Compensation isn't a pricing exercise, and a good strategy isn't a box to check.
Pay shapes the way people judge their own performance, whether they trust the system, and whether they stay. It can't exist in a vacuum.
How you attract and retain talent, how you have performance conversations, how you manage engagement, they all touch compensation, and are touched by it. I understand how pay interacts with what surrounds it and design a structure that complements its ecosystem.
That's the real work, not writing a compensation philosophy or publishing salary bands, but pushing on the framework until you find where it breaks.
I've built cash and equity programs for mature, publicly traded companies as well as venture-backed and founder-led ones at growth stages where informal structures and decision-making were no longer enough. I work from the ground up, leading global leveling and career-framework projects, ensuring what's built has a rationale that holds up.
Most companies need real compensation structure well before the work justifies a full-time total rewards leader. I'm built for that gap: deep subject-matter expertise, paired with the range to work with every level of the organization, from the board to individual employees, all without standing up a function you don't yet need. And because I've worked across the rest of the people function, I make sure pay decisions actually reflect their context.