Compensation and Benefits Director

ARDAGH GROUP • Chicago, IL

2d • $136,900 - $205,300 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Compensation and Benefits leads the design, administration, and governance of compensation, benefits, and payroll across all plant and corporate locations. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for both strategic direction and day-to-day execution, including personally performing and overseeing key transactional and administrative activities. Serves as the technical owner of pay and benefit programs for both salaried and hourly populations and manages the third-party managed payroll service relationship, including service levels, data integrity, internal controls, accurate service delivery, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence across the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, Finance, or related field; advanced degree or CCP/CEBS preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive compensation and benefits experience, including 3+ years leading people.
• Direct experience administering programs in a unionized, multi-site manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of an outsourced or managed-service payroll relationship.
• Strong analytical and modeling skills; advanced Excel and HRIS/payroll platform proficiency.
• Sound judgment handling confidential compensation and employee data.

Nice To Haves

• advanced degree or CCP/CEBS preferred

Responsibilities

• Own the salaried job architecture, salary structures, and market benchmarking; recommend annual structure movement and merit budget.
• Administer the annual merit, incentive, and total compensation review cycles.
• Cost and model wage proposals for collective bargaining; administer negotiated wage schedules and progression rules.
• Advise HR and operations leaders on offers, promotions, equity issues, and FLSA classification.
• Manage health, welfare, retirement, and leave programs for salaried and bargained populations, including plans governed by the Master CBA.
• Lead annual renewal and open enrollment; manage brokers, carriers, and third-party administrators.
• Ensure compliance with ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, and applicable plan documents; oversee 5500 filings, audits, and nondiscrimination testing.
• Own the managed payroll service relationship: SLAs, escalations, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure accurate, timely, compliant multi-state payroll, including contractual pay rules, shift premiums, and retroactive adjustments.
• Maintain internal controls, approval workflows, and audit readiness; own payroll calendar and year-end processes.
• Serve as the primary internal point of accountability for payroll accuracy.
• Deliver labor cost, headcount, and benefit spend reporting to HR, Finance, and executive leadership.
• Maintain HRIS data integrity for pay, benefit, and job structure records.
• Identify and implement opportunities to automate recurring processes, reduce manual administration, and make compensation, benefits, and payroll workflows leaner, more accurate, and easier to sustain.
• Operate as a working leader, balancing strategic program leadership with direct involvement in the day-to-day administration of compensation, benefits, and payroll processes.
• Personally execute and support transactional activities as needed, including compensation analyses, payroll issue resolution, benefits administration, reporting, audits, system updates, and employee inquiries.
• Provide hands-on support during peak periods, organizational changes, acquisitions, annual compensation cycles, open enrollment, payroll year-end activities, and other critical business initiatives.
• Lead and develop a small team of compensation, benefits, and payroll professionals.

Benefits

• Medical, prescription, dental and vision plans
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Life insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Paid holidays and vacation
• Short- and Long-Term Disability (STD/LTD)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Apprenticeship programs
• Professional and personal development opportunities through Employee Resource Groups

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager