Total Rewards Lead

Are you a total rewards leader who thrives in building from the ground up while scaling for what’s next? Do you bring both strategic clarity and a pragmatic, roll-up-your-sleeves approach to compensation, equity, and benefits? Are you excited by the challenge of evolving programs in a high-growth environment on the path to IPO? If so, we’d love to meet you.

As the Total Rewards Lead at Ridgeline, you will own and evolve our total rewards strategy across compensation, equity, and benefits. You’ll play a critical role in shaping how we attract, retain, and motivate talent—ensuring that our Total Rewards programs are competitive, scalable, and aligned to the next phase of our company’s growth.

This is a highly strategic individual contributor role with company-wide impact. You will define the frameworks and philosophy that guide decisions, while partnering across HR, Talent, Finance, and Legal to bring them to life. From evolving our compensation and equity strategy to building the foundation for global expansion and IPO readiness, your work will directly influence how we scale. This includes defining a thoughtful, scalable benefits strategy that supports our workforce today while building the foundation for global growth and IPO readiness.

At Ridgeline, how we work matters as much as what we build. We act like owners, choose growth over comfort, and bias toward action. We bring solutions, not just problems, and we’re energized by building for the future while delivering today.

The impact you will have:

• Own and evolve Ridgeline’s total rewards strategy across compensation, equity, and benefits
• Shape and scale compensation philosophy, including benchmarking, leveling, and job architecture
• Lead compensation planning and provide guidance on complex decisions, including offers and retention
• Design and refine incentive compensation plans across go-to-market roles
• Define and evolve equity strategy, including building the roadmap toward IPO readiness
• Establish clear governance to ensure consistency, equity, and strong decision-making
• Develop global total rewards strategy as we expand into Europe and Canada
• Define and evolve Ridgeline’s benefits strategy, ensuring programs are competitive, scalable, and aligned with employee needs and business growth
• Build the global benefits strategy and framework to support expansion into Europe and Canada, balancing local market competitiveness, compliance, and employee experience
• Partner closely across HR, Finance, Legal, and Talent to align rewards with business and financial goals

What we look for:

• Deep experience in total rewards within high-growth technology companies
• Experience scaling compensation and equity programs in late-stage private or pre-IPO environments
• Strong expertise in compensation strategy, equity design, incentive plans and benefits strategy
• Experience managing benefits strategy through periods of systems and operating model change, such as PEO transitions, global scaling, or HRIS transformation
• Ability to operate as a strategic individual contributor with high ownership and influence
• Executive presence and ability to guide senior leaders on complex decisions
• Comfort building from ambiguity and delivering pragmatic, iterative solutions
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills, especially with Finance, Legal, and Talent

Bonus:

• Experience supporting global expansion and international total rewards strategy
• Exposure to IPO readiness or public company compensation practices
• Familiarity with tools such as Radford, Pave, and Workday

About Ridgeline

Ridgeline is the first front-to-back system of record for investment managers. Founded by visionary entrepreneur Dave Duffield (co-founder of both PeopleSoft and Workday), the company was created to modernize an industry held back by outdated, disconnected technology. Powered by a single, real-time data set and embedded AI, Ridgeline helps firms automate complexity, accelerate collaboration, and deliver tailored client experiences at scale, without added headcount or risk. Ridgeline is headquartered in Lake Tahoe, with offices in New York, Reno, and the Bay Area, and is recognized by Fast Company as a “Best Workplace for Innovators,” by Frost & Sullivan as a “Technology Innovation Leader,” and by The Software Report as a “Top 100 Software Company.”

Ridgeline is proud to be a community-minded, discrimination-free equal opportunity workplace.

Ridgeline processes the information you submit in connection with your application in accordance with the Ridgeline Candidate Privacy Policy. Please review the Ridgeline Candidate Privacy Policy in full to understand our privacy practices and contact us with any questions.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

Compensation and Benefits 

The typical starting salary range for new hires in this role is listed below.  In select locations (including, the San Francisco Bay Area, CA, and the New York City Metro Area), an alternate range may apply as specified below. 

The typical starting salary range for this role is: $168,000 - $208,000. 

The typical starting salary range for this role in the select locations listed above is: $183,000 - $228,000.

Final compensation amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amount listed above. 

As an employee at Ridgeline, you’ll have many opportunities for advancement in your career and can make a true impact on the product. 

In addition to the base salary, Ridgeline employees can participate in our Company Stock Plan subject to the applicable Stock Option Agreement. We also offer rich benefits that reflect the kind of organization we want to be: one in which our employees feel valued and are inspired to bring their best selves to work. These include unlimited vacation, educational and wellness reimbursements, and $0 cost employee insurance plans. Please check out our Careers page for a more comprehensive overview of our perks and benefits.

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