Sr Manager, Compensation Strategy

McDonald's Corporation; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 156,000 - 196,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus eligible

Long-term incentive

Benefits eligible

Job summary

McDonald’s seeks a Senior Manager, Compensation Strategy in Chicago to act as a strategic advisor within Total Rewards. The role emphasizes analytics, executive storytelling, and cross-functional leadership to address complex compensation and workforce challenges.

The position focuses on strategic projects and advisory work, translating data-driven insights into actionable recommendations for senior leadership and driving impact across the organization.

Qualifications

• Must have prior management consulting experience with a leading global firm.
• Demonstrated ability to structure and solve complex problems using quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Develop a point of view from data and communicate it through concise executive stories.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Consulting & Advisory: serve as trusted advisor to senior leaders on compensation and workforce matters.
• Advanced Analytics & Insights: lead sophisticated compensation analyses and benchmarking.
• Executive Storytelling & Influence: translate analytics into executive-ready narratives.
• Strategic & Special Projects: manage high-visibility compensation projects and advisory work.
• Compensation Strategy: develop frameworks that balance market competitiveness with internal equity.

Skills

Strategic consulting

Advanced analytics

Executive storytelling

Cross-functional leadership

Problem solving

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

Job Description:

Company Description:

McDonald’s is proud to be one of the most recognized brands in the world, with restaurants in over 100 countries that serve 70 million customers daily.We continue to operate from a position of strength. Our updated growth strategy is focused on staying ahead of what our customers want and realizing further growth potential. Our relentless ambition is why McDonald’s remains one of the world’s leading corporations after almost 70 years. Joining McDonald's means thinking big and preparing for a career that can have influence around the world.

At McDonald’s, we see every day as a chance to create positive impact. We lead through our values centered on inclusivity, service, integrity, community and family. From support of Ronald McDonald House to our Youth Opportunity project and sustainability initiatives, our values keep us dedicated to using our scale for good: good for our customers, people, industry and planet. We also offer a broad range of outstanding benefits including a sabbatical program, tuition assistance and flexible work arrangements.

Department Overview

The Senior Manager, Compensation Strategy is a strategic advisor within Total Rewards, combining deep compensation expertise with advanced analytics, structured problem solving, executive storytelling, and internal consulting to address complex business and workforce challenges.

This role is intentionally oriented toward strategic projects, advanced analytics, and executive advisory work, with a significant portion of time devoted to solving complex compensation and workforce questions rather than ongoing program administration. The Senior Manager will use compensation expertise as a foundation while applying analytical rigor, business judgment, and a consulting mindset to high-priority organizational challenges.

The Senior Manager will tackle complex and often ambiguous questions where the path forward is not predefined. This individual will frame problems, develop hypotheses, conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis, evaluate alternatives and trade-offs, and translate findings into clear, actionable recommendations for senior and executive leadership.

Success in this role requires intellectual curiosity, executive presence, strong business acumen, and an exceptional ability to transform complex analysis into simple, compelling stories that influence decisions and drive action.

Duties

• Strategic Consulting & Advisory: Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders and People teams on complex compensation and workforce matters. Bring a structured, hypothesis-driven approach to ambiguous business questions, helping leaders identify the right questions, understand implications and trade-offs, and make informed decisions.
• Advanced Analytics & Insights: Lead sophisticated compensation analyses, scenario modeling, benchmarking, and quantitative assessments. Go beyond reporting what happened to determine why it matters, what it means for the business, and what actions should follow.
• Executive Storytelling & Influence: Transform complex analytics into clear, compelling insights and executive-level narratives that articulate the “so what,” illuminate key implications and trade-offs, and enable leadership decision-making. Use data to develop a fact-based point of view and translate analytical complexity into simple, persuasive stories tailored to senior and executive audiences.
• Strategic & Special Projects: Lead a portfolio of high-priority, high-visibility projects across Compensation and Total Rewards, with significant emphasis on work outside traditional compensation program management. Structure ambiguous problems, develop hypotheses, conduct rigorous analysis, evaluate alternatives and trade-offs, and translate findings into clear recommendations for senior and executive leadership.
• Compensation Strategy: Develop and evaluate compensation strategies, frameworks, and approaches that support business and talent objectives while considering market competitiveness, internal equity, organizational priorities, and broader workforce implications.
• Executive Decision Support: Structure complex business and workforce questions into clear decision frameworks. Identify critical questions, synthesize quantitative and qualitative information, assess alternatives, and develop fact-based recommendations for leadership.
• Scenario Modeling: Develop models, scenarios, sensitivity analyses, and decision frameworks to evaluate compensation investments, workforce implications, potential outcomes, and alternative courses of action.
• Market & External Insights: Evaluate external compensation practices, market trends, and emerging workforce issues and translate them into insights regarding potential implications, risks, and opportunities for the organization.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner across Total Rewards, Finance, People, Strategy, and other functions to address enterprise challenges requiring compensation expertise, analytical rigor, and broader business judgment.
• Problem Solving & Innovation: Challenge established approaches when appropriate, identify opportunities to improve compensation strategy and decision-making, and develop pragmatic solutions that balance analytical rigor with business and organizational realities.
• Compensation Expertise: Maintain a strong understanding of compensation principles, market practices, and programs, serving as a subject-matter expert while applying that expertise to broader strategic and analytical questions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, finance, human resources, analytics, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
• Significant experience in human capital (plus if Compensation) or closely related strategic advisory work.
• Must have prior management consulting experience with a leading global strategy or management consulting firm.
• Demonstrated ability to structure and solve complex and ambiguous business problems using quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Exceptional analytical capabilities, including experience with scenario modeling, benchmarking, large and complex data sets, and translating analysis into actionable business insights.
• Strong ability to develop a point of view from data and communicate it through a concise, compelling executive story, rather than simply presenting analytical findings.
• Exceptional executive communication and presentation skills, including the ability to simplify complexity and clearly articulate insights, implications, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate as a trusted advisor and thought partner to senior leaders, influencing decisions through analytical rigor, business judgment, and effective communication.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional projects with significant senior leadership visibility and multiple stakeholders.
• Strong business and financial acumen, intellectual curiosity, and comfort challenging conventional thinking.
• Ability to move fluidly between strategic thinking, detailed analytical work, executive communication, and implementation.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity, independently structure work, establish priorities, and drive complex issues from initial question through analysis, recommendation, and decision.
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build credibility and influence across functions and levels of the organization.

Compensation

Bonus Eligible: YES

Long - Term Incentive: YES

Benefits Eligible: YES

Salary Range

The expected salary range for this role is $156,495.00 - $195,618.00per year

The above represents the expectedsalaryrange for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining yourpay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors.

The position offers health and welfare benefits, including but not limited to comprehensive health insurance, whichincludes medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental and vision coverage, as well as, life insurance.

Additional Information:

Benefits eligible: This position offers health and welfare benefits, including but not limited to comprehensive health insurance, which includes medical, prescription drug, mental health, dental and vision coverage, as well as, life insurance.

Bonus eligible: This position is eligible for a bonus, calculated based on individual and company performance.

Long term Incentive eligible: This position is eligible for stock or other equity grants pursuant to McDonald’s long-term incentive plan.

McDonald’s is an equal opportunity employer. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. McDonald’s provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities as part of the application or hiring process or to perform the essential functions of their job. If you need assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise feel you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact [e-mail]. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

McDonald’s provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, disability status, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, protected military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Nothing in this job posting or description should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment.