Hybrid Strategic Compensation Architect

Mellon Foundation; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 195,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

The Mellon Foundation seeks a Director, Human Resources Business Partner to lead compensation strategy, governance, and job architecture. This role partners with HR, Finance, Payroll, and external consultants to establish scalable compensation programs and ensure market-competitive, equitable pay aligned with the Foundation's mission.

Responsibilities include managing major compensation initiatives, developing governance frameworks, and driving annual compensation planning while maintaining data

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or related field.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in compensation, total rewards, HR consulting, or a related field.
• Experience designing or enhancing compensation programs, job architecture frameworks, salary structures, and compensation policies.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional projects from planning through implementation.
• Strong expertise in compensation benchmarking, market pricing, job evaluation, and workforce analytics.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with HRIS platforms and reporting tools.
• Exceptional analytical, communication, consulting, and stakeholder management skills.
• High degree of discretion, judgment, and commitment to confidentiality; CCP certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Director, Total Rewards to build and implement the Foundation's compensation strategy, philosophy, programs, and governance framework.
• Lead the development and maintenance of compensation structures, salary ranges, job families, career levels, and compensation guidelines.
• Design and document scalable compensation processes that support organizational growth and evolving workforce needs.
• Develop and maintain compensation policies, procedures, and decision-making frameworks that ensure consistency, transparency, and compliance.
• Support the development of Board and executive leadership compensation materials and analyses.
• Serve as the project manager for major compensation initiatives, including job architecture development, market pricing projects, compensation program redesigns, pay equity assessments, and annual compensation cycles.
• Build project plans, timelines, stakeholder engagement strategies, communication plans, and implementation frameworks for compensation initiatives.
• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams involving HR, Finance, Payroll, Legal, HRIS, and external consultants.
• Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing management of the Foundation's job architecture and leveling framework.
• Conduct job evaluations, organizational assessments, and position reviews to ensure consistency and internal equity.
• Establish and maintain methodologies for market pricing and compensation benchmarking.
• Analyze workforce data to identify compensation trends, compression concerns, pay equity considerations, and competitive positioning.
• Oversee day-to-day compensation processes and ensure operational excellence across compensation transactions and programs.
• Ensure compensation data integrity across HRIS, payroll, and reporting platforms.
• Provide guidance on compensation actions including hiring, promotions, transfers, reorganizations, and retention considerations.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to managers and HR colleagues on compensation policies, practices, and decision-making.
• Support and oversee annual compensation planning processes, including merit, promotional, and market adjustment programs.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, automation, accuracy, and scalability of compensation administration.
• Monitor compensation-related regulatory requirements and emerging best practices.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation and governance controls for compensation programs and decisions.
• Develop dashboards, reporting tools, and executive-level presentations that provide insights into compensation effectiveness and trends.
• Deliver training, education, and communication materials that improve manager understanding of compensation practices and philosophy.
• Build strong partnerships across Finance, Payroll, HRIS, Legal, and business functions to support effective program execution.

Skills

Advanced Excel

HRIS experience

Stakeholder management

Education

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

CCP certification preferred

Job description

The Mellon Foundation seeks a Director, Human Resources Business Partner to lead compensation strategy, governance, and job architecture. This role partners with HR, Finance, Payroll, and external consultants to establish scalable compensation programs and ensure market-competitive, equitable pay aligned with the Foundation's mission.

Responsibilities include managing major compensation initiatives, developing governance frameworks, and driving annual compensation planning while maintaining data