--- title: 'Compensation manager at Watershed' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/compensation-manager-watershed-san-francisco-8bh35qq29wv6' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-30' --- # Compensation manager at Watershed - **Company:** Watershed - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-10-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-30 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/watershed/026fd0c6-e3c8-4a72-9b70-59449790644d ## Job description ## About Watershed [Watershed](https://watershed.com/) is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb, Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for voluntary and regulatory reporting including CSRD, and drive real decarbonization. We are looking for team members who love product-building, want to work hard at a mission-oriented startup, and will collaborate with us in shaping the culture of a growing team. We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Mexico City, and remote team members across the US and Europe. We hope that you'll be interested in joining us! ## The role You’ll lead Watershed’s global compensation program. You’ll be our sole dedicated compensation team member, taking ownership of an established, increasingly complex program across the U.S., EMEA, Australia, and Mexico City. This is a hands-on individual contributor role reporting to our Head of People: you’ll build and check the models, validate market benchmarks, run compensation planning, and help employees understand their pay. You’ll bring sound judgment to decisions that balance competitiveness, performance, and financial discipline. Reporting to the Head of People, you’ll partner closely with Finance, People Business Partners, Recruiting, People Operations, and business leaders. You’ll help shape compensation strategy through analysis and recommendations to the Head of People and founders. You’ll independently own execution of our programs including budgeting, planning, education and rollout. A major focus will be our compensation tools and planning workflows. You’ll help us move away from manual work toward reliable data, well-tested systems, and a better experience for employees as well as the people making and communicating compensation outcomes. You will - Own and evolve compensation planning and tools. Lead the development and continuous improvement of planning tools, models, and workflows to strengthen reliability, usability, and efficiency. Identify opportunities to build new capabilities, reduce manual work, and recommend tools and process improvements that support the company’s evolving compensation needs. - Run compensation cycles end to end. Manage timelines, eligibility, cash and equity modeling, budget tracking, approvals, data validation, and final handoffs. Partner with Finance and People Operations to ensure approved decisions are implemented accurately and on time. - Lead global benchmarking. Validate market data and job matches, manage survey participation, and maintain compensation ranges across functions and geographies. Bring judgment to imperfect data, document assumptions, and flag where our benchmarks no longer reflect the talent markets we compete in. - Build compensation understanding. Help employees understand their compensation and equity, equip managers to communicate decisions, and enable recruiters to explain our programs to candidates. Develop practical guides, FAQs, training, and cycle communications, and help deliver education across time zones. - Be the compensation expert for business partners. Advise Recruiting, People Business Partners, and leaders on offers, promotions, role changes, and compensation questions. Make clear, data-backed recommendations and explain the trade-offs. - Keep data and processes dependable. Maintain accurate compensation records, documented decision rules, and appropriate checks and access controls. Improve reporting and reduce recurring manual work using approved automation and AI, with careful protection of employee information and verification of outputs. - Execute executive compensation programs. Prepare analyses and models, coordinate approvals, and carry approved executive compensation decisions through implementation in partnership with the Head of People, founders, Finance, and Legal. - Coordinate across global and functional partners. Work with Finance, Legal, People Operations, and Revenue Operations on local requirements, compensation data, and implementation. Benefits and sales incentive design are owned elsewhere. You have - 7+ years of experience in compensation, or equivalent depth of expertise, including hands-on ownership of compensation programs and cycles. - Experience managing compensation programs at technology companies, including SaaS businesses, with an understanding of how cash and equity support hiring, performance, and retention. - Strong compensation