Senior Manager, Total Rewards

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth.

Ankura is seeking a forward-looking Total Rewards leader to support the Executive Director of Total Rewards & People Services in advancing the firm’s compensation, pay-for-performance, and equity programs. This role is for a strong operator, analyst, and program leader who can deliver critical work today while scaling a modern, technology- and AI-enabled Total Rewards function. 

Reporting to and partnering directly with the Executive Director, the Senior Manager will be the day-to-day leader for these high-impact programs. The mandate is clear: run critical cycles with discipline, use compensation and performance data to give leaders clear insights, strengthen the leader and employee experience, and advance the next generation of connected technology, integrated data, intelligent workflows, and responsible AI. 

What You Will Lead 

Performance Management & Rewards: Run the Firmwide Program 

Ankura uses one firmwide program to evaluate, develop, and reward its consultants. Each person is assessed on two things: the business results they contribute to, such as winning new client work, managing engagements, and delivering billable work, and how well they demonstrate the skills and values expected at their level. Leaders use this assessment to make annual compensation, bonus, and promotion decisions. 

• Run the program end to end, including policies, sales and project credit rules, governance, and the mid-year and year-end cycles. 

• Partner with the Executive Director, business leaders, Finance, and HR Technology on program direction and complex cases. 

• Continue to elevate a clear, consistent experience for leaders and employees through communications, onboarding, education, office hours, self-service resources, structured feedback, and clear escalation paths. 

• Analyze how compensation aligns with business development, utilization, engagement delivery, and overall performance, and bring leaders insights and recommendations before each cycle. 

• Strengthen data quality, reporting, and program usability through validation, exception management, automation, analytics, and responsible AI, preserving the principle that data informs and leaders decide. 

Compensation: Lead and Advance the Planning Ecosystem 

• Lead annual and mid-year compensation cycles from planning and data readiness through leader reviews, implementation, reconciliation, and continuous improvement. 

• Lead market analysis, job pricing, promotions, off-cycle and retention governance, and executive-ready recommendations that integrate market, internal equity, performance, and commercial context. 

• Apply professional-services expertise to incentive, sales, commission, and revenue-linked compensation for senior, client-facing populations. 

• Advance compensation planning on an integrated technology and AI-enabled ecosystem with governed data, workflow, controls, scenario insight, auditability, and intuitive leader decision views. 

Equity: Operate the Program and Enable Carta 

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the equity program across awards, grants, vesting, departures, repurchases, reconciliations, participant support, and leadership reporting. 

• Deliver a strong participant experience through accurate documents, timely communications, onboarding, education, self-service information, and responsive support throughout the equity lifecycle. 

• Coordinate governance and execution with the Executive Director, People Advisors, Finance, Legal, Payroll, and business leadership, escalating matters that require policy or executive judgment. 

• Lead Carta enablement, process redesign, data quality, controls, reporting, and adoption so equity activity continues to scale with accuracy, security, and visibility. 

• Support the Executive Director, Finance, and Legal in evaluating the equity program and translating approved changes into practical processes, communications, documents, and platform requirements. 

Transformation: Turn Ambition into Adoption 

• Lead transformation from problem definition through design, requirements, testing, communications, launch, adoption, measurement, and stabilization. 

• Use technology, workflow automation, analytics, and responsibly governed AI to increase efficiency, surface exceptions early, accelerate insight, and improve employee and leader experiences. 

• Scale programs with clear ownership, current documentation, service standards, controls, and measurable outcomes. 

What You Bring 

• Experience owning visible, high-stakes compensation or Total Rewards programs in management consulting or a similarly complex professional-services environment. 

• Deep experience running annual compensation cycles and advising on incentive, sales, commission, or revenue-linked pay for senior client-facing populations. 

• Proven ability to connect compensation to performance and business results—delivering deep, proactive analysis that changes leadership decisions, not just cycle administration. 

• Hands-on equity-program experience spanning participant communications and operational delivery; Carta or comparable platform experience is strongly preferred. 

• A track record of leading technology transformation from requirements and testing through implementation, adoption, and measurable improvement. 

• Exceptional cross-functional program leadership, executive communication, analytical judgment, and the ability to move from ambiguity to decision to execution. 

• A builder’s mindset and practical experience using automation, analytics, or responsible AI to improve complex work. 

• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) or equivalent certification preferred. 

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Ankura is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Posters, if you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, submit an online application, or participate in an interview/assessment, please email [email protected] or call toll-free +1.312-583-2122. This email and phone number are created exclusively to assist disabled job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned. Messages left for other purposes, such as following up on an application or technical issues unrelated to a disability, will not receive a response.