Senior Compensation Manager

We’re hiring a Senior Compensation Manager to serve as a senior individual contributor and trusted expert on our People team. This role is designed for someone who brings deep compensation expertise, exercises strong independent judgment, and thrives with high autonomy and broad ownership.

This role needs an experienced practitioner who:

• operates as a SME,
• leads significant, enterprise-wide initiatives, and
• influences outcomes across our function.

In this role, you will own and evolve our compensation programs end-to-end, partnering closely with our teams across: People Business Partners (PBPs), Talent Acquisition, Finance, and Legal.

This is a high impact IC role that reports into our Senior Director of Total Rewards and People Operations, and it comes with high visibility, established trust, and the ability to shape how we attract, retain, and reward talent at a global scale.

What you’ll do

Act as the company’s compensation expert

• Serve as the primary subject matter expert for compensation at dbt Labs, applying deep knowledge to complex and high impact decisions
• Lead and contribute to the development of compensation principles, structures, and programs that support company goals
• Apply sound judgment to ambiguous, novel, or nuanced compensation challenges

Own compensation strategy and execution

• Design, maintain, and evolve global compensation bands across functions, levels, and geographies
• Lead annual benchmarking efforts using Radford, Pave, and other market data sources as well as manage software tools and systems
• Ensure cash and equity programs are competitive, equitable, and aligned with our values

Drive significant programs and projects

• Own the end to end planning and execution of company-wide merit and promotion cycles
• Build and maintain sophisticated models for salary planning, equity refresh strategy, burn-rate monitoring, and retention risk analysis
• Lead compensation diligence and modeling for new country expansion and organizational change

Partner across the business

• You will be the senior compensation partner to our PBPs, Talent Acquisition, and functional leaders. Our bar for partnership is high and we expect our team to lead by example.
• Advise on complex compensation scenarios including new-hire offers, promotions, internal mobility, and exception cases
• Communicate advanced compensation concepts clearly to diverse audiences and influence decision-making

Operate with rigor, integrity, and independence

• Partner closely with finance on planning, forecasting, and compensation assumptions
• Support TR leader in compensation committee and BOD materials as needed
• Own compensation governance and compliance as we scale globally, ensuring alignment with local regulations and local talent expectations

Build for scale

• Maintain and evolve global Total Rewards documentation to ensure clarity and transparency
• Identify and implement improvements to compensation processes, tools, and policies
• Anticipate future needs and proactively design solutions that scale with our business

What success looks like

• You are recognized internally as the compensation expert and go-to advisor for complex decisions
• Leaders rely on your judgment, consistency, and accuracy to navigate ambiguous or high-stakes compensation topics
• Compensation programs are principled, scalable, and well understood across the company and across audiences
• Your work has a measurable impact on retention, equity, and organizational effectiveness

What we’re looking for

• 8–12 years of progressive experience in compensation or total rewards
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently on significant, high-impact initiatives
• Deep expertise in job architecture, market pricing, pay equity analysis, and program design
• Strong analytical foundation with experience building and explaining complex models
• Proven ability to influence without authority and partner effectively across functions
• Clear, confident communicator who can tailor messaging to technical and non-technical audiences
• High judgment, discretion, and a strong sense of fairness

Why dbt Labs

• True IC seniority: This is a role with meaningful scope, autonomy, and influence
• Strong foundations: You’ll build on solid existing programs, not start from scratch
• Talented partners: You’ll collaborate with thoughtful People, Finance, Legal, and business leaders
• Real impact: Your work directly shapes how we reward and retain our people
• Values-driven: Equity, transparency, and rigor are core to how we design compensation
• We’re in growth mode: Currently more than 700 team members across almost 2 dozen countries and continuing to grow

If you’re excited to operate as a senior expert, lead critical compensation initiatives, and shape programs that scale with integrity, we’d love to meet you.

Remote Hiring Process

• Interview with a Talent Acquisition Partner
• Interview with our Chief People Officer
• Team Interviews with stakeholders on the People, Finance and Total Rewards teams

Benefits

• Unlimited vacation time with a culture that actively encourages time off
• 401k plan with 3% guaranteed company contribution
• Comprehensive healthcare coverage
• Generous paid parental leave
• Flexible stipends for:
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home Office Setup
  • Cell Phone & Internet
  • Learning & Development
  • Office Space

Compensation

We offer competitive compensation packages commensurate with experience, including salary, equity, and where applicable, performance-based pay. Our Talent Acquisition Team can answer questions around dbt Lab’s total rewards during your interview process. In select locations (including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Seattle), an alternate range may apply, as specified below.

• The typical starting salary range for this role is:
  • $162,000 - $196,200 USD
• The typical starting salary range for this role in the select locations listed is:
  • $180,000 - $218,000 USD