Director, Talent Manager, Management

Overview

Opportunity awaits those up to the challenge of developing transformative therapies across a broad range of debilitating diseases.

Summary: At Apellis, we are reengineering the future of biopharma. To support our mission of delivering life-changing medicines, we need a compensation architect who can balance the rigor of a public company with the agility of a global biotech disruptor. As the Director, Global Compensation, you will own the design and evolution of our global compensation strategy. This is not a "maintenance" role;

you will lead the multi-year transformation of our job architecture, incentive programs, and global scaling strategy across the US and our international hubs. You will be a strategic partner to the VP of Total Rewards & HR Systems and a key enabler for our HR Business Partners, ensuring our compensation philosophy drives performance and cultural alignment.

This leader is responsible for the enterprise compensation infrastructure that supports our life-changing science, ensuring that pay programs are aligned to performance, market-aligned, and compliant. You will partner with HR Business Partners and Centers of Excellence (COEs) to bring to life a unified compensation model that drives execution and cultural alignment.

As a member of the Total Rewards leadership team, this role must:

• Operate with an enterprise-first mindset, prioritizing what is best for the business and HR as a whole—not only their specialization.
• Build a symbiotic partnership with HR Business Partners, ensuring compensation strategies are informed by the "voice of the business" and fully executable.
• Demonstrate transparency, follow-through, and proactive communication to ensure alignment and trust across global functions.

Strategic Design & Framework Architecture

• Lead the creation and implementation of a unified Global Job Architecture. Align leveling and career frameworks across the US and international hubs to support workforce scaling and organizational clarity.
• Design and operationalize global salary structures. Utilize data-driven insights and Radford/Aon methodology to ensure competitive positioning in disparate and hyper-competitive biopharma talent markets.
• Own the end-to-end engineering of Incentive Programs. This includes the design, financial modeling, and communication strategy for Corporate Bonus and Sales Incentive Plans (in partnership with Commercial Operations).
• Support the evolution of compensation programs aligned with the company's current lifecycle stage, ensuring a distinct competitive advantage in total rewards.
• Partner across Total Rewards on the global equity education and communication strategy. Translate complex equity vehicles (RSUs, PSUs, Options) into clear, compelling narratives that ensure employees at all levels understand the potential value of their ownership and its link to company milestones.

• Talent Acquisition & EVP Partnership

• Partner with the Talent Acquisition (TA) team to refine our Employer Value Proposition (EVP). Ensure our compensation narrative is a differentiator in the sourcing and attraction of top-tier scientific and commercial talent.
• Act as a strategic consultant to TA on complex candidate offers, providing data-driven guidance on unique compensation packages while maintaining internal equity.
• Regularly equip the TA team with updated market insights and Radford trends to ensure our sourcing strategies remain agile in a shifting biopharma landscape.

• Establish and govern core compensation processes, including annual merit cycles and semi-annual promotion governance, to build transparency and accountability across the organization.
• Drive the Global Pay Equity and Transparency strategy. Ensure proactive compliance with US and international regulations, such as the EU Pay Transparency Directive.
• Lead global compensation projects from conception to implementation, including project plans, timelines, and change management activities to ensure seamless adoption.

• Build a symbiotic partnership with HR Business Partners. Develop tools, templates, and "consultative" guidance (e.g., Total Rewards statements, manager talking points) that enable HRBPs to drive strategic execution.
• Provide thought leadership to business leaders on all compensation matters, including salary management, total rewards philosophy, and creative support of strategic objectives.
• Lead compensation reporting and analytics. Provide the VP, Total Rewards and senior leadership with data-driven narratives regarding spend, market competitiveness, and the "pay-for-performance" link.
• Engage with key stakeholders across the company to build strong relationships and provide leadership advice on compensation strategies and competitive trends.

• Provide direct leadership and mentorship to the Compensation Manager. Foster a high-performance environment that encourages technical growth, Radford mastery, and professional…