Head of Total Rewards

Our Mission

Reflection is a research lab making intelligence open and accessible for everyone to use, customize, and build on. We build open models that let anyone control their intelligence and help shape the future of AI. Our mission: make intelligence open and accessible to all.

About the Role

We are hiring a Head of Total Rewards to define, lead, and scale Reflection’s compensation, benefits, and equity strategy. As a director-level leader, you will own the philosophy, frameworks, and governance behind how we attract, reward, and retain talent—evolving our programs to be among the most competitive in the market while protecting and elevating the employee experience at every stage of growth.

This is a high-visibility, founder-facing role. You’ll work directly with our Head of Talent & People and executive team as the trusted voice on pay, equity, incentives, and competitiveness— shaping decisions that span the full employee lifecycle. We’re moving fast and building as we go, so you’ll need to be nimble and creative: comfortable designing novel approaches where no playbook exists, iterating quickly, and making pragmatic calls without perfect information. You’ll set the long-term vision for Total Rewards while building scalable infrastructure on the fly, constantly balancing market competitiveness with a rewards experience that employees understand, trust, and value.

What You’ll Do

Total Rewards Strategy & Leadership

• Define and steward Reflection’s Total Rewards philosophy across cash, equity, and benefits

• Continuously evolve our programs to keep Reflection among the most competitive employers in the market

• Act as a founder-facing advisor, shaping how leadership thinks about pay, equity, incentives, and competitiveness

• Build scalable, creative frameworks and governance that hold up under rapid growth and frequent change

• Balance market competitiveness with a transparent, equitable, and motivating employee experience

Compensation Ownership & Governance

• Own compensation bands, benchmarking methodology, and pay governance across the organization

• Lead offer strategy and approvals in partnership with Talent and Finance, and inform workforce planning

• Monitor and safeguard internal equity and market competitiveness

Performance & Pay Cycles

• Own the design and execution of annual and off-cycle compensation review processes

• Translate performance outcomes into merit, promotion, and incentive decisions

• Deliver clear compensation analytics and recommendations directly to founders and executive leadership

Benefits Strategy & Administration

• Own benefits programs and the relationship with our PEO

• Evaluate and recommend enhancements that strengthen both competitiveness and employee experience as the organization scales

• Lead the transition planning from PEO to a standalone benefits structure

Equity & Total Rewards Integration

• Partner cross-functionally with Finance and leadership on equity program design and administration

• Maintain a holistic, organization-wide view of cash + equity competitiveness

What You Bring

• 10+ years of compensation and total rewards experience, including time in high-growth technology companies, with a track record of leading the function

• A demonstrated ability to evolve Total Rewards programs to be highly competitive while balancing cost, equity, and a strong employee experience

• A creative, first-principles approach to building Total Rewards programs where established playbooks may not yet exist

• Proven ability to operate nimbly in fast-moving, ambiguous environments—iterating quickly and making sound, pragmatic decisions

• Experience working directly with founders or executive stakeholders as a trusted advisor

• Deep expertise in benchmarking, pay governance, and merit cycles

• Proven experience owning benefits programs at scale, including PEO and/or standalone structures

• Strong command of equity compensation structures

• Excellent analytical skills and fluency working with compensation data

• AI industry experience strongly preferred

• Strong knowledge of US compensation practices; UK exposure is a plus

What We Offer:

We believe that to make intelligence open and accessible to all, you need to start at the foundation. Joining Reflection means building from the ground up as part of a talent-dense team. You will help define our future as a company, and help define the future of open foundational models.

We want you to do the most impactful work of your career with the confidence that you and the people you care about most are supported.

• Top-tier compensation: Salary and equity structured to recognize and retain our talent globally.

• Stock options: Everyone who joins and contributes to Reflection's success gets to share in the upside through stock options.

• Health & wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life, with an annual wellness allowance.

• Meals: Lunch and dinner are provided in the office daily.

• Life & family: 22 weeks paid parental leave for all new birthing and non-birthing parents, including adoptive and surrogate journeys.

• Vacation days: Unlimited paid time off in the U.S. and 30 days in the U.K.

• Sponsorship support: We sponsor visas to help exceptional talent join our team and support long-term immigration pathways where applicable.

• Team building: We have regular off-sites, happy hours, and team celebrations.