), the U.S. Sales and Marketing subsidiary, is a leader in mobile technologies, consumer electronics, home appliances, enterprise solutions and networks systems. For more than four decades, Samsung has driven innovation, economic growth and workforce opportunity across the United States-investing over $100 billion and employing more than 20,000 people nationwide. By integrating our large portfolio of products, services and AI technology, we're creating smarter, sustainable and more connected experiences that empower people to live better. SEA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. To learn more, visit Samsung.com. For the latest news, visit news.samsung.com/us.

Role and Responsibilities

Samsung Electronics America (SEA) is seeking a Head of Compensation to lead the design, governance, and execution of the company's compensation programs. Reporting to the Head of Total Rewards, this role owns short-term and long-term incentive planning, the annual compensation planning cycle, market research, analytics, and day-to-day compensation operations, while managing and developing a team of compensation consultants. This is a highly visible role that serves as a subject matter expert and thought partner to the Head of Total Rewards and the broader People leadership team, and acts as the dedicated compensation lead for the People (HR) function itself. The Head of Compensation will also champion AI adoption across the compensation function, modernizing workflows, tools, and practices to increase speed, accuracy, and insight.

• Serve as the primary compensation subject matter expert and trusted advisor to the Head of Total Rewards and the People leadership team on pay strategy, competitiveness, and emerging trends.
• Lead compensation programs and processes, including our annual merit, promotion and long-term incentive program, from securing budget, award planning, executive review/approval, effective communications and system administration
• Manage executive compensation, including offers to Senior Directors and above, acting allowances and retention agreements
• Lead the design, modeling, budgeting, and administration of long-term incentive programs, including eligibility, grant strategy, vesting, and plan governance in partnership with Legal, Finance, and Total Rewards leadership.
• Own the end-to-end design and execution of short-term incentive programs on quarterly and semi-annual cycles, including payout modeling, processing and manager/employee communications.
• Direct the annual merit increase, bonus, and promotion cycles - including budget development, guideline design, system configuration, calibration support, and executive reporting.
• Provide strategic leadership for market research and analysis, directing survey management (survey participation, peer group development, reporting, application) to develop and maintain innovative, compliant, and market-leading compensation programs. Oversee Job architecture and leveling, and salary structure maintenance.
• Be a trusted partner and work closely with HRBPs, Executive Recruiting, and Legal on executive compensation requests such as job evaluation, compensation review and analysis, executive offers and agreements
• Support periodic and ad-hoc reviews of targeted populations to review pay relative to internal and external benchmarks and, where applicable, recommend adjustment
• Oversee compensation operations, including payout support and compliance with pay equity and pay transparency requirements.
• Ensure all compensation programs comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws (e.g., pay transparency, pay equity) and align with Samsung's global compensation philosophy and governance standards.
• Manage, coach, and develop a high-performing team of compensation consultants/analysts; set priorities, allocate workload across concurrent cycles, and build depth and succession within the team.
• Establish standards, training, and documentation that raise the technical rigor and consistency of the compensation function.
• Identify, pilot, and scale AI-enabled tools and workflows across compensation modeling, analytics, market pricing, and reporting; act as the team's champion for responsible and effective AI adoption.
• Continuously evaluate compensation processes for automation and efficiency opportunities, partnering with HRIS/People Analytics and IT to implement scalable solutions.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Analytics, Finance, or a related field or equivalent practical experience, Advanced degree a plus.
• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, including direct experience designing and administering short-term and long-term incentive plans.
• 3+ years of people management experience, leading compensation analysts, consultants, or a similar team.
• Demonstrated experience leading annual compensation cycles (merit, bonus, promotion) end-