About the position
Performance & Rewards Lead
We’re looking for a highly analytical and detail-oriented Performance & Rewards Lead to join our People team and own approach to performance, compensation, equity, and rewards.
You’ll play a critical role in designing and running our bi-annual performance cycle, managing payroll operations, overseeing our global equity program (RSUs and/or options), and helping us define and evolve our rewards philosophy as we scale.
You’ll need a sharp financial mindset, a love of spreadsheets, and experience managing equity programs and compensation frameworks — ideally across South African and international contexts (US or EU experience is highly valued).
Reporting line
Chief Operating Officer
Probation Period
3 months
Notice Period
1 month
Job level
IC3
Competency framework
Core Competencies
Key responsibilities Performance, Promotion & Career
- Develop and steward a clear, cohesive performance philosophy that outlines what high performance looks like.
- Own and iterate competency framework, ensuring clear articulation of role-specific skills and behaviors across teams.
- Build clear, transparent career paths aligned with competencies and leveling guidelines, ensuring employees understand what growth looks like.
- Work with People Partners to design and deliver training for managers to navigate performance reviews, give actionable feedback, and use competency tools effectively
- Lead bi-annual performance review cycle end-to-end (tools, timelines, calibration, communications)
- Equip managers and leaders with performance data, insights, and decision-making frameworks
- Manage promotions processes and ensure alignment with pay and equity philosophy
Compensation & Payroll
- Partner with Finance to run monthly payroll operations (SA + international contractors etc)
- Maintain internal compensation bands and leveling frameworks
- Support compensation benchmarking exercises and total rewards modelling
Equity & Long-Term Incentives
- Own and manage global equity program (RSUs, cap table support)
- Track grants, vesting schedules, and employee communications
- Partner with legal/finance to ensure compliance and reporting accuracy
- Manage and optimize tax for the plan
Rewards Strategy
- Evolve our total rewards philosophy — balancing competitiveness, transparency, and scalability
- Design thoughtful, sustainable reward mechanisms beyond salary and equity (e.g. recognition programs, bonuses, benefits)
Analytics & Infrastructure
- Be the owner of all people-related compensation and performance data
- Create reporting dashboards and insights for leadership
- Identify tools and improvements to automate and scale performance & rewards processes
Requirements Must-Haves:
- 5+ years in total rewards, performance, HR operations or finance/people analytics
- Experience managing staff equity programs (e.g. stock options or RSUs)
- Strong spreadsheet and modelling skills
- Familiarity with Carta or similar equity platforms
- Confident running or supporting performance review cycles
- Detail-oriented with a high bar for accuracy and data integrity
- Comfortable working across time zones and functions
Nice-to-Haves:
- Experience with PEOs or remote payrolls
- Experience scaling rewards in a Series A/B/C startup
- Familiar with tools like Notion, BambooHR and Deel
- Exposure to hybrid or remote-first company models
- People analytics or org design experience
Desired Skills:
- Analytics
- Payroll
- Performance
