Senior Equity Compensation Analyst

Unity; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health insurance

Commute subsidy

Employee stock ownership

Competitive retirement/pension plans

Generous vacation and personal days

Support for new parents through leave

Office food snacks

Mental Health and Wellbeing programs

Employee Resource Groups

Training and development programs

Volunteering and donation matching

Job summary

Unity is seeking a Staff Compensation Analyst in Austin, TX to own broad-based equity program design, end-to-end grant cycles, and budgeting across base, bonus, and equity. You will collaborate closely with Finance, HR and leadership to forecast, model, and optimize compensation costs while streamlining processes and maintaining compliance.

You will build scalable models for dilution, retention, and allocation changes, and you will drive standardization in reporting and communication of complex

Qualifications

• 7+ years in compensation, with deep experience in equity plan design and forecasting.
• Experience across multiple compensation disciplines — job architecture, market pricing, incentive design, or compliance.
• Experience owning a compensation budget or partnering with FP&A on forecasting.
• Builds models with documented assumptions and traceable logic for scenario testing.
• Strong program and project management skills with a track record of meeting hard deadlines.
• Change management and the ability to translate technical equity or finance concepts for non-technical audiences.
• Comfort with ambiguous problems and returning with defensible recommendations.
• AI-curious, with hands-on experience using AI tools to improve speed or quality of work.

Responsibilities

• Own broad-based equity program architecture end to end — grant guidelines, new-hire sizing, refresh logic, and exception framework.
• Build and maintain models driving program strategy: retention and attrition risk, dilution, grant sizing scenarios, and allocation shifts.
• Own the exception framework and surface patterns when exceptions signal a broken guideline.
• Anticipate regulatory, audit, and employee relations exposure in program design.
• Own compensation expense planning across base, bonus, and equity — annual forecasts and in-cycle re-forecasts.
• Serve as the compensation team's primary interface to Finance and carry budget negotiations.
• Own equity budget management — burn rate, overhang, dilution, and cost forecasting.
• Set the standard for variance reporting with clear drivers and deltas.
• Build scenario models for pricing tradeoffs and budget decisions.
• Own end-to-end execution of the monthly equity grant cycle and related materials.
• Manage program timelines, dependencies, and stakeholder deliverables with built-in compliance.
• Lead change management for new or updated programs and develop audience-calibrated communications and training.
• Balance speed, rigor, and simplicity across programs and retire unnecessary complexity.
• Move across portfolio priorities and own problems rather than merely supporting them.
• Frame unfamiliar problems, choose approaches, and provide actionable recommendations.
• Build transferable tools and processes so moving on doesn't cost the team what was built.

Skills

Equity design

Financial modeling

Forecasting

Budget management

Cross-functional collaboration

Program management

Change management

Communication

AI tools

Job description

The Staff Compensation Analyst is the senior individual contributor on the Compensation Programs & Strategy team, working directly with the Director on the team's most complex and highest-stakes work. The role's primary ownership is equity and compensation financial planning—designing the broad-based (non-executive) equity program, running the monthly grant cycle end to end, and owning the budget and forecast across base, bonus, and equity. Beyond that core, the role carries breadth by design: it takes on the most complex open problem in the portfolio at any given time, because the judgment that makes it work in equity is the same judgment that makes it work anywhere in compensation.

What You'll Be Doing

Equity Program Design & Modeling

• Own the broad-based equity program architecture end to end — grant guidelines, new-hire sizing, refresh logic, and the exception framework — designed to hold up as headcount, geography mix, and stock price change
• Build and maintain the models that drive program strategy: retention and attrition risk (unvested hold power), dilution, grant sizing scenarios, and shifts in allocation approach (participation-based vs. performance-based) under ambiguous parameters
• Own the exception framework rather than the exceptions — define what qualifies, set the approval path, and surface the pattern when exceptions start signaling a broken guideline
• Anticipate regulatory, audit, and employee relations exposure in program design

Compensation Financial Planning

• Own compensation expense planning across base, bonus, and equity — annual forecast submission, in-cycle re-forecasts, cadenced tracking of actuals to plan, and reallocation decisions as business conditions shift
• Serve as the compensation team's primary interface to Finance: build the numbers, own the narrative behind them, and carry budget negotiations alongside the Director
• Own equity budget management — pool availability, burn rate, overhang, dilution — and partner with Finance and Accounting on stock-based compensation expense forecasting, holding the connection between what we can grant and what it costs the P&L
• Set the standard for variance reporting: explain drivers alongside deltas, and surface risk early enough that there's still a decision to make
• Build the scenario models that price tradeoffs, so budget conversations start from options rather than a single number

