Partner Rewards & Experience

News Break; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 119,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision care

Top-tier 401(k) plan with company-mirr

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

NewsBreak is seeking a Partner Rewards & Experience leader to build and run the HR Rewards engine. You will own annual performance and compensation cycles, oversee benefits administration, and shape total rewards, policies, and the employee experience.

This builder role requires turning cycles into reliable processes and turning data into actionable insights with HR, Finance, Legal and business leaders. You will craft onboarding experiences, drive engagement surveys, and communicate programs

Qualifications

• 7+ years in compensation, benefits, or HR COE.
• Experience building salary bands, benchmarking, bonus and equity programs.
• End-to-end experience managing annual performance and merit/bonus/equity cycles.
• Knowledge of US benefits regulations (FMLA, COBRA).
• Hands-on administration of US benefits via external vendors.
• Clear writer and engaging presenter; explain programs to employees and executives.

Responsibilities

• Own Total Rewards infrastructure: salary bands, equity grants, and costs.
• Run annual performance and compensation reviews end to end.
• Administer health, welfare and retirement plans; manage open enrollment.
• Own HR policies and update employee handbook with policy changes.
• Design onboarding and lead company-wide engagement initiatives.

Skills

Salary bands

Benchmarking

Bonus & equity

Benefits administration

Policy communication

Public speaking

Data confidentiality

Growth mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business/Finance

Tools

Workday

Lattice

Job description

About NewsBreak

Founded in 2015, NewsBreak is the Content Intelligence platform shaping the future content economy. With over 40 million monthly active users, our flagship platform delivers highly personalized local news and information powered by advanced AI, recommendation systems, and adtech.

Recognized by Fast Company as #32 on the Top Workplaces for Innovators, we’re proud to be Great Place to Work® certified and home to a dynamic team of technologists, product innovators, and business leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful challenges at scale.

Together, we reached unicorn status in 2021, and we remain committed to continuing this high-growth trajectory with the right team to fulfill our mission: building the infrastructure layer for content intelligence.

If you’re inspired to dream big, innovate fast, and make a difference, we’d love to hear from you! For more information, visit www.newsbreak.com/about

About the Role

As a core member of our growing HR team, you will help build NewsBreak's HR infrastructure from the ground up, supporting both our main business and newly incubated businesses. You won't just design and implement conventional HR programs; we want you to think outside the box and keep finding new ways to attract and retain top talent.

As Partner Rewards & Experience, you will build and run the engine behind how we rewards, develops and listens to people. You will own the annual performance and compensation review, benefits administration, total rewards infrastructure, HR policies, and employee experience such as onboarding experience and engagement.

We believe our policies, pay structure and benefits are a reflection of our culture. Rolling out a policy or a performance cycle can be purely operational: stating the facts clearly and moving on. We are looking for someone who goes further, a cultural ambassador within the HR who brings the values behind each program to life.

This is a builder role in a fast-moving start-up company. You will turn recurring cycles into reliable, well-documented processes, and turn people data into insights leaders act on. You will work closely with HR leaders, Finance, Legal and business leaders.

What you'll do

1. Total Rewards infrastructure
   • Review salary bands against market benchmark data and recommend range adjustments.
   • Build and maintain job architecture: job families, levels and leveling guidelines.
   • Run the annual equity refresh and administer the equity program (grants, vesting, employee communication) with Finance and Legal.
   • Track benefits cost, utilization and renewal trends for plan design.
2. Annual performance & compensation review
   • Own the annual performance review cycle: calendar, system setup, manager and employee enablement, completion tracking.
   • Design and run 360 feedback, facilitate performance calibration meetings
   • Own the promotion process: criteria, nominations, calibration and approvals.
   • Own the annual compensation review: merit, bonus and promotion budgets, guidelines matrix, modeling and manager recommendations, work in both Workday or any other related system/tools
3. Benefits administration
   • Administer health, welfare and retirement plans; lead annual open enrollment, carrier and broker coordination, and plan renewals.
   • Manage vendor SLAs, escalations and invoice reconciliation.
   • Coordinate benefits plan filings and notices (e.g., ACA reporting, COBRA) with the vendor and broker.
4. HR policies
   • Own HR policies including drafting, updating and maintaining the employee handbook and HR policies (compensation, leave, time off, expenses, remote work etc).
   • Partner with Legal on policy review and communicate changes clearly to employees and leaders.
   • Go beyond the facts when presenting policies, performance and pay programs: use case studies and real examples to show the culture and values behind them.
5. Employee experience & culture
   • Design and deliver new-hire onboarding covering business, products, mission and culture; coordinate leader speakers and measure new-hire experience.
   • Design and run the company-wide engagement survey; analyze results, share insights with leadership, and track action plans to completion.

What you'll bring

Required

• 7+ years in compensation, benefits, or HR COE
• Direct experience working on building and administrating salary band, benchmarking, bonus and equity program
• Experience managing annual performance and merit/bonus/equity refresh cycle end to end.
• Working knowledge of benefits regulations (e.g., FMLA, COBRA).
• Hands‑on experience administering US benefits programs through an external vendor/broker.
• Engaging, high‑energy presenter and clear writer; able to bring pay, performance and policy programs to life for employees and executives, not just explain the facts.
• High integrity and discretion with confidential data.
• A growth mindset: eager to learn, take on new areas and broaden your exposure in a fast-growing start‑up environment.
• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, Finance, Economics or related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred

• Equity/Sales compensation experience
• immigration knowledge
• Experience in a high‑growth tech or media company, including global or multi‑country teams.
• Savy with Claude, ChatGPT, and love to explore AI tools to build for efficiency
• Experience with systems and platforms such as Workday, Lattice
• CCP, CBP or SHRM-CP/SCP certification.
• Bilingual English / Mandarin is a plus for working with global teams.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary range: $119,000 – $179,000 (USD, annual)

We offer a competitive benefits package:

• Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family
• Top‑tier 401(k) plan with company matching
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Paid parental leave
• FSA and commuter benefits programs
• Team activity budget

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is listed below. Pay may vary based on a number of factors including job‑related skills, level, experience, geographic location and relevant education or training. At NewsBreak, we design our overall rewards package to attract top talents. Depending on the position, the role may also be eligible for discretionary bonus and options. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

Annual Base Pay Range

$119,000 — $179,000 USD

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