Director, Total Rewards & HRIS

Treelinebiosciences; Watertown (MA); On-site; USD 206,000 - 235,000; Full time

Job summary

Treeline Biosciences seeks a Director of Total Rewards & HRIS to lead compensation, benefits, and HRIS infrastructure as we scale. You will shape pay philosophy, ensure data integrity, and drive equity and governance across multi-country operations.

You will own benchmarking, annual merit cycles, and benefits strategy, partnering with senior leadership and Finance to align rewards with company goals and compliance requirements.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in compensation, benefits, and/or HRIS with leadership experience.
• Biotech, pharma, or life sciences exposure preferred.
• Experience in equity compensation program benchmarking.
• Hands-on HRIS implementation or administration experience.
• Ability to prepare compensation materials for board audiences.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain the compensation philosophy, pay structures, and job leveling.
• Lead annual benchmarking using biotech surveys and prepare Board materials.
• Conduct pay equity audits and address gaps proactively.
• Manage merit cycles and off-cycle reviews; review offers for internal equity.
• Benchmark benefits and manage statutory compliance across jurisdictions.
• Own annual benefits renewal, carrier selection, and open enrollment.
• Oversee HRIS administration and data integrity across systems.
• Ensure IRS and work authorization documentation is audit-ready.

Skills

Total Rewards Leadership

Compensation Benchmarking

HRIS Administration

Pay Equity

Executive Compensation

Data Analytics

Stakeholder Management

Tools

ADP

Job description

Director, Total Rewards & HRIS

About the Role

We are seeking a Director, Total Rewards & HRIS to help build and run the compensation, benefits, and HR systems infrastructure for our growing biotech organization. In this role, you will help shape our compensation philosophy and pay equity practices, implement and maintain our core HR systems, and ensure our people data and rewards programs are well-documented and audit-ready.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives on a team where they'll do hands-on execution as well as strategic partnership, and wants their work to directly influence how the company evaluates and rewards its people as we scale.

What You'll Do

Compensation & Total Rewards Strategy

• Partner with senior leadership to design and maintain the company's compensation philosophy, pay structures, and job leveling framework across research, clinical, and corporate functions
• Lead annual compensation benchmarking using industry-standard biotech/life sciences surveys (e.g., Radford Global Life Sciences Survey)
• Partner with senior leadership and Finance to prepare executive compensation analyses and materials for the Board Compensation Committee
• Conduct regular pay equity audits and propose solutions to address any identified gaps proactively
• Manage the annual merit cycle and off-cycle compensation review processes
• Review and recommend compensation for new hire offers to ensure alignment with pay bands and internal equity
• Benchmark benefits programs against biotech/life sciences market data and make recommendations to keep offerings competitive, alongside managing statutory compliance across all jurisdictions
• Own the annual benefits renewal process, including evaluating and selecting carriers/plans, negotiating rates and terms, and leading open enrollment execution and employee communications
• Manage relationships with benefits brokers and vendors, including contract negotiations and ongoing service management
• Support administration and oversight of the company's retirement (401(k)) program
• Serve as the point of escalation for employee benefits issues and leave-related matters (e.g., short-term/long-term disability, FMLA, and other leaves), coordinating with carriers, and leave administrators as needed to ensure smooth resolution

HRIS & People Data

• Own administration of the company's core HRIS platform, ensuring it scales for multi-country compliance and reporting needs
• Manage onboarding and offboarding processes within the HRIS and related systems, ensuring new hires and departing employees are accurately and promptly reflected across HR, benefits, and payroll-adjacent platforms
• Ensure accuracy and consistency of employee records across systems, including data that feeds into financial and SEC disclosures
• Build reporting and dashboards to support headcount planning, attrition analysis, and compensation modeling for leadership and the Board
• Serve as the internal systems expert, managing integrations between HRIS, benefits, and other people systems
• Ensure I-9 and work authorization documentation is complete, accurate, and organized for audit purposes

Compliance & Public Company Readiness

• Support preparation of compensation-related disclosures for SEC filings
• Maintain audit-ready documentation to support SOX internal controls testing related to compensation and benefits data
• Monitor pay equity, pay transparency, and pay data reporting obligations applicable to a public company, and help ensure the company stays ahead of them
• Monitor multi-country pay and benefits compliance requirements, partnering with EOR/PEO providers and outside counsel as needed
• Serve as a key HR point person for compliance reviews or other due diligence workstreams as needed

What You Bring

Required:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in compensation, benefits, and/or HRIS, including at least 3+ years in a total rewards leadership capacity
• Prior experience at a biotech, pharma, or life sciences company
• Working knowledge of equity compensation programs (options/RSUs) and how they factor into total rewards benchmarking
• Hands-on experience implementing or administering an HRIS platform (e.g., ADP)
• Demonstrated experience preparing compensation materials for board/comp committee audiences
• Excellent analytical skills with high attention to detail; advanced Excel skills for compensation analysis and benchmarking
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex compensation and benefits concepts for employees, managers, and executive audiences
• High degree of discretion and sound judgment in handling confidential and sensitive employee data
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams (e.g., merit cycle, open enrollment, HRIS projects, audits)
• Ability to thrive in a small, lean HR team — comfortable driving execution independently while partnering closely with senior leadership on strategy

This position is classified as exempt. The anticipated annual base salary range for candidates who will work in Watertown is $206,400 - $234,520. The final base salary offered to the successful candidate will be dependent upon several factors that may include but are not limited to the type and length of experience within the job, and other factors. Treeline Biosciences is a multi-state employer, and this salary range may not reflect positions that work in other cities or states.