Director, Total Rewards

FLSA Status: Exempt
Reports to: Chief People Officer
Location: Phoenix, AZ

The Director, Total Rewards is a forward-thinking, strategic leader responsible for architecting, benchmarking, and administering the organization’s enterprise compensation, benefits, and recognition programs. Reporting directly to the Chief People Officer, this role serves as a crucial member of the HR Leadership Team.
The ideal candidate is both a rigorous analyst and a trusted advisor — someone who has designed and led competitive, compliant, and cost-effective rewards strategies at scale. This person will lead the charge in building a defensible pay architecture, modernizing benefits administration, and ensuring the organization’s total rewards philosophy is transparent, equitable, and aligned to business strategy.

•  This role sits at the intersection of financial rigor and people strategy. Success requires thinking and communicating as both a compensation analyst and an HR leader — translating market data and plan design into outcomes that executives, managers, and employees can all understand and trust.
• You will be leading compensation cycles and benefits renewals under real deadlines — comfortable making data-driven recommendations under ambiguity, managing competing priorities across Finance, Legal, and HR, and holding yourself accountable to budget, compliance, and pay equity all at once.
• The work is architectural in nature. You won’t just administer programs — you’ll be re-engineering how the organization thinks about pay, building a job architecture and market-pricing framework that leadership can trust implicitly.
• The organization operates in a distributed, multi-state environment, requiring compensation structures and benefits plans that work seamlessly across varying state pay-transparency and compliance landscapes.
• You will directly manage and mentor a Total Rewards Analyst / Benefits Specialist. This is a lean team, so your ability to multiply the capability of the people around you — through coaching, clear accountability, and a Multipliers mindset — matters as much as your individual technical output.
• As a key member of the HR Leadership Team reporting directly to the CPO, you will be expected to contribute to the broader people strategy, not just the compensation and benefits function.

• You are energized by the challenge of building something that outlasts you — designing pay structures, governance frameworks, and rewards philosophies that become the foundation other teams build on.
• You find satisfaction in transforming inconsistent, ad hoc pay and benefits decisions into clear, defensible, and equitable programs.
• You thrive in a role where the scope spans both strategic vision and hands-on execution — presenting a comp philosophy to the board in the morning, auditing pay bands in the afternoon.
• Note: if you prefer a large, fully staffed rewards team or a role where the job architecture is already built and stable, the lean team structure and active build-out here may feel under-resourced.
• Note: if you are uncomfortable with ambiguity during program redesign, the reality of standing up new pay structures with evolving requirements will likely be stressful rather than motivating.
• Note: if you prefer a purely technical/analytical role without strategic accountability, the expectation to partner closely with the CPO and contribute to HR Leadership Team decisions may feel outside your comfort zone.

• Compensation Strategy & Architecture: Design, evaluate, and maintain the enterprise compensation structure — base pay, incentive/bonus plans, sales incentive plans, and long-term/equity incentives where applicable — ensuring internal equity and external competitiveness.
• Market Pricing & Benchmarking: Lead participation in market surveys, job leveling, and benchmarking to keep pay ranges current; partner with Finance on annual merit, promotion, and bonus budget cycles.
• Benefits Design & Administration: Own the design, vendor management, and administration of health, welfare, retirement, and voluntary benefits programs; lead annual open enrollment and renewal strategy to balance cost, competitiveness, and employee experience.
• Pay Equity & Compliance: Conduct regular pay equity audits and partner with Legal/Compliance to ensure adherence to FLSA, state pay-transparency laws, and multi-state compensation regulations.
• Total Rewards Analytics: Partner with enterprise data and HRIS teams to build dashboards providing executive-level insight into compensation spend, benefits utilization, and total rewards ROI.
• Workflow Automation: Critically evaluate legacy comp/benefits processes to design automated, reliable workflows (merit cycles, promotions, off-cycle adjustments) that reduce administrative overhead.
• Corporate vs. Market Alignment: Partner with regional stakeholders, championing clarity in operational execution (utilizing RACI frameworks) to balance corporate rewards philosophy with local market realities.
• Total Rewards Communication: Build and communicate a clear, compelling total rewards statement and philosophy that helps employees understand the full value of their compensation and benefits.
• People Development: Directly manage, mentor, and elevate a Total Rewards Analyst / Benefits Specialist, fostering continuous technical learning and strategic accountability.
• Core Leadership Frameworks: Model an intentional culture centered around Servant Leadership, Radical Candor, and a Multipliers mindset.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Act as the primary HR bridge to Finance, Legal, and executive leadership to ensure compliance, budget alignment, and systemic consistency across all rewards programs.
• Program Build Mastery: Successfully complete a full job architecture and pay structure build-out or refresh, delivered on time and within budget, with clear governance for ongoing maintenance.
• Data Trust: Achieve a verified, audit-ready pay equity position across the organization where executive leadership can rely implicitly on compensation and benefits reporting.
• Operational Velocity: Drive measurable improvement in employee understanding and satisfaction with total rewards, and in cycle times for compensation-related transactions.

Education

• Preferred: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field; or commensurate experience with PHR/SHRM Certification.
• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) and/or Certified Benefits Professional (CBP) credential preferred; SHRM-SCP a plus.

Experience

• 7+ years of progressive experience in Compensation and/or Total Rewards, with at least 3+ years in a dedicated leadership role.
• Proven Program Track Record: Must have successfully led at least one major compensation structure build-out, job architecture project, or benefits redesign, from strategy through implementation and communication.
• Technical Savvy: Deep, hands-on expertise with compensation and benefits modules within enterprise HRIS platforms (e.g., UKG, Workday) paired with a solid understanding of market-pricing tools (e.g., Mercer, Radford, Payscale) and HR data warehouse environments.
• Strategic & Analytical Mindset: A natural problem-solver who proactively re-engineers pay and benefits processes for scale, equity, and long-term business agility.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field (Master’s or relevant certifications like CCP, CBP, or SHRM-SCP are a plus).

Knowledge
Expert knowledge of compensation design, job architecture, market pricing methodology, and benefits plan design and administration. Understanding of executive compensation, incentive plan design, and core total rewards frameworks. Strong knowledge of multi-state pay-transparency, FLSA, and compensation compliance standards.
Skills
Compensation analytics, job evaluation, benefits vendor management, and advanced Excel/HRIS modeling. Strong in change management — particularly when shifting organizational mindsets from ad hoc pay decisions to structured, data-driven rewards governance. Highly skilled in building strong, collaborative partnerships with Finance, Legal, and senior business leaders.
Abilities
Ability to set strategic rewards direction while executing practical, scalable compensation and benefits solutions in a fast-paced, matrix-oriented environment. Ability to tolerate ambiguity during program redesign and organizational change, ensuring pay equity, business continuity, and fiduciary governance are strictly maintained throughout.
 

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