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. This role sits at the intersection of people strategy and business partnership, and the person who fills it will have a direct line of sight to how we attract, retain, and motivate the talent that powers Instacart's growth.

What you'll cook up in your first year

Our annual and mid-year comp cycles run with greater precision and speed. You own the design and delivery end-to-end and have raised the quality bar even as scope and complexity have grown.

Work closely with HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and senior business leaders to solve hard problems and give them recommendations they can act on. You'll weigh in on executive offers, retention decisions, org changes, pay equity question, and stand behind difficult calls in gray areas.

Instacart's equity compensation approach is competitive and forward-looking. You deeply understand the market landscape and drive meaningful changes to how we design and communicate equity.

You lead a high-performing team of compensation business partners. You set clear direction, high standards, and cultivate an environment where people do their best work.

You carry individual contributor responsibilities as a compensation business partner to help you stay close to evolving business needs. Scale your experience to coach your team.

Lead our international expansion compensation work. Build the frameworks, market data, and guidance needed to pay people competitively and compliantly as we expand into new countries.

The secret ingredients we're looking for

Must-have pantry staples (Minimum Qualifications)

• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, with at least 3 years leading a people management role.
• 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.
• Deep expertise in equity compensation design and strategy. You've worked at a tech company where equity is central to the comp philosophy, and you know how to shape it, not just administer it.
• Experience building compensation programs at scale, not just operating within inherited ones: job architecture, market pricing, performance cycles, and pay-for-performance frameworks.
• You can transform disparate data into a clear recommendation for executives. Expertise in spreadsheet work (gSheets and Excel).
• 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.

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