Head of Total Rewards

Candidate; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 315,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Company bonus

401(k) plan

Paid holidays

Flexible PTO

Parental leave

EAP & wellbeing

Global travel coverage

Life/AD&D/STD/LTD insurance

FSA/HSA & medical/dental/vision

Job summary

Apollo.io in San Francisco is seeking a Director, Total Rewards to lead worldwide compensation, equity, and benefits programs. You will shape the strategy, design scalable models, and partner with Finance and Legal to ensure fair, compliant rewards across regions.

Reporting to the SVP, People, you’ll build a high-performing rewards team and embed AI-driven processes into daily operations to reward performance and retain top talent in a fast-growing SaaS company.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive HR experience in high-growth tech.
• 5+ years leading global compensation, equity and benefits.
• Hands-on AI fluency in compensation analysis and modeling.
• Strong knowledge of multi-country compensation law and pay equity.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and influence leadership.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evolve total rewards strategy globally.
• Design, pilot, and scale AI-enabled reward models.
• Evolve compensation architecture, leveling, and market pricing.
• Own equity framework across the employee lifecycle.
• Lead global benefits strategy.
• Develop incentive plans with Sales and Finance.
• Ensure pay governance, transparency, and compliance.
• Scale rewards operations with automated data and tooling.
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Payroll, Equity, and Talent Acquisition.
• Build and develop total rewards team with AI as standard.

Skills

Global compensation

Equity programs

Benefits design

AI in rewards

People leadership

Strategic thinking

Job description

Apollo.io is the leading go-to-market solution for revenue teams, trusted by over 500,000 companies and millions of users globally, from rapidly growing startups to some of the world's largest enterprises. Founded in 2015, the company is one of the fastest growing companies in SaaS, raising approximately $250 million to date and valued at $1.6 billion. Apollo.io provides sales and marketing teams with easy access to verified contact data for over 210 million B2B contacts and 35 million companies worldwide, along with tools to engage and convert these contacts in one unified platform. By helping revenue professionals find the most accurate contact information and automating the outreach process, Apollo.io turns prospects into customers.Apollo raised a series D in 2023 and is backed by top-tier investors, including Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and more, and counts the former President and COO of Hubspot, JD Sherman, among its board members.

Your Role and Impact

As we continue our rapid growth trajectory, we are seeking a forward-thinking and strategic Director, Total Rewards to join our People team. In this role, you will lead the strategy and execution of Apollo’s total rewards programs globally, covering compensation, equity, and benefits, and set the standard for how Apollo attracts, rewards, and keeps exceptional people. This role reports directly to the SVP, People and is a key member of the people leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

• Total Rewards Strategy: Evolve Apollo’s global compensation, equity, and benefits philosophy, aligned with company strategy, competitive positioning, and internal equity. Own the outcomes and report on them to the leadership team.
• Rewarding AI-Amplified Performance: Design, pilot, and scale new models for rewarding people whose output is amplified by new ways of working. Evaluate options such as impact-based pay, equity tied to demonstrated impact, AI compute or token budgets, and flexible level structures. Partner with the Head of Talent Management to define how individual impact is measured when agents do part of the work, and keep the result fair, affordable, and defensible.
• Compensation Architecture: Evolve job architecture, leveling, pay bands, and market pricing as roles change faster than annual cycles. Apply the Corporate Leveling Framework and benchmark against peers.
• Equity Strategy: Own the equity framework across the employee lifecycle, including new hire, refresh, and retention grants, in partnership with Finance and Legal. Model dilution and burn rate against plan.
• Global Benefits Strategy: Ensure benefits programs are market-competitive, scalable, and tailored to regional needs across our key global markets.
• Incentive Plans: Partner with Sales, RevOps, and Finance on variable compensation that rewards outcomes.
• Pay Governance and Compliance: Maintain pay equity, pay transparency, and compliance with compensation laws in every region where Apollo operates.
• Scalability and Systems: Leverage automated, scalable total rewards data, tools, and processes in our own rewards operations, such as market analysis, pay recommendations, and equity modeling.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Finance, Legal, Payroll, Equity, and Talent Acquisition teams to ensure we attract and retain top talent.
• Team Leadership: Build and develop a total rewards team, with AI capability as a standard part of how it works.

What We’re Looking For

• 12+ years of progressive HR experience, including 5+ years leading global compensation, equity, and benefits programs in high-growth tech environments.
• Original work in compensation: you have designed or piloted a non-standard approach, such as impact-based pay, compute or token budgets, or new equity structures, and can explain what worked and what did not. AI-native experience is a plus.
• Hands-on AI fluency: you use AI agents in your own work and have applied AI or automation to compensation analysis, modeling, or administration.
• Proven track record of scaling total rewards programs, systems, and processes in global, distributed organizations.
• Strong knowledge of multi-country compensation law, including pay transparency and pay equity.
• Highly analytical and systems-oriented, with deep expertise in benchmarking, equity programs, and benefits design.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity and set the approach on problems with no precedent.
• Experience influencing a leadership team and driving cross-functional work with Finance, Legal, and GTM leaders.
• Proven people leader who builds team capability.
• Strategic thinker who can also dive deep into execution and delivery.
• Transparent communicator with a collaborative mindset and bias for action.

The listed Pay Range reflects the total cash compensation inclusive of annual base salary and annual bonus as applicable. For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonus target and annual base salary for the role. This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Apollo and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors, including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location. Applicants interested in this role who are not located in the US may request the annual salary range for their location during the interview process.

Additional benefits for this role may include: equity; company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses; 401(k) plan; at least 10 paid holidays per year, flex PTO, and parental leave; employee assistance program and wellbeing benefits; global travel coverage; life/AD&D/STD/LTD insurance; FSA/HSA and medical, dental, and vision benefits.

San Francisco Pay Range$250,000—$315,000 USD

We are AI Native

Apollo.io is an AI-native company built on a culture of continuous improvement. We’re on the front lines of driving productivity for our customers—and we expect the same mindset from our team. If you're energized by finding smarter, faster ways to get things done using AI and automation, you'll thrive here.

Why You’ll Love Working at Apollo

At Apollo, we’re driven by a shared mission: to help our customers unlock their full revenue potential. That’s why we take extreme ownership of our work, move with focus and urgency, and learn voraciously to stay ahead.

We invest deeply in your growth, ensuring you have the resources, support, and autonomy toown your role and make a real impact