Director Compensation

At Olema, our shared purpose - developing better medicines for people living with cancer - depends on attracting, rewarding, and retaining exceptional people. As the company grows and prepares for commercialization, we are seeking our first dedicated compensation expert as the Director Compensation to establish this capability with the rigor, thoughtfulness, and adaptability our next stage requires. 

Reporting to the SVP, People & Culture, this highly influential position will serve on the People & Culture Leadership Team and partner closely with HR Business Partners, senior leaders, and the Executive Team. This person will create the frameworks, processes, and trusted expertise needed to support consistent, competitive, and well-informed compensation decisions for employees at the Vice President level and below. 

This individual will own the design, implementation, administration, communication, and governance of all non-executive compensation programs across the organization, including broad-based compensation, equity programs, and future commercial and sales compensation structures. The role will also partner closely with the SVP, People & Culture in supporting executive compensation and Compensation Committee activities through market analyses, data insights, modeling, and strategic recommendations. 

The ideal candidate brings deep biotech and/or pharmaceutical industry expertise, experience supporting organizations through both clinical and commercial growth stages, and a demonstrated ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on in a lean, high-growth environment. 

The right candidate will bring technical excellence across compensation budgeting, focal cycles, market benchmarking, job architecture, leveling, salary structures, equity, and data integrity. Just as important, they will be curious, pragmatic, and collaborative- —someone who asks thoughtful questions, applies sound business judgment, and develops solutions that reflect Olema’s business priorities, culture, and commitment to its people. 

This is a hybrid position based out of our San Francisco office. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Experience supporting an organization as it progresses from clinical development toward commercialization. 
• Experience preparing executive compensation benchmarking, analyses, background information, and documentation for inclusion in Compensation Committee materials. 
• Experience operating as a senior individual contributor in a lean, high-growth environment, with the ability to establish compensation expertise without creating unnecessary complexity. 

Compensation Strategy & Leadership 

• Contribute to and evolve Olema’s compensation philosophy, strategy, and frameworks to support business objectives, organizational growth, talent attraction, retention, and performance.  
• Serve as the company-wide subject matter expert on non-executive compensation matters.  
• Build scalable compensation infrastructure, processes, governance, and policies appropriate for a growing biotech organization transitioning toward commercialization.  
• Partner closely with the SVP, People & Culture and business leaders on compensation strategy, workforce planning, and organizational design considerations.  

Broad-Based Compensation 

• Own and administer broad-based compensation programs across all non-executive levels and functions.  
• Lead market benchmarking, job architecture, leveling, salary structures, and compensation planning processes.  
• Drive annual compensation focal review processes including merit, bonus, and equity planning cycles.  
• Provide strategic compensation guidance to business leaders and People Business Partners on hiring, promotions, internal equity, retention, and organizational changes.  
• Develop scalable cash compensation frameworks that support organizational growth, high volume recruitment, while maintaining consistency and internal equity.  

Commercial & Sales Compensation 

• Partner with Commercial leadership to develop incentive compensation structures aligned with business strategy, market dynamics, performance objectives, and evolving commercial capabilities.  
• Establish sales compensation governance, metrics, administration processes, modeling, and effectiveness analyses.  
• Develop compensation approaches that support the successful build-out and growth of a high-performing commercial organization.  

Equity Compensation 

• Partner cross-functionally with Legal, Finance, Payroll, and external vendors to support equity compensation administration and governance.  
• Support equity strategy and recommendations aligned with talent and business objectives.  
• Ensure appropriate controls, compliance, and reporting related to equity programs.  

Executive Compensation Support 

• Partner closely with the SVP, People & Culture in supporting executive compensation programs and Compensation Committee activities.  
• Provide market benchmarking, analyses, modeling, and materials to support executive compensation decision-making and Board discussions.  
• Collaborate with external compensation consultants and internal stakeholders on executive compensation-related initiatives as needed.  

Compliance, Governance & Analytics 

• Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and international compensation-related laws and regulations.  
• Maintain strong compensation governance practices, documentation, and audit readiness.  
• Develop and deliver compensation analytics, insights, and reporting to support decision-making and workforce strategies.  
• Monitor market trends and emerging compensation practices within biotech and pharmaceutical industries.  

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, economics, or a related field required; MBA or CPA preferred. 
• At least 10 years of progressive compensation experience, including significant hands-on experience within biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or life sciences. 
• Progressive compensation experience, including compensation consulting organizations, highly preferred.  
• Demonstrated experience leading compensation strategy and programs within both small/high-growth and/or larger, more complex organizations.  
• Deep expertise in broad-based compensation for employees at the Vice President level and below, including base pay, annual incentives, equity, new-hire offers, promotions, retention awards, and off-cycle adjustments. 
• Expert knowledge of market-pricing and compensation-survey methodology, including job matching, survey participation, market selection, data aging, geographic differentials, percentile analysis, and interpretation of Radford/Aon or comparable life-sciences compensation data. 
• Proven experience designing and maintaining job architecture, career frameworks, job-evaluation and leveling methodologies, salary structures, range spreads, midpoint progressions, and range-placement guidelines. 
• End-to-end ownership of annual compensation planning, including budget development, eligibility and decision guidelines, merit, promotion, bonus and equity modeling, manager tools, calibration, approvals, audit controls, and post-cycle analysis. 
• Advanced quantitative and financial-modeling skills, including compensation cost projections, scenario and impact analyses, internal-equity reviews, pay-compression analysis, market-competitiveness assessments, and equity-award modeling. 
• Experience designing and governing commercial or sales incentive compensation plans, including eligibility, performance measures, weightings, thresholds, targets, maximums, payout curves, financial modeling, administration, and effectiveness reviews strongly preferred. 
• Ability to roll up your sleeves and operate both strategically and tactically in a fast-paced, evolving environment.  
• Experience with compensation benchmarking tools, equity platforms, HRIS systems, and advanced compensation analytics.  
• Strong compensation data-management and governance capabilities, including experience reconciling and improving data across HRIS, payroll, equity platforms, planning tools, and market-survey databases. 
• Advanced Excel skills, including complex formulas, pivot tables, lookups, scenario models, data validation, and audit checks. Experience with Power Query, macros, or data-visualization tools is a plus. 
• Working knowledge of compensation-related compliance and governance, including pay equity, pay transparency, FLSA classification, documentation standards, approval controls, and audit readiness. 
• Ability to synthesize complex data into clear, decision-ready findings; explain and defend methodologies and assumptions; and translate analysis into practical recommendations for HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, senior leaders, and the Executive Team. 
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple, deadline-sensitive compensation initiatives independently while maintaining precision, sound judgment, and accountability for the quality of the analysis and final work product. 
• Demonstrated ability to create and deliver clear, executive-level presentations that distill complex compensation analyses into succinct business implications, tradeoffs, and recommendations, with strong executive presence and sound business acumen. 

The base pay range for this position is expected to be $230,000 - $250,000 annually, however the base pay offered may vary depending on location, market, job related knowledge, skills and capabilities, and experience. The total compensation package for this position also includes equity, bonus, and benefits.