Director, Compensation

What You’ll Do:

You'll join CoreWeave's Total Rewards organization, the team responsible for how we pay, incentivize, and retain the people building the infrastructure behind modern AI. We operate at the intersection of People, Finance, Legal, and the business, designing programs that hold up to public-company scrutiny while moving at the speed of a company still in hyper-growth. 

About the role:

As Director, Compensation, you'll own executive compensation end to end — including preparation of Compensation Committee materials and executive pay recommendations developed in partnership with our independent compensation consultant. You'll serve as the senior compensation advisor to executive leaders, lead a team supporting offer strategy and exceptions, and drive the retention of critical talent across the company. You'll also own the design, deployment, communication, and governance of broad-based compensation programs at scale. This is a highly visible role with direct exposure to the executive team, and cross-functional leadership.

Executive Compensation & Board Governance 

• Own executive compensation end to end, including program design, benchmarking, pay positioning, incentive plan structure, and annual and off-cycle recommendations for the executive team. 

• Own the preparation of Compensation Committee materials, partnering with the independent compensation consultant on agendas, market analyses, pay recommendations, plan design proposals, and supporting appendices; manage the annual Committee calendar and pre-read cycle. 

• Serve as the primary day-to-day partner to the independent compensation consultant, directing scope, data requests, market studies, and analysis so that recommendations are defensible, timely, and aligned to CoreWeave's strategy. 

• Partner with Legal and Finance on disclosure and governance, including CD&A and proxy compensation tables, pay ratio and pay-versus-performance reporting, Say-on-Pay considerations, and evolving regulatory and proxy advisor expectations. 

• Advise on incentive plan economics, modeling cost, dilution, share usage, accounting treatment, and performance-metric design in partnership with Finance and Accounting. 

Executive & Leader Advisory 

• Own compensation consulting with executive leaders, acting as the trusted advisor on pay decisions for their organizations — leveling, promotions, market pressure, internal equity, and the compensation implications of organizational design. 

• Translate complex compensation concepts into clear guidance and crisp recommendations for audiences ranging from front-line managers to the Board. 

• Partner closely with HR Business Partners and Recruiting to align pay strategy with workforce plans, hiring demand, and the competitive landscape for AI and infrastructure talent. 

Team Leadership, Offers & Retention 

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of compensation professionals who manage job offer review and exception approvals, partnering with Recruiting to deliver competitive offers with speed and consistency. 

• Set and govern the offer exception framework — thresholds, approval routing, escalation paths, and reporting — so exceptions are principled, tracked, and defensible rather than ad hoc. 

• Own retention strategy for critical talent, identifying flight risk in partnership with leaders and People teams and designing and executing targeted retention actions, including equity refresh, off-cycle awards, and cash retention programs. 

• Build the analytics and reporting that give leadership visibility into offer trends, exception rates, competitive positioning, attrition, and program effectiveness. 

Compensation Programs at Scale 

• Own the design and deployment of broad-based compensation programs, including salary structures, geographic differentials, leveling and job architecture, annual and off-cycle merit and promotion cycles, bonus plans, and equity refresh programs. 

• Run compensation cycles at scale, owning planning calendars, budget modeling, systems configuration and testing, manager enablement, approval workflows, and post-cycle audits. 

• Lead change management and communication, developing manager toolkits, employee-facing materials, and training so programs land with clarity and buy-in across a rapidly growing global workforce. 

• Build scalable infrastructure and governance, including compensation systems, controls, documentation, and SOX-aligned processes that support a global public company. 

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, local, and international pay regulations, including pay transparency and pay equity requirements. 

Who You Are: 

• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, including meaningful ownership of executive compensation. 
• Demonstrated people management experience, with a track record of building, leading, and developing high-performing compensation teams. 

• Direct experience preparing Compensation Committee and Board materials and partnering with an independent compensation consultant. 

• Proven experience designing and deploying compensation programs at scale, including the communication, enablement, and approval mechanics that make them stick. 

• Deep technical fluency across base pay, short- and long-term incentives, and equity vehicles (RSUs, PSUs, options, ESPP), including how they interact with accounting, tax, and disclosure requirements. 

• Strong cross-functional partnership skills across Finance, Legal, HR Business Partners, and Recruiting, with the credibility to influence senior stakeholders and hold the line when it matters. 

• Advanced analytical and modeling skills, paired with the judgment to know which analysis actually drives the decision. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to executives and Board members. 

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field. 

Preferred: (if applicable)

• Experience at a high-growth, public company. 

• Experience supporting a global workforce and multi-country pay programs. 

• Experience with Workday or comparable HCM and compensation planning platforms. 

Wondering if you’re a good fit? We believe in investing in our people, and value candidates who can bring their own diversified experiences to our teams – even if you aren't a 100% skill or experience match. Here are a few qualities we’ve found compatible with our team. If some of this describes you, we’d love to talk. 

• You're energized by moving between a Board-level pay discussion in the morning and a scrappy offer escalation in the afternoon. 

• You build programs that scale rather than one-off decisions, and you're comfortable creating structure where none exists yet. 

• You can make a complex compensation recommendation simple, clear, and persuasive for whoever is in the room. 

Why CoreWeave?

At CoreWeave, we work hard, have fun, and move fast!  We’re in an exciting stage of hyper-growth that you will not want to miss out on. We’re not afraid of a little chaos, and we’re constantly learning. Our team cares deeply about how we build our product and how we work together, which is represented through our core values: 

• Be Curious at Your Core
• Act Like an Owner
• Empower Employees
• Deliver Best-in-Class Client Experiences
• Achieve More Together

We support and encourage an entrepreneurial outlook and independent thinking. We foster an environment that encourages collaboration and enables the development of innovative solutions to complex problems. As we get set for takeoff, the organization's growth opportunities are constantly expanding. You will be surrounded by some of the best talent in the industry, who will want to learn from you, too. Come join us!  

The base salary range for this role is $182,000 to $242,000. The starting salary will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and the market location. We strive for both market alignment and internal equity when determining compensation. In addition to base salary, our total rewards package includes a discretionary bonus, equity awards, and a comprehensive benefits program (all based on eligibility).