fundamentals: market pricing, survey participation, job matching, salary ranges, cash and equity compensation, and budget modeling. - Experience implementing or materially improving compensation planning tools, including configuration, testing, rollout, and adoption. You can translate compensation rules into workflows. - Advanced spreadsheet skills. You can build and audit complex models. - Hands-on experience with U.S. compensation practices and experience supporting compensation in at least one other country. You can learn unfamiliar local requirements and work effectively with regional experts. Experience in Mexico a strong plus! - The ability to turn complex compensation concepts into clear employee education, manager guidance, and leadership recommendations. - Practical fluency with AI tools and prompt engineering and a willingness to use them to improve analysis, documentation, and recurring workflows. You know how to validate outputs and protect sensitive compensation data. - Strong project management, attention to detail, and discretion. You can prioritize independently, follow through, and deliver work that people trust. - Comfort with ambiguity and a genuine interest in being a hands-on, sole compensation specialist with strong cross-functional partners. Must be willing to work from an office 4 days per week (except for remote roles) Watershed has hub offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Mexico City and satellite offices in Denver, Sydney, Paris, and Berlin. Where we have offices, employees are expected to be in office for 4 days per week. Certain jobs are open to being remote and will be specifically noted on the jobs page and in the job description if so. What’s the interview process like? It starts the same for every candidate: getting to know the team members through 1 to 2 conversations about Watershed, your experience, and your interests. Next steps can vary by role, but usual next steps are a skill or experience interview (e.g. a coding interview for an engineer, a portfolio review for a designer, deeper experience call for other roles) which leads to a virtual or in person interview panel. We prioritize transparency and lack of surprise throughout the process. What if I need accommodations for my interview? At Watershed, we are dedicated to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. We provide reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health needs, religious observances, neurodivergence, or pregnancy-related support requirements. If you need assistance during your process, please contact your recruiter. ## About Watershed ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Watershed provides an enterprise sustainability platform that helps companies measure, report, and reduce their environmental impact using AI-driven data and analytics. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, February 2024) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2019 - **Founders**: Not publicly listed on the provided sources (co-founders include Christiana Figueres as advisor, but founders not named in search results; likely Taylor Francis, Avi Itskovich, and Christian Anderson based on industry knowledge – but since not in sources, we state "Not publicly disclosed in provided materials"). ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Climate Data and Analytics / Enterprise Sustainability Software - **Target customers**: B2B – large enterprises, financial institutions, private equity firms, and professional services companies - **Mission**: Accelerate the climate economy by giving companies the tools to accurately measure, report, and reduce their environmental impacts. Near-term goal: help customers reduce or remove 500 megatonnes of CO₂e per year by 2030 (≈1% of annual global emissions). ## Products & Services - **Watershed Platform (Measure, Report, Act)**: - **Measure**: AI-powered emissions measurement with a library of 500,000+ emissions factors, benchmarks, and methodologies. Supports carbon, water, and land use impact. - **Report**: Automated ESG reporting across frameworks (e.g., CDP, GRI, TCFD) with AI drafting, peer benchmarks, full data lineage, and review workflows. - **Act**: Decarbonization analysis, supply chain engagement, and a marketplace for vetted carbon removal and clean power projects. - **Watershed AI**: Purpose-built AI agents for data cleaning, analysis, and report drafting, designed to accelerate sustainability workflows (e.g., 80% faster data cleaning). - **Cornerstone Sustainability Data Initiative**: Open-source sustainability data collaboration with ERG and Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (most recent round: Series C, February 2024; total funding $268.2M per LinkedIn estimates) - **Key Metric**: Annual revenue estimated at $17.0M (source: LinkedIn company data, third-party estimate); total funding $268.2M across 5 rounds - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Greenoaks; advisors include Christiana Figueres and Al Gore. Customers: Airbnb, Spotify, FedEx, Visa, Dr. Martens, four of the top six US banks, six of the top 10 private equity firms (e.g., Carlyle). - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount ~373–400 (10% YoY growth per LinkedIn) - Job postings up 308% year-over-year (LinkedIn) - Named a leader in the 2026 Verdantix Green Quadrant for Enterprise Carbon Management - Designated as CDP accredited global gold software solutions provider - Offices in San Francisco, London, New York, Sydney, Paris, Berlin, Mexico City ## Competitive Advantages - **Comprehensive AI platform**: Combines measurement, reporting, and action with purpose-built AI agents, not just a carbon calculator. - **Deep domain expertise**: In-house science, policy, and finance advisory groups; contributions to industry technical working groups. - **Trusted by top enterprises**: Serves leading brands and financial institutions, giving credibility and scale. - **Open data initiative**: Cornerstone Sustainability Data Initiative provides free, high-quality sustainability data, reinforcing thought leadership. - **Investor backing**: Strong support from top-tier VCs and climate leaders. ## Strategic Focus - **Near-term**: Achieve 500 Mt CO₂e reduction/removal by 2030. - **Product expansion**: Deepening AI capabilities (AI agents, automated reporting), expanding supply chain data products, and supporting regulatory compliance (evolving frameworks). - **Global reach**: Growing presence in Europe, Australia, and Latin America (new office in Mexico City). - **Customer success**: Focus on enabling customers to decarbonize portfolios, meet net-zero goals, and generate business value from sustainability. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven culture**: Employees are motivated by tangible climate impact – the company measures success in megatonnes reduced, not just profit. - **Ownership and autonomy**: “Take ownership” is a core value; employees are empowered to solve problems independently. - **Customer obsession**: All decisions center on customer decarbonization goals. - **Diversity & inclusion**: Explicit commitment to designing recruiting, culture, and company to provide opportunities to people of all backgrounds. - **Remote/hybrid flexibility**: Many roles are remote within the US and Europe; offices in multiple global hubs. Hybrid likely in office locations. - **Engineering culture**: Strong engineering team with roles in AI, platform, infrastructure; talent sourced from Stripe, Airbnb, Google, Meta; alumni go to OpenAI, Anthropic, etc. - **Learning environment**: Not everyone joins as a climate expert; the company values willingness to learn about the climate ecosystem. - **Perks**: Not detailed in sources, but emphasis on “intensity and care” and having fun while doing important work. ## Sources 1. [Watershed About Page](https://watershed.com/about-us) 2. [Watershed Homepage](https://watershed.com/) 3. [Watershed Careers Page](https://watershed.com/careers) 4. [Working at Watershed](https://watershed.com/inside/working-at-watershed) 5. [Watershed LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/watershedclimate) ## Other roles at Watershed - [Global head of sales development](https://feeny.ai/job/global-head-of-sales-development-watershed-san-francisco-0zkgpt3r5yzz) — San Francisco, CA - [Customer success manager, enterprise](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-success-manager-enterprise-watershed-new-york-jtsa90sb0e81) — New York, NY - [Sustainability solutions consultant (french & german speaking)](https://feeny.ai/job/sustainability-solutions-consultant-french-german-speaking-watershed-london-gptqft3masey) — London, United Kingdom - [Enterprise account manager, northern europe](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-account-manager-northern-europe-watershed-london-dk4vqcjae5cr) — London, United Kingdom - [Sustainability data advisor, fixed-term (CDMX)](https://feeny.ai/job/sustainability-data-advisor-fixed-term-cdmx-watershed-mexico-city-yw30g0d5150y) — Mexico City, Mexico - [Sales development representative](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-watershed-san-francisco-tv730ce041qh) — San Francisco, CA - [IT Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/it-engineer-watershed-san-francisco-0tnrxddvq5w8) — San Francisco, CA - [Sustainability data advisor, fixed-term (US)](https://feeny.ai/job/sustainability-data-advisor-fixed-term-us-watershed-san-francisco-643d32s5hc93) — San Francisco, CA - [Software engineer, cloud infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-cloud-infrastructure-watershed-san-francisco-6g38gzkq6gbc) — San Francisco, CA - [Partnerships, strategic partner lead](https://feeny.ai/job/partnerships-strategic-partner-lead-watershed-new-york-0m223yg1f6a7) — New York, NY