Senior Director, Compensation

At 2U, we are all in on purpose. We are motivated by our mission – to eliminate the back row in education – and connected by our shared passion to deliver world-class digital education at scale. As the parent company of edX, the world’s leading online learning platform, 2U powers more than 4,000 online higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporate partners, we are helping to unlock human potential.

What We’re Looking For:

The Senior Director, Compensation is responsible for the design, development, implementation and communication of global compensation plans consistent with the corporate total rewards philosophy. 

Strategically focuses on programs that have short to mid-term (1-3 years) impact on execution of a competitive and equitable strategy to attract, engage, and retain key talent. In addition, the position will monitor the effectiveness and cost competitiveness of programs and provide recommendations consistent with the compensation philosophy, business requirements, market and cost competitiveness. This role will work broadly across all global areas of compensation, especially executive compensation, and have a significant influence within global HR and the global business. This role will be hybrid, based out of our HQ in Lanham, MD.

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To:

1. Strategy and Growth 
   • Develop and execute a competitive and comprehensive Global Compensation strategy designed to attract and retain world-class talent in a competitive environment and ever-changing economic landscape
   • Ensure compensation philosophy and compensation pay practices are consistent with guiding principles and business objectives
   • Drive thought leadership to address current and emerging compensation and benefits trends and issues
   • Recommend revisions, new plans, or processes that are cost effective and consistent with market trends and the corporate philosophy and business objectives
   • Partner with HR and Employee Resource groups across the business to ensure employee understanding of salary administration, incentive, recognition, and equity programs through training programs and regular communications
   • Lead the participation in surveys/market studies for domestic and international compensation to ensure competitiveness and fairness in establishing company-wide salary ranges
2. Stakeholder Management
   • Work closely with internal functions (FP&A, Accounting, Equity, Payroll, Legal, Sales, other internal HR partners) and external partners/vendors to deliver creative and market-sensitive compensation strategies that are consistent, scalable and effective
   • Counsel human resources partners and management in all areas of compensation, including executive compensation, sales incentives, market pricing, internal equity, promotion opportunities, retention, and other pay components as necessary
   • Effectively manage external consulting, vendor relationships, and service providers including compensation survey vendors, compensation consultants, and executive compensation consultant
   • Serve as functional business owner for Compensation, guiding all prioritization decisions related to our systems and technology implementations and enhancements
   • Partner with Talent Acquisition to ensure our materials/collateral used for purposes of recruiting are competitive and drive our employee value proposition
3. Functional Leadership
   • Serve as internal functional lead for Compensation Committee, owning and driving agenda and materials 
   • Lead sales comp design to provide oversight and governance in our commission-based programs and plans
   • Lead and act as SME for all executive compensation initiatives
4. Process Development and Improvement
   • Research and document key economic drivers influencing compensation as they relate to market ranges, salary increase budgets by country
   • Establish best practices and recommend enhancements to annual salary review cycles, pay equity reviews, promotion practices, as well as stock compensation administration
5. Reporting and Compliance
   • Establish and maintain internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points to ensure accurate and timely reporting of compensation, in compliance with governmental regulations, internal standards, and processes
   • Keep apprised of global governmental regulations to ensure compliance in those locations where the company operates
   • Prepare compensation disclosure tables and support the compensation disclosure and analysis, including narrative and tables
6. People Management
   • Lead, coach, mentor and support a team of managers