Director, Global Compensation

Location: United States - Remote

Department: Human Resources

Position Summary:

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The Director, Global Compensation provides deep broad-based compensation expertise and counsel across Ultragenyx, with a focus on supporting the companys more complex and globally distributed business areas. The role advises HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, and business leaders on complex and innovative compensation solutions. Drawing on extensive global pharmaceutical or biotechnology experience across multiple regions, the Director leads market intelligence, job architecture, salary structures, and compensation frameworks to support equitable, competitive, and consistent pay decisions aligned with Ultragenyxs compensation philosophy. 

Work Model: 

Remote: Officially documented as working full-time from home, with travel to Ultragenyxs offices or other locations on occasion as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the lead compensation advisor for assigned complex and global business areas, consulting on strategic hires, retention, promotions, job leveling, organizational changes, annual compensation planning, and other high-impact compensation decisions. 
• Develop an in-depth understanding of business strategies, talent priorities, organizational structures, and regional market conditions to anticipate compensation implications and recommend practical solutions. 
• Analyze complex compensation issues and develop market-informed recommendations that balance business objectives, external competitiveness, internal equity, global consistency, and compensation philosophy. 
• Design and recommend innovative compensation solutions to support critical talent, retention needs, and strategic business initiatives. Advise senior HR and business leaders, clearly communicating data-driven recommendations and exercising sound judgment. 
• Represent client needs and emerging business issues in the design, enhancement, and implementation of broad-based compensation programs, frameworks, policies, and processes. 
• Lead the global compensation market intelligence strategy, including survey vendor relationships and survey investment decisions. Oversee market pricing and benchmarking across functions, levels, and geographies using relevant data sources, translating complex analyses into clear recommendations. Attend vendor and industry conferences. 
• Own the global job architecture, leveling framework, job evaluation methodology, salary structures,, ensuring consistent and market-aligned application across regions, organizational structures, and career paths. 
• Maintain deep knowledge of pharmaceutical and biotechnology compensation practices and regional market and regulatory considerations across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC, incorporating relevant developments into compensation recommendations. 
• Lead annual market reviews for assigned client groups, including assessment of market movement, competitiveness, salary structure alignment, midpoint progression, range adjustments, and pay compression; validate market recommendations and updated salary ranges for supported functions. 
• Provide subject matter leadership for annual compensation planning, global pay transparency and pay equity, and broad-based program enhancements, ensuring client decisions and application remain aligned with compensation philosophy, governance standards, and business priorities. 

Requirements:

• Bachelors degree required and 10+ years of progressive broad-based compensation experience in high-growth, global environments; experience in a global public pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences company strongly preferred. 

• Demonstrated compensation business partnering experience with HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, and business leaders across multiple functions, geographies, and organizational levels. 

• Deep experience with market pricing, benchmarking, salary structure design, job architecture, job leveling, job evaluation, and compensation decision support. 

• International compensation experience, including experience supporting EMEA, LATAM, and/or APAC, preferred. 

• Excellent communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain compensation concepts clearly to HR and business audiences. 
• Experience with life sciences survey frameworks and compensation data sources such as Aon/Radford, Mercer, WTW, or similar providers. 
• Strong analytical, modeling, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate market data and compensation analysis into clear, practical recommendations. 
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and a collaborative approach. 

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