Program Execution

• Own end-to-end execution of the compensation programs this role holds, including the monthly equity grant cycle — share requests, supporting materials, and approval routing
• Manage program timelines, dependencies, and stakeholder deliverables, with consistency and compliance built into the process rather than checked at the end
• Lead change management for new or updated programs, guidelines, and policies, and develop audience-calibrated communications and training for each
• Balance speed, rigor, and simplicity across the programs this role owns — actively retire complexity, consolidate one-off processes, and choose the simplest design that survives audit

Range

• Move across the compensation portfolio as priorities shift — job architecture, market pricing methodology, incentive design, compliance response — taking full ownership of the problem rather than support of it
• Operate with the judgment to work an unfamiliar problem: frame it, choose an approach, and bring a recommendation rather than a set of questions
• Build in a way that transfers — documented logic, working tools, and someone else able to run it — so moving on from a workstream doesn't cost the team what was built

Partnership & Standards

• Primary compensation partner to Finance, Equity Operations, and Systems — owning the relationships rather than responding to them, and driving alignment on the data and platform decisions that compensation programs depend on
• Go-to equity subject matter expert for Recruiting, Legal, HRBPs, and business leaders
• Drive cross-functional alignment on program decisions — bring the recommendation, resolve the disagreement, elevate only what genuinely needs the Director
• Set the standard for compensation modeling and analysis on the team: review others' work for structure and defensibility, and own whether a number is ready to go in front of Finance leadership or the Board
• Build the tools and repeatable processes the team runs on — decision frameworks, models, and documentation that make outcomes consistent regardless of who executes them
• Coach across the team on program judgment, tradeoff framing, and how to tell the story behind the numbers

What We're Looking for

• 7+ years in compensation, with deep experience in equity plan design, administration, financial modeling, and forecasting
• Demonstrated range across other compensation disciplines — job architecture, market pricing, incentive design, or compliance
• Experience owning a compensation budget or partnering directly with FP&A on compensation forecasting
• Builds models others can inherit: documented assumptions, traceable logic, structured for scenario testing
• Strong program and project management skills, with a track record owning recurring operational cycles against hard deadlines
• Change management and communications experience — able to translate technical equity or comp finance concepts for non-technical audiences
• Comfortable being handed an ambiguous problem with no established process and returning with a defensible recommendation
• AI-curious, with hands-on experience using AI tools (we use Claude) to improve speed or quality of work — or strong interest in building that muscle

Base Salary Range

We determine the base salary for this role based on your primary work location:

Zone A: $140,900 - $211,300

Zone B: $159,200- $238,800

Zone C: $178,900- $268,300

This range reflects the anticipated base salary for this position. Beyond base salary, this role may be eligible for equity awards and participation in our company incentive plans (such as annual discretionary bonuses or sales commissions). The final offer amount will depend on several factors, including geographic location and the candidate’s relevant experience, professional background, and skill set.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, life, and disability insurance
• Commute subsidy
• Employee stock ownership
• Competitive retirement/pension plans
• Generous vacation and personal days
• Support for new parents through leave and family-care programs
• Office food snacks
• Mental Health and Wellbeing programs and support
• Employee Resource Groups
• Global Employee Assistance Program
• Training and development programs
• Volunteering and donation matching program

Life at Unity

Unity [NYSE: U] is the world’s leading game engine, powering play for more than 3 billion consumers each month. The top mobile games in the world, the most played PC indie titles, the most innovative console games, and virtually all of the top XR and Web Games are developed, deployed, and grown in Unity. Unity also enables teams across industries like automotive, manufacturing, and healthcare to design, simulate, and collaborate in 3 D — closing the gap between ideas and reality. For more information, please visit www.unity.com.

Unity is a proud equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment and celebrate our employees across age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law. Our differences are strengths that enable us to support the growing and evolving needs of our customers, partners, and collaborators.

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This position requires the incumbent to have a sufficient knowledge of English to have professional verbal and written exchanges in this language since the performance of the duties related to this position requires frequent and regular communication with colleagues and partners located worldwide and whose common language is English.

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