Director, Total Rewards & Payroll (REQ921)
About The Position
Spartech is seeking a hands-on Director to operationalize and run the company’s compensation philosophy, architecture, annual calendar, and payroll oversight across an approximately 800-employee, 11-facility organization. The Chief People Officer owns the design of the philosophy and governance model in partnership with the CEO and Board of Directors; this role owns the systems, processes, data, and day-to-day execution. The Director partners with Finance and operating leaders and is expected to keep processes practical for a lean HR team. External partners may support surveys and selected projects, while this role retains ownership of execution and outcomes. Responsibilities include maintaining job grades, market reference points, and salary bands; managing annual and off-cycle market refreshes; running the annual compensation calendar and administering merit, promotion, and short-term incentive processes; and overseeing internal equity, pay-transparency decisions, exceptions, and retention frameworks. The Director coaches managers and plant leaders, partners with Finance on workforce cost planning, manages market survey participation and data, oversees payroll operations and compliance, improves processes, and prepares materials for the Compensation Advisory Group.
Requirements
- At least 10 years of progressive experience in compensation and total rewards.
- Hands-on ownership of job architecture, salary-band maintenance, annual merit and incentive cycles, and exception governance.
- Experience in a mid-sized, multi-site industrial or manufacturing environment; mixed hourly and salaried experience preferred.
- Ability to operationalize a written compensation philosophy rather than design one from scratch.
- Experience running a disciplined annual calendar and calibration process in which increases are not awarded when managers fail to complete required work.
- Ability to operate as a team of one, combining strategic execution with hands-on work, while partnering effectively with a CPO, Finance, and plant leaders.
- Strong analytical skills, including Excel modeling, HRIS reporting, and salary survey data.
- Experience maintaining confidential band books and exception logs.
- Excellent coaching and influence skills with managers and plant leaders, and ability to enforce consistent standards without unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business, Finance, or a related field.
Nice To Haves
- Experience overseeing payroll accuracy and process improvement.
- CCP or equivalent certification.
- Experience in a private-equity portfolio company or similar industrial turnaround environment.
Responsibilities
- Maintain and refresh the grade structure, market reference points, and salary bands on an annual cycle, including off-cycle updates when warranted.
- Partner with the Chief People Officer to understand business shifts and identify areas for targeted compensation strategies.
- Run the annual compensation calendar, ensuring scorecards, objectives, calibration, merit loading, bonus determinations, and employee conversations occur on schedule and within budget.
- Operationalize merit and promotion guidelines so increases reflect performance and criticality while allowing appropriate discretion by rating.
- Administer the short-term incentive framework, pool-funding rules, proration, and objective-setting and measurement requirements.
- Run annual internal equity reviews and pay-transparency decisions consistent with the compensation philosophy.
- Maintain logs and approvals for exceptions outside the salary band, policy, or cycle, and prepare exception materials for the Compensation Advisory Group.
- Administer the two-track retention framework, maintaining the named critical high-performer list and enforcing the conditions and reporting requirements for diving-catch exceptions.
- Enforce approval requirements for offers above midpoint and exception guidance or development plans for offers above maximum.
- Coach supervisors, managers, and plant leaders on compensation philosophy, objective writing, calibration standards, and commitments they may or may not make.
- Require completion of calibration sessions before accepting ratings and return incomplete files.
- Partner with Finance on merit and bonus pool modeling, scenario planning, and workforce cost governance within approved budgets.
- Translate plant-level compensation principles into a simple, consistent plant standard.
- Manage industrial and manufacturing salary survey participation and apply results to band and entry-rate updates based on peer-set and market rules.
- Maintain the survey inventory, peer-set definition, and annual market-data spend within the established planning range.
- Monitor critical-role and scarce-skill markets so range corrections can be proactive.
- Oversee payroll operations, focusing on accuracy, multi-state compliance, and reducing employee-visible defects.
- Identify and implement process improvements supporting the annual calendar and exception reporting without adding administrative burden.
- Prepare concise materials for the three standing Compensation Advisory Group meetings in November, February, and July.
- Ensure Advisory Group materials show executive and management outcomes and exceptions without exposing plant-level rates or individual names below the Executive Leadership Team.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Flexible Spending Accounts.
- Company-paid life insurance and long-term and short-term disability programs.
- 401(k) with strong company match.
- 120 hours of