Director of Compensation and Equity, Cockroach Labs
$225-266k
+ Stock Options
More information about location
3 days a week in office
Distributed SQL for always-on customer experiences
Open for applications
Distributed SQL for always-on customer experiences
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
$225-266k
+ Stock Options
More information about location
3 days a week in office
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To simplify how businesses build and operate world-changing applications.
Role
Who you are
- We are looking for someone who brings deep expertise and genuine curiosity about how AI is reshaping what a single great practitioner can accomplish
- 8 to 12+ years of experience in compensation, with a strong concentration in total cash and equity compensation at high-growth, global technology companies
- Deep expertise in equity program design at a growth-stage technology company, including hands-on experience with option types (ISOs, NSOs), RSUs, vesting structures, 409A implications, and secondary market considerations
- Experience designing and evolving bonus and variable compensation programs across functions, including sales compensation structures such as OTE, commission mechanics, and accelerators
- Deep proficiency in market benchmarking methodologies and survey tools (Radford, Mercer, Carta, Pave, or comparable), with the ability to model compensation scenarios, cost impact analyses, and budget projections
- Ability to translate and communicate complex compensation concepts into clear, plain language for managers, recruiters, HRBPs, and employees at every level
- Demonstrated daily use of AI tools to improve the speed and quality of compensation work — including analysis, modeling, and documentation — with a consistent practice of reviewing, refining, and owning all AI-assisted output
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field required; CCP or CEP designation is a strong plus
What the job involves
- The Director of Compensation and Equity is a high-impact individual contributor role responsible for designing and executing Cockroach Labs' compensation strategy across base salary, variable pay, and equity
- Reporting to the Sr. Director, People Operations & Development, this person will serve as the company's subject matter expert on compensation and equity partnering directly with senior leaders, HR Business Partners, and front-line managers to ensure our compensation programs are competitive, equitable, and built to scale
- This role requires both strong analytical rigor and the ability to execute independently across the full compensation and equity lifecycle
- Own the design and ongoing refinement of Cockroach Labs' global compensation philosophy, salary structures, and pay bands across all functions and levels, and lead annual review cycles -- merit, promotion, and equity refresh -- with rigor and consistency
- Evaluate the effectiveness of incentive and variable pay programs, surfacing recommendations grounded in market data and business outcomes
- Conduct and interpret market benchmarking using established survey sources (e.g., Radford, Pave, Carta), translating data into clear, actionable recommendations for leadership
- Partner with Finance on compensation budget planning, headcount modeling, and compensation expense forecasting
- Design and administer Cockroach Labs' equity compensation programs -- including option and RSU plan design, grant guidelines, and refresh frameworks -- ensuring programs remain competitive and aligned to company stage, employee expectations, and potential liquidity events
- Partner with Legal, Finance, and outside counsel on equity plan governance, 409A valuations, and regulatory compliance
- Ensure employees and managers understand the value of their equity and can speak to it clearly
- Support the development of Compensation Committee materials and contribute to executive compensation decisions in partnership with the Sr. Director, CPO, CFO, and Legal
- Partner on job architecture and leveling frameworks to ensure they remain competitive and internally equitable
- Leverage AI-powered tools and emerging compensation technology to scale analytical work, build repeatable processes, and make compensation expertise accessible across the organization
- In your first 30 days, you will orient yourself by conducting a thorough review of Cockroach Labs' existing compensation structures, equity programs, salary bands, and benchmarking methodology. You will meet with key stakeholders across People, Finance, and Legal to understand current priorities and build foundational relationships with the HRBPs, Recruiters and business leaders you will support. You will also develop a clear picture of where our compensation programs are competitive and where there are gaps, working with your manager to align on priorities that you will then move into action
- By day 60, you will identify the highest-priority opportunities for improvement across base pay, variable compensation, and equity, and begin moving on the most time-sensitive of them. You will build trust with the HRBP team by becoming a reliable and knowledgeable resource for active compensation decisions. You will also assess our current equity program relative to market and stage, and develop an initial point of view on where it needs to evolve
- By day 90, you will have established yourself as the go-to expert for compensation and equity decisions at Cockroach Labs. You will have delivered or have in-flight meaningful progress against at least one foundational priority -- whether that is a refreshed salary band framework, a refined equity grant guideline, or a benchmarking process upgrade. You will be actively engaged in ongoing compensation decisions alongside HRBPs and senior leaders, and you will be ready to support your first Compensation Committee reporting with confidence
Our take
Cockroach Labs was founded by a team of ex-Google employees who wanted to build a database management system similar to Google’s Spanner. The result is CockroachDB, an open-source, distributed SQL database that delivers familiar SQL, strong consistency, and near-indestructible fault tolerance. Designed to scale locally or globally and deployed on any cloud or on-prem setup, it keeps mission-critical applications running even through hardware failures or full data-center outages.
A major milestone in the company's growth is its partnership with IBM ,which integrates CockroachBD into IBM's hybrid infrastructure. This makes it far easier for long-standing mainframe users to modernize without rewriting massive amounts of code. Running CockroachDB on systems like LinuxONE, Linux on Z, Power Systems, and Red Hat OpenShift helps organizations adopt cloud-native architectures while staying in environments they trust. At the same time, enterprise demand is surging and the company is boasting significant year-on-year growth in new customers, ARR, and cloud adoption.
As applications become more global, always-on, and increasingly AI-driven, businesses need databases built for scale, resilience, and zero downtime. And CockroachDB was engienered for exaclt ythat. With a decade of innovation, expanding enterprise traction, and a leadership team experienced in scaling high-growth tech companies, Cockroach Labs is set to power the next generation of mission-critical applications.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
11% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Dec 2021
$278m
SERIES F
Jan 2021
$160m
SERIES E
Total funding: $633.2m
Company benefits
- Competitive Health Insurance Coverage
- Paid Parental Leave
- Flexible PTO
- Learning & Development
- Relocation Support
- Employee Referral Bonus
Company HQ
Chelsea, New York, NY
Leadership
Spencer Kimball
(Co-Founder & CEO)Worked at WeGo Systems as CTO for 3 years before joining Google as a Software Engineer for almost 10 years. Also, previous CTO of Viewfinder and Engineer at Square.
Peter Matiss
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously a Software Engineer at Square, Co-Founder at Viewfinder and a Software Engineer at Google.
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