LOCATION:

Austin
Boston
Boulder
Century City
Los Angeles
New York
Palo Alto
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, D.C.
Wilmington
Wilson Sonsini is the premier legal advisor to technology, life sciences, and other growth enterprises worldwide. We represent companies at every stage of development, from entrepreneurial start-ups to multibillion-dollar global corporations, as well as the venture firms, private equity firms, and investment banks that finance and advise them. The firm has approximately 1,100 attorneys in 17 offices: 13 in the U.S., two in China, and two in Europe. Our broad spectrum of practices and entrepreneurial spirit allow our staff exceptional opportunities for professional achievement and career growth.
We have an exciting opportunity for a Manager, Compensation to join our team to lead strategic initiatives that directly impact our firm’s ability to compete for the best professionals in the market. We are a forward-thinking firm that values innovation, professional development, and work-life balance. You will have an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on our talent strategy while advancing your career in a supportive, growth-oriented environment.
The Manager, Compensation will be at the center of critical business decisions and is responsible for overseeing the firm’s employee compensation programs, and for maintaining competitive, equitable, and transparent pay practices that enable the firm to attract, reward, and retain talent. This role will also be responsible for compensation program change management, program communications, and developing information to support data-driven decision making by firm management. This role will manage a team of two compensation professionals.
This role can be hybrid or a fully remote work schedule.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of related functional experience.
• 5+ years of experience in a management role in employee compensation or total rewards, preferably in a professional services environment.
• Experience with hiring, managing, mentoring, and developing a team.
• Experience with managing organizational change and implementing new programs, policies, and procedures.
• Experience with defining and driving standards and governance within an HR function.
• Strong analytical ability, intellectual curiosity, and creativity.
• Ability to use statistical methods to analyze data.
• Exceptional MS Excel skills.
• Solid business communication skills, including listening/advising, writing, and presenting; ability to influence across all levels of the organization.
• Ability to research, propose solutions, and iterate based on input from others.
• Ability to build professional networks and establish working relationships with all levels of management.
• Experience with Workday preferred.
  The primary location for this job posting is in Palo Alto, but other locations may be listed. The actual base pay offered will depend upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to the selected candidate’s qualifications, years of relevant experience, level of education, professional certifications and licenses, and work location. The anticipated pay range for this position is as follows:
  New York, Palo Alto, and San Francisco: $131,750 – $178,250 per year
  Austin, Boston, Boulder, Century City, Delaware, District of Columbia, Los Angeles, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Seattle and all other locations: $119,000 – $161,000 per year
  The compensation for this position may include a discretionary year-end merit bonus based on performance. We offer a highly competitive salary and benefits package.
  Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).

• Evaluate, develop, and implement all aspects of the firm’s base pay and incentive compensation programs for non-partner attorneys and business professional staff.
• Monitor the effectiveness of compensation policies; recommend changes consistent with external market trends and the firm’s strategic objectives.
• Conduct market research and salary benchmarking against industry data; recommend market intelligence sources and job evaluation methods; maintain updated salary ranges by functional role, job level, and geographic location.
• Advise business leaders and managers on compensation matters; develop proposals for discussion and decision-making; create implementation plans, communications, and presentations for internal audiences (e.g., leadership, department, and employee meetings).
• Gather and present relevant data to facilitate data-driven decision making about alternative plan designs, program budgets, and other courses of action.
• Oversee the annual base salary increase and incentive bonus processes; educate and advise managers; obtain final approvals from senior leadership.
• Oversee the compensation team’s work in analyzing job descriptions for new roles, providing recommendations on job titles, job levels, and associated base pay ranges.
• Evaluate promotion and pay adjustment requests and make recommendations in line with the firm’s policies and market practices.
• Establish approval processes and documentation requirements to ensure compensation policies are administered consistently with the firm’s compensation philosophy.
• Maintain organization-wide standards for reporting compensation, attorney productivity, headcount, and turnover; identify and address new reporting needs as required.
• Ensure comprehensive compliance with all applicable compensation laws and regulations, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Equal Pay Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), state and local wage and hour laws, pay equity legislation, pay transparency requirements, and federal/state reporting obligations.
• Conduct regular compliance audits, maintain accurate documentation, and proactively monitor regulatory changes to reduce legal risk.
• Work with the HRIS to evaluate and implement new Workday features for compensation; support analytics and dashboard projects requiring compensation data; ensure new configurations are accurately tested and integrated with payroll.
• Optimize HR business processes and workflows to ensure robust and meaningful talent analytics; promote data consistency, accuracy, and completeness.
• Develop annual budgets and forecasts for business professional staff and lawyer compensation expenses.
• Provide ongoing mentoring and knowledge transfer to develop team members’ technical capabilities, strengthening the internal talent pipeline, organizational continuity, and team engagement and retention.