Senior Director, Compensation & Analytics

Cognite; Mesa (AZ); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with employer matching

Unlimited PTO

Parental Leave Program

Employee Referral Program

Job summary

Cognite seeks a Senior Director of Compensation & Analytics to own the compensation model, benchmarking, and global governance. You will lead a small, globally distributed team and partner with senior leaders to drive data-driven decisions across all markets.

The role combines strategy with hands-on implementation, including creating People dashboards, predictive attrition analytics, and scalable processes for compensation and benefits. Hybrid work from the Phoenix, AZ area is supported.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in compensation and/or people analytics.
• 3+ years leading a global team.
• Based in Phoenix, AZ or willing to relocate; hybrid work.

Responsibilities

• Own the evolution of Cognite's compensation model and benchmarking.
• Lead annual compensation cycles end-to-end.
• Develop predictive analytics dashboards for workforce metrics.
• Ensure pay transparency and regulatory compliance globally.

Skills

Compensation strategy

People analytics

Team leadership

M&A integration

Data dashboards

AI in HR

Tools

HiBob

HRIS

Job description

What Cognite is: Relentless to achieve

Cognite operates at the forefront of industrial digitalization, building AI, and data solutions that solve the world’s hardest, highest-impact problems. With unmatched industrial heritage and a comprehensive suite of AI capabilities, including low-code AI agents, Cognite accelerates the digital transformation to drive operational improvements.

We thrive in challenges. We challenge assumptions. We execute with speed and ownership. If you view obstacles as signals to step forward - not backwards - you’ll feel right at home here.

Our Moonshot is bold: Unlock $100B in customer value by 2035, and redefine how global industry works. Join us in this venture where AI and data meet ingenuity, and together, we will forge the path to a smarter, more connected industrial future.

We are seeking a Senior Director, Compensation & Analytics to serve as the global owner of Cognite’s compensation philosophy & strategy, and operational governance. This is a high-impact, business-critical role at the intersection of strategy, financial rigor, and employee experience.

Our global footprint spans the US (Phoenix, Houston, and multistate presence), Norway, India (Bangalore), Japan, Western Europe, and the UAE — with continued growth through new entities and global hiring. How we reward, deploy, and develop our talent across these markets is central to our ambition.

We're hiring a Senior Director, Compensation & Analytics to own and execute the evolution of the compensation model to attract and retain against revised scopes and to be the analytics backbone behind a data-driven org with a People Dashboard and predictive attrition analytics. This role will also help lead how People & Organization itself scales using AI.

You’ll build a small team (starting with one India-based direct report) designed for global coverage and analytical depth, and you’ll be the person in Cognite when compensation strategy is being discussed.

You will evolve the compensation and benefits frameworks that reinforce performance culture, attract and retain world-class talent, and scale with Cognite’s growth. You are a hands‑on subject matter expert and genuine team player — equally comfortable shaping long-term strategy and rolling up your sleeves to get things done. You will report directly to, and partner closely with, the VP, People Operations & Rewards, while serving as the subject matter expert to the CHRO and CFO alongside the broader People & Organization team.

Ownership

• Compensation Model Evolution: Lead the next evolution of Cognite's comp/equity retention framework, refining and strengthening it as its own dedicated workstream, ready to flex as integration milestones require. Refresh compensation benchmarking, Evolve our job architecture to align with post‑acquisition scopes and enhance bonus variables to support a high performance culture. Own Cognite's job architecture as the structural foundation of the compensation model.
• Annual Compensation Cycles: Full ownership of the annual compensation cycle end to end — setting the timeline, allocating budget, guiding managers, supporting calibration, and executing everything in HiBob for both salary review and promotions. Safeguard the organization's comp decisions, working with P&O Business Partners and Advisors to make sure promotion and pay recommendations are consistent.
• Pay Transparency & Compliance Governance: Own Cognite's core pay transparency procedures — pay ranges, disclosure practices, and internal communication of how pay decisions are made — as a standing governance function. Build the audit trail and compliance documentation needed to demonstrate pay equity and transparency practices under applicable regulations across our operating geographies (including emerging pay transparency requirements in the EU, UK, and select US states). Partner with Legal & Compliance to keep pay transparency practices current as regulatory requirements evolve, particularly through integration with Schneider Electric/AVEVA.
• External & ESG Reporting: Provide compensation‑related external reporting, including ESG disclosures tied to pay equity, gender/diversity pay gap reporting. Own the underlying data integrity and methodology behind any published pay‑equity or compensation‑related ESG metric.
• People Analytics & Predictive Infrastructure: Build and own the People Dashboard: the single source of truth for workforce, compensation, and attrition metrics used by SLT. Build a predictive attrition analytics capability, piloted by location and division, feeding directly into our 8% regrettable‑attrition target tracking. Own compensation and P&O reporting cadence — monthly, quarterly, and one‑year retrospective reads — through the integration window. Review and advocate for internal or external support/talent required to improve P&O reporting muscle.
• M&A & Integration: Serve as the compensation lead for job architecture mapping, pay philosophy harmonization, and equity conversion/replacement modeling with Schneider Electric/AVEVA if and when required. Support multi‑jurisdiction equity and option‑holder consent processes. Partner with Finance on comp‑related planning through and beyond close.

The Impact you bring to Cognite

• Minimum 10+ years in compensation and/or people analytics, including 3+ years leading a team, ideally in global technology, industrial software, or a company that has gone through AI‑driven market repositioning
• Direct experience with M&A compensation integration — job architecture mapping, equity harmonization, or retention program design during a live transaction
• Demonstrated ability to build predictive or dashboard‑based analytics capability from scratch (not just consume someone else’s dashboard)
• Comfort growing a globally distributed team, including a direct report based in a different country and time zone
• Fluency in modern comp benchmarking, including how to position against AI‑native / hypergrowth tech competitors, not just traditional industry peers
• Experience preparing materials for board compensation committees
• A genuine point of view on using AI tools (not just spreadsheets) to scale a comp/analytics function — you’ll be expected to model this, not just support it
• Based in or willing to relocate to the Phoenix, AZ area; hybrid work model

Nice to have

• Experience with HiBob or comparable HRIS, and interest in AI‑companion‑driven HR workflows
• Prior experience managing comp/analytics talent in India or another APAC market
• Experience through a public‑to‑private or strategic acquisition integration end‑to‑end (announcement through Day‑1 and beyond)

A snapshot of our many perks and benefits as a Cogniter

• Competitive compensation
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Competitive health, dental, vision & disability coverages for employees and all dependents
• Unlimited PTO
• Paid Parental Leave Program
• Employee Referral Program

Learn More About Us

• Impact 2025
• Cognite's Industrial AI: Moonshot
• We’re globally recognized domain experts with an international presence that spans Phoenix, Houston, Oslo Tokyo, Bengaluru, and Abu Dhabi.

Equal Opportunity

Cognite is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment at work and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive the same level of consideration for employment.