Head of Global Compensation

At Klaviyo, we value the unique backgrounds, experiences and perspectives each Klaviyo (we call ourselves Klaviyos) brings to our workplace each and every day. We believe everyone deserves a fair shot at success and appreciate the experiences each person brings beyond the traditional job requirements. If you’re a close but not exact match with the description, we hope you’ll still consider applying. Want to learn more about life at Klaviyo? Visit klaviyo.com/careers to see how we empower creators to own their own destiny.

Build the system that rewards builders.

At Klaviyo, we're building a company where ambitious people do the best work of their careers. We're moving fast, raising the bar, and rethinking how we operate as a technology-first company. That includes how we recognize, reward, and invest in our people.

We're looking for a Head of Global Compensation to build the next generation of our compensation strategy. Someone who understands how to design programs that reinforce our culture, reward exceptional performance, and support the ambitious people who choose Klaviyo for the work we're doing and the impact they can have.

Reporting directly to the VP of Total Rewards, you'll have the opportunity to challenge conventional thinking, rethink established practices, and create compensation programs that reflect the company we're becoming. You'll help shape our broader Total Rewards strategy, lead and develop a talented team, and partner directly with leaders on some of the most consequential people decisions we make.

We're looking for someone who loves the craft of compensation, thinks like a business leader, and gets excited about building something better.

What You'll Do: 

1. Compensation Strategy & Architecture

• Lead the evolution of our global compensation philosophy, job architecture, leveling, and pay structures to support a high-performance organization.
• Design fair, market-competitive compensation programs that reinforce our builder culture, reward ownership and impact, and meaningfully differentiate exceptional performance.
• Bring a strong point of view on compensation investment, balancing market dynamics, internal equity, business priorities, and long-term financial sustainability.
• Extend our compensation frameworks into new markets, balancing global consistency with local market realities.
• Help shape our broader Total Rewards strategy, ensuring compensation works alongside benefits, recognition, and the overall employee experience.

2. Equity & Long-Term Rewards

• Own our equity compensation strategy, including new-hire grants, refresh programs, long-term incentives, and retention approaches.
• Own the  multi-year equity models and budget,  taking into consideration burn rate, dilution, and future investment needs.
• Partner with Finance and senior leadership to make thoughtful tradeoffs between performance, retention, ownership, and financial sustainability.
• Shape senior leadership compensation strategy and support Compensation Committee preparation, governance, and decision-making.

3. Strategic Business Partnership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to People Leaders on critical hiring decisions, retention challenges, organizational changes, and compensation investments.
• Navigate complex compensation decisions with sound judgment, creativity, and a willingness to have direct conversations.
• Partner closely with Talent Acquisition to ensure our compensation approach supports the talent we want to attract and reinforces what makes Klaviyo a compelling place to grow a career.
• Translate complex compensation concepts into clear, actionable recommendations that help leaders make confident, consistent decisions.

4. Team Leadership & Operating Model

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing compensation team, strengthening technical capabilities, business judgment, and a culture of ownership.
• Stay close to the work, bringing your own expertise to complex challenges and working alongside your team to deliver exceptional outcomes.
• Establish clear priorities, accountability, and operating rhythms that enable the team to move quickly and continuously improve.
• Rethink how compensation work gets done, using technology, automation, and AI to simplify processes, improve insights, and increase the team's impact.

What Success Looks Like

• A compensation strategy built for our future. Clear, fair, and market-competitive global frameworks that reinforce our builder culture and reward exceptional performance and impact.
• A sustainable approach to equity and compensation investment. Forward-looking models that give leadership confidence in how we reward our people, reinforce ownership, and manage long-term financial commitments.
• A function that leaders trust. People Leaders actively seek out the compensation team for strategic guidance, thoughtful solutions, and complex decisions.
• An exceptional team operating at a new level. A stronger, more capable compensation organization that uses technology to increase leverage, moves with urgency, and continuously raises the bar.

What You Bring

Your experience and expertise

• 10+ years of progressive compensation experience, including significant leadership responsibility within a high-growth technology company.
• Demonstrated experience designing, transforming, or meaningfully evolving global compensation strategies and programs within a publicly traded company.
• Deep expertise in compensation philosophy, job architecture, leveling, market benchmarking, base pay, annual incentives, and equity compensation.
• Strong financial and analytical capabilities, including equity modeling, burn rate, dilution, long-term incentive design, and compensation budget planning.
• Experience with executive compensation, Compensation Committee support, public-company governance, and regulatory requirements.
• A strong understanding of pay equity and evolving pay transparency requirements.
• Experience extending compensation frameworks into new markets as a company scales, balancing global consistency with local market realities.
• Proven success leading and developing compensation teams, deepening technical expertise, and creating a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Hands-on experience with compensation systems, market data platforms, and analytics, with demonstrated experience in using AI and automation to improve how work gets done.

How you work

• You're a builder. You challenge assumptions, see opportunities to improve, and take ownership of making change happen.
• You think like a business leader. You understand the financial and talent implications of your decisions and make thoughtful tradeoffs.
• You lead from the work. You're comfortable setting strategy with executives, getting into the details with your team, and personally driving complex challenges through to completion.
• You develop exceptional people. You love coaching, raising the bar, and helping talented people grow into bigger responsibilities.
• You move with urgency. You make informed decisions, put ideas into practice, learn quickly, and keep improving.

Why Klaviyo?

We're entering an exciting chapter in Klaviyo's evolution, embracing a start-up mentality, moving with greater urgency, and building a company where exceptional people can have extraordinary impact. Our People organization is central to that work, and compensation is one of the ways we reinforce the culture we're building. You'll work alongside ambitious leaders, develop an exceptional team, and have the opportunity to shape how we reward the people building Klaviyo's future.

We're builders. And we're looking for someone who's excited to build with us.

Massachusetts Applicants:
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Our salary range reflects the cost of labor across various U.S. geographic markets. The range displayed below reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all our US locations. The base salary offered for this position is determined by several factors, including the applicant’s job-related skills, relevant experience, education or training, and work location.

In addition to base salary, our total compensation package may include participation in the company’s annual cash bonus plan, variable compensation (OTE) for sales and customer success roles, equity, sign-on payments, and a comprehensive range of health, welfare, and wellbeing benefits based on eligibility. 

Your recruiter can provide more details about the specific salary/OTE range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

This role may require up to 10% travel for purposes such as new hire onboarding, client or partner work if applicable, team meetings, and industry events. Travel is coordinated in advance.

Get to Know Klaviyo

We’re Klaviyo (pronounced clay-vee-oh). We empower creators to own their destiny by making first-party data accessible and actionable like never before. We see limitless potential for the technology we’re developing to nurture personalized experiences in ecommerce and beyond. To reach our goals, we need our own crew of remarkable creators—ambitious and collaborative teammates who stay focused on our north star: delighting our customers. If you’re ready to do the best work of your career, where you’ll be welcomed as your whole self from day one and supported with generous benefits, we hope you’ll join us.

AI fluency at Klaviyo includes responsible use of AI (including privacy, security, bias awareness, and human-in-the-loop). We provide accommodations as needed. 

By participating in Klaviyo’s interview process, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and will adhere to our Guidelines for using AI in the Klaviyo interview Process. For more information about how we process your personal data, see our Job Applicant Privacy Notice.

Klaviyo is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and non-discrimination. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, citizenship, national origin, color, religion or religious creed, age, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, veteran or active military status, marital status, criminal record, genetics, retaliation, sexual harassment or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.