Director, Compensation

Why this role is on the menu

We're hiring a Director of Compensation to own our broad-based comp strategy end-to-end. This is a senior people leadership role reporting to the Head of Total Rewards. You’ll drive the programs, frameworks, and cross-functional partnerships that keep our pay competitive and fair as we grow into new markets.

What You'll Cook Up In Your First Year

• Annual and mid-year comp cycles run with greater precision and speed.
• Work closely with HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and senior business leaders to solve hard problems and give them recommendations they can act on.
• Weight in on executive offers, retention decisions, org changes, pay equity questions, and stand behind difficult calls in gray areas.

The secret ingredients we're looking for

• Mandatory: 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, with at least 3 years leading a people management role.
• Mandatory: Proven track record directly supporting large R&D or Engineering functions, with experience advising VP/SVP-level leaders on complex compensation decisions and earning their trust.
• Mandatory: Deep expertise in equity compensation design and strategy.
• Mandatory: Experience building compensation programs at scale, not just operating within inherited ones: job architecture, market pricing, performance cycles, and pay-for-performance frameworks.
• Mandatory: Ability to transform disparate data into a clear recommendation for executives.
• Mandatory: Expertise in spreadsheet work (gSheets and Excel).
• Mandatory: A genuine interest in how AI and technology can make compensation work better, and the initiative to actually go build it.

Optional Garnishes (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience supporting Sales/GTM client groups alongside R&D.
• Exposure to executive compensation design and strategy.
• International compensation experience, especially in the context of expanding into new geographies.
• Familiarity with AI or advanced analytics tools (Tableau, SQL, Python) to accelerate compensation work.

Pay

Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits in each location where our employees work. This role is remote and the base pay range for a successful candidate is dependent on their permanent work location. Please review our Flex First remote work policy here. Offers may vary based on many factors, such as candidate experience and skills required for the role. Additionally, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants. Please read more about our benefits offerings here. For US based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below. CA, NY, CT, NJ $240,000—$253,500 USD WA $230,000—$243,000 USD OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI $221,000—$233,000 USD All other states $201,000—$212,000 USD