Total Rewards Manager

Bestow; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Flexible remote/hybrid

100% paid-premium health/dental/vision

Lifestyle stipend

Parental leave

Remote work options and Dallas office

Job summary

Bestow is building a dedicated Total Rewards function and seeks a hands-on Total Rewards Manager to own pay, equity, and benefits end to end. You’ll configure Pave, benchmark against market data, and partner with Finance, Legal, and the board to scale with the company.

This role blends strategy with execution, shaping job leveling, merit and bonus cycles, equity administration, and geographic pay ranges as Bestow grows from 100 to 250 employees.

Qualifications

• 5-8+ years in compensation, total rewards, or a closely related HR discipline.
• Direct experience with equity administration at venture-backed or newly-public company.
• Hands-on experience with a comp benchmarking/planning platform (Pave).
• Experience with equity programs: grant sizing, refresh/retention, and board materials.
• Strong Excel/analytical capabilities and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Own Pave end to end: benchmark configuration, comp cycle setup, data integrity between BambooHR and Pave.
• Manage the Total Rewards assessment & roadmap: audit current comp/benefits philosophy, market positioning, tooling.
• Maintain and refresh salary bands: anchor benchmarking philosophy; review flagged band outliers by job family.
• Partner on job leveling: bring consistency to a leveling framework.
• Own the bi-annual merit, promotion & bonus cycle: design and execution in Pave with Finance budgets.
• Equity Administration: maintain equity database in collaboration with Legal and Finance.
• Manage overall equity program: market benchmarking, analytics, and end-to-end equity cycles.
• Assess geographic pay ranges: justify ranges as the workforce becomes distributed.
• Own benefits strategy: renewal strategy, plan design changes, broker collaboration.

Skills

Equity administration

Total rewards

Compensation

Job leveling

Equity analytics

Excel/analysis

Cross-functional partnership

Benefits strategy

Tools

Pave

Radford

BambooHR

Carta

Job description

ABOUT BESTOW

Life insurance is one of the world’s most important products. It’s also one of the hardest to build, distribute, and modernize. Bestow exists to change that.

Bestow is a leading vertical technology platform serving some of the largest and most innovative life insurers. Our platform unifies the fragmented, legacy value chain, enabling carriers to launch products in weeks instead of years. Carriers choose us to scale and operate at unprecedented speed, powered by AI and automation.

Bestow isn’t selling policies. We’re building the infrastructure that helps an entire industry move faster, reach more people, and deliver on its promise.

Backed by leading investors (Goldman Sachs, Hedosophia, NEA, Valar, 8VC) and trusted by major carriers, Bestow is powered by a team that moves with precision, purpose, and heart. If you want to help reimagine a centuries-old industry with lasting impact, join us.

Bestow offers flexible remote/hybrid work, meaningful benefits, equity, and substantial growth opportunities.

Bestow uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit E-Verify.gov.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Bestow is building a dedicated Total Rewards function for the first time. Today, compensation, equity, and benefits work is split across People, Finance, and Legal with no single owner. This role exists to own the full total rewards portfolio (pay, equity, and benefits) end to end, bring rigor to how Bestow benchmarks and communicates rewards, and partner closely with Finance, Legal, and the board’s compensation committee as Bestow scales.

This is a hands-on, builder role at a company still standing up its Total Rewards infrastructure. Expect to both set strategy and do the execution work (Pave configuration, equity modeling, benefits renewals) in year one.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

As the Total Rewards Manager, you will:

• Own Pave end to end: benchmark configuration (market cut, percentile, geographic tiers), comp cycle setup, and data integrity between BambooHR (HRIS) and Pave.

• Manage the Total Rewards Assessment & Roadmap: audit current comp and benefits philosophy, market positioning, and tooling.

• Maintain and refresh salary bands: anchor to a clear, consistently-applied benchmarking philosophy; review and resolve flagged band outliers by job family.

• Partner on job leveling: bring consistency to a leveling framework and support a more standardized leveling process.

• Own the bi-annual merit, promotion & bonus cycle: design and execution in Pave, partnering with Finance on budget and approval workflows.

• Equity Administration: partner closely with Legal and Finance teams to maintain an up to date equity database

• Manage overall equity program: ongoing market benchmarking of equity practices, equity analytics, and end-to-end execution of refresh and promotion equity cycles.

• Assess geographic pay ranges: make the case for them as Bestow’s workforce becomes more distributed.

• Own benefits strategy: annual renewal strategy, plan design changes, and new offering evaluation (e.g., lifestyle spending accounts, wellness perks, voluntary benefits), in partnership with the broker.

WHO YOU ARE

• Experienced: 5-8+ years in compensation, total rewards, or a closely related HR discipline, including direct experience with equity administration at a venture-backed or newly-public company.

• Ops-rooted: Ideally began in or spent time in people operations.

• Platform-fluent: Hands-on experience with a comp benchmarking/planning platform (Pave, Radford, or similar) and running end-to-end merit/comp cycles.

• Equity-fluent: Direct experience managing equity programs: grant sizing methodology, equity analysis, refresh/retention programs, Carta or similar cap table tools, and board/compensation committee facing materials.

• Benefits-savvy: Benefits strategy experience: renewals, broker management, and plan design decisions.

• Analytically sharp: Advanced Excel/analysis skills; comfort building and defending a compensation model from first principles rather than following a template.

• A strong partner: Excellent cross-functional partnership skills; this role works constantly with Finance and Legal, and needs to translate technical comp/equity concepts for managers and employees.

• Bonus points: Experience standing up a Total Rewards function from scratch at a similarly-sized company (~100-250 employees); familiarity with job architecture/leveling framework design; insurance, fintech, or other regulated-industry experience.

TOTAL REWARDS

At Bestow, we’re proud to be awarded for our team members, innovative products, and culture. Our standard benefits include:

• Competitive salary and equity based on role

• Policies and managers that support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave programs

• 100% paid-premium option for medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Lifestyle stipend to support your physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing

• Flexible work-from-home policy and open to remote

• Remote and WFH options, as well as a beautiful, state-of-the-art office in Dallas’ Deep Ellum, for those who prefer an office setting

• Employee-led diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives

Recent Employer Awards include:

• Best Place for Working Parents 2023 + 2024 + 2025

• Great Place to Work Certified, 2022 + 2023 + 2024 + 2025

• Built In Best Places to Work, 2022 + 2023 + 2025

• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Texas 2022 + 2023

• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Financial Services and Insurance 2022 + 2023 + 2024

We value diversity at Bestow. The company will hire, recruit, and promote regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, pregnancy or maternity, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law. We understand the importance of creating a safe and comfortable work environment and encourage individualism and authenticity in every team member.

Thanks for considering a job at Bestow!