Total Rewards Lead

Decagon Decagon · Vertical AI · San Francisco, CA · People

This role is for a Total Rewards Lead at Decagon, a conversational AI platform company. The lead will build and own the company's compensation and benefits architecture, focusing on attracting, rewarding, and retaining talent as the company scales. Responsibilities include designing compensation philosophy, job architecture, leveling frameworks, equity programs, and benefits administration. The role requires significant experience in total rewards, compensation structures, and equity compensation, with a data-driven approach and strong communication skills. While the company is in the AI space, this role is focused on HR/Total Rewards, not direct AI/ML development.

What you'd actually do

  1. Design and own Decagon's total compensation philosophy, including salary bands, equity guidelines, bonus structures, and benefits programs
  2. Build and maintain a job architecture and leveling framework that creates consistency and clarity across the company
  3. Lead annual and mid-year compensation review cycles, partnering closely with Finance and People Business Partners
  4. Own all equity program administration — from grant processes and refresh cycles to employee education and vesting communications
  5. Manage our benefits programs end-to-end, including open enrollment, broker relationships, and ongoing plan design

Skills

Required

  • 8+ years of experience in compensation, benefits, or total rewards
  • experience building or rebuilding compensation structures, job architecture, and leveling frameworks
  • deep expertise in equity compensation (option plans, RSUs, refresh cycles)
  • experience designing and administering competitive benefits programs
  • data-driven approach using market data
  • experience partnering with Finance on headcount planning, comp accruals, and total compensation cost modeling
  • strong communication skills

Nice to have

  • leadership experience
  • experience scaling from ~100 to 500+ employees
  • experience with executive compensation and board-level reporting
  • supported international expansion
  • familiarity with HR tech and compensation tooling (Carta, Pave, Radford, Workday, Rippling, etc.)

What the JD emphasized

  • 8+ years of experience
  • built or significantly rebuilt compensation structures, job architecture, and leveling frameworks
  • deep expertise in equity compensation
  • design and administer competitive benefits programs
  • data-driven
  • build compelling, competitive offers