Director, Total Rewards

Openkrill; United States; Hybrid; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid-hub model

Equity for all employees

Bonuses or commissions

Job summary

Engine is the AI-native platform for intelligent travel, offering equity in its compensation packages and a forward-looking Total Rewards strategy. You will lead rewards, equity education, and compensation architecture to attract and retain top talent as the company scales globally.

You’ll report to the CPO, collaborate with the ELT, and shape the compensation philosophy to align with business growth and market dynamics across multi-market hiring.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of Total Rewards experience in fast-paced, high-growth companies.
• Strategic, business-first orientation that links rewards to talent density and performance.
• Forward-looking market sense—anticipates AI impact on skills demand and comp.
• AI-native operator who uses AI tools for modeling, market analysis, and equity education.

Responsibilities

• Anticipate how AI is changing the workforce and what talent is worth.
• Evolve toward skills-based rewards and job architecture.
• Partner with functional leaders on the comp implications of automation and role redesign.
• Lead pay transparency and equity—build systems and analytics for equity across demographics.

Skills

Total Rewards

Strategy development

Analytics

Executive presence

AI-enabled analysis

Tools

Workday

Radford

Pave

Job description

About Engine

Engine is the AI-native platform for intelligent travel. For a decade, Engine has built the proprietary technology and supply behind modern business travel, serving over 40,000 customers and nearly 2 million travelers, along with leading travel and AI companies that build on Engine's infrastructure. One system powers business travel, group travel, human agents, and AI agents.

That work has earned recognition as one of Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators (2025), TravelTech's Reservation Platform of the Year (2026), and one of Built In's Best Places to Work (2020–2026).

We're looking for bold, ambitious people to help redefine how businesses manage and experience travel. Working here, you can expect exponential growth, an ambitious pace, full ownership, and high-caliber colleagues who push you to do the best work of your career. Every hire raises the bar.

Come outpace the ordinary and build the future of travel with us.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Engine is scaling fast and raising its talent bar. We need a Total Rewards leader who treats rewards as a strategic lever for talent density: attracting, motivating, and retaining the top talent that compounds Engine's advantage. This person takes our compensation, benefits, and equity to the next level and keeps us ahead of the market as we grow.

Critically, this is a forward-looking role. AI is reshaping workforce composition - which roles we need, the skills that matter, and how supply, demand, and pricing for talent are shifting. Our Total Rewards leader anticipates those changes and evolves our comp philosophy, architecture, and programs ahead of the curve.

You’ll report to the CPO, partner deeply with the ELT, and act as the trusted advisor on the most consequential comp and equity decisions Engine makes over the next three years.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

Rewards for the AI-Native Workforce

• Anticipate how AI is changing the workforce - fewer transactional roles, more specialized and AI-fluent ones - and what that means for skills demand, market supply, and what talent is worth.
• Evolve toward skills-based rewards and job architecture - keeping pace with how work and value are shifting, not just historical benchmarks.
• Partner with functional leaders on the comp implications of every automation, role redesign, and new-role decision - so we're pricing talent correctly as the workforce evolves.

Compensation

• Use rewards to incentivize high performance - differentiated, pay-for-impact compensation that attracts and retains top performers and reinforces a high-caliber team.
• Keep Engine ahead of the market - continuously benchmark and adjust philosophy, bands, and structures as we scale and as roles evolve, rather than setting and forgetting.
• Design for geographic scale - build comp philosophy and infrastructure that supports multi-market hiring, geo-differentiation strategy, and international expansion as Engine grows.
• Lead pay transparency and equity - build the systems, communications, and analytics that make pay bands and philosophy legible to employees, defensible to regulators, and audited continuously for equity across gender, race, geography, and tenure.

Equity & Benefits

• Keep benefits modern and culturally aligned - a differentiated, competitive offering that scales with the company and signals we invest in our people.
• Make equity legible and valued - build the education, tools, and communications infrastructure that helps every employee understand what their equity is worth, when to make decisions about it, and how it compounds as Engine grows.

Scale & Partnership

• Build the data, modeling, and market intelligence to make Total Rewards a predictive and forward-looking function.
• Ensure programs are competitive, compliant across states, and scalable - and remove single-points-of-failure.
• Modernize the comp tech stack - evaluate, implement, and optimize the platforms that turn Total Rewards from a spreadsheet-heavy function into a real-time, decision-support capability for leaders.
• Enable managers as compensation partners - build the training, tools, and talking points that let every manager have a confident, honest conversation about pay, equity, and total rewards with their team.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 10+ years of Total Rewards experience with a track record of building strategy in fast-paced, high-growth companies - not just administering cycles.
• A strategic, business-first orientation - connects rewards to talent density, retention of top performers, and company performance.
• Forward-looking market sense - anticipates how AI and shifting skill demand reshape workforce composition and comp, and moves ahead of the curve.
• AI-native operator - uses AI tools in their own work (comp modeling, market analysis, comms drafting, equity education) and thinks about how to bring AI-native rigor to the Total Rewards function itself.
• Deep compensation expertise - performance philosophy aligned, with deep understanding of skills architecture, comp banding, variable structures, and executive incentive strategy.
• Deep equity expertise - has architected Series C to exit-stage scenarios, with deep understanding of founder ownership dynamics, options-to-RSU transitions, dilution modeling, and executive equity strategy.
• Strong analytics - advanced modeling and fluency with modern comp/HR systems and market data (e.g., Workday, Radford, Pave).
• Executive presence and influence - a builder who operates hands‑on while setting and selling strategy, and a trusted advisor executive leaders turn to on their most complex people, comp, and equity questions.

CompensationOur compensation packages are based on several factors, including your experience, expertise, and location. In addition to a competitive base salary, all roles receive equity. Depending on the role, total compensation may also include an annual bonus. Your recruiter will share your complete compensation package as you move through the process.

Base Pay Range$225,000-$275,000 USD

The Engine Edge: Perks & Compensation

• Compensation: Competitive base pay tied to role and experience, with equity for all employees. Some roles are also eligible for bonuses or commissions.
• Benefits: Check out our full list at engine.com/culture
• Environments for Success: Different roles have different needs in terms of the environments that drive success which is why we have a hybrid-hub model. Whether you are in one of our amazing offices or fully remote, we’ll make sure you have what you need to succeed.

Perks and benefits may vary based on employment type, location, and more