Senior Compensation Partner- AI Enablement & Integration

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Grade: Professional 313

Pay Range: $123,000.00 - $190,700.00

Job Description

The Senior Compensation Partner serves as a key consultant and subject matter expert across all aspects of global compensation programs. This role provides advanced, enterprise-level consulting and analytical expertise to drive critical business decisions related to attracting, retaining, and rewarding talent.

This unique role serves as a key driver in the evolution of Compensation Intelligence, leveraging advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and emerging AI technologies to transform compensation strategy, enhance decision quality, and create scalable, data-driven solutions that improve workforce and business outcomes.

This position blends deep technical compensation expertise with strong business acumen and cross-functional partnership. The Senior Compensation Partner helps lead the design, and evolution of tech-enabled compensation strategies, programs, and frameworks across the organization.

This role is critical in executing the organization’s compensation philosophy and driving large-scale tech-enhanced initiatives, ensuring alignment with market competitiveness, internal equity, regulatory requirements, and business strategy. The Senior Compensation Partner partners directly with leaders to influence outcomes and establish Total Rewards as a strategic differentiator.

 

Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Advisory

• Leads the team in advancement of compensation intelligence capabilities, leveraging data, automation, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics to enhance decision-making, improve efficiency, and strengthen strategic workforce planning.
• Advises leader and team on emerging technologies and AI-enabled approaches that improve compensation analysis, workforce insights, scenario modeling, and decision quality.
• Serves as a trusted advisor to leaders and stakeholders on complex compensation matters, including offers, retention strategies, organizational design impacts, and high-risk pay decisions.
• Executes on the continuous evolution of the organization’s compensation philosophy, strategy, and frameworks to align with long-term business objectives.
• Influences enterprise decision-making through data-driven insights, scenario modeling, and risk assessment related to compensation programs.

Program Design & Ownership

• Oversees the design and refinement of salary structures, incentive plans, and pay-for-performance frameworks.
• Drives innovation in compensation design, incorporating emerging trends, tools, and technologies.
• Evaluates, pilots, and integrates emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools such as Claude, to streamline compensation processes, improve scalability, and enhance the quality and consistency of compensation recommendations.
• Develops and maintains compensation workflows, methodologies, and governance standards that leverage AI-assisted solutions while ensuring appropriate oversight, data integrity, and compliance.

Job Architecture & Governance

• Provides strategic oversight of job architecture, including job leveling frameworks, titling standards, and job evaluation methodologies.
• Leads enterprise-wide initiatives to evolve job structure and ensure alignment with governance standards and organizational needs.
• Establishes and enforces compensation governance practices to ensure consistency, transparency, and compliance.

Market Insights & Advanced Analytics

• Leads complex market benchmarking, modeling, and predictive analytics to inform compensation strategy.
• Utilizes AI-assisted analytics and modeling tools to accelerate complex compensation analyses, identify emerging workforce trends, and support proactive decision-making.
• Translates market data, internal equity analysis, and business context into actionable executive-level recommendations.
• Identifies trends and emerging risks in compensation (market, regulatory, workforce) and develops proactive solutions.
• Designs and implements advanced compensation intelligence solutions that synthesize market data, internal workforce trends, pay equity analyses, and organizational metrics into actionable insights for leaders.

Compensation Cycles & Planning

• Leads the annual compensation planning process, including merit, promotion, and incentive cycles, providing strategic direction on budgets, modeling, and distribution.
• Advises leadership on allocation strategies and trade-offs to optimize outcomes across the organization.

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensures compliance with federal, state, and international compensation regulations (e.g., FLSA, pay transparency laws).
• Leads pay equity analyses and remediation strategies with a strong focus on internal fairness and compliance.

Consultation & Education

• Develops and delivers executive-level communication and education on compensation philosophy, programs, and decisions.
• Creates tools, frameworks, and guidance to enable consistent compensation decision-making across leaders and HR partners.
• Serves as a thought leader in the responsible application of artificial intelligence within compensation, educating stakeholders on best practices, governance standards, and opportunities to improve business outcomes.
• Develops AI tools, agents, prompts, frameworks, and knowledge resources that enable Compensation, HR, and business leaders to effectively leverage AI-enabled compensation insights.

Team Leadership & Influence

• Provides mentorship, guidance, and technical leadership to compensation team members.
• Elevates team capability through knowledge sharing and best practice development.
• Leads large-scale, cross-functional compensation initiatives (e.g., job architecture transformation, pay equity studies, program redesigns).
• Champions the adoption of AI-enabled compensation practices and drives organizational capability building related to compensation intelligence, analytics, and workflow automation.
• Provides leadership and mentorship on the effective use of Claude and other emerging technologies to improve team productivity, analytical rigor, and strategic impact.

Other

• Stays current on advanced compensation trends, technologies (including AI applications), and best practices.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

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This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Expert knowledge of compensation strategy, program design, market pricing, job architecture, and Total Rewards principles.
• Expertise in leveraging artificial intelligence, automation, and compensation intelligence solutions to enhance analytics, decision-making, workflow efficiency, and stakeholder experience.
• Advanced expertise in compensation analytics, modeling, workforce planning, and translating complex data into executive-level insights and recommendations.
• Strong business acumen with a proven ability to influence senior leaders and align compensation strategies with organizational objectives.
• Deep understanding of compensation governance, regulatory compliance, pay transparency, and pay equity practices.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex initiatives, navigate ambiguity, and drive organizational change in dynamic environments.
• Excellent communication, presentation, consulting, and storytelling skills with executive audiences.
• Strong project leadership and proficiency with HRIS and compensation technologies, including Workday and analytics platforms.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in a science, business, or other related field.

Experience

• 12 years of relevant analytical experience, with at least 5 years in Compensation, People & Talent Analytics, Business Intelligence, HRIS Analytics or closely related work.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide compensation initiatives and advising senior leadership.
• Experience with compensation tools and market data sources (e.g., Radford-Aon, Mercer-Marsh, Towers, CUPA-HR).

Experience in Lieu of Education

Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a related field.
• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).
• Experience in executive, sales, and/or global compensation.
• Experience with Workday or other HRIS.
• Project management certification (PMP, Agile, etc.).
• Experience designing and implementing AI-enabled compensation, workforce analytics, or Total Rewards solutions.
• Claude certifications or equivalent AI and prompt engineering credentials.
• Experience leading AI adoption, governance, or workflow transformation initiatives within Human Resources, Compensation, or Total Rewards functions.

Travel

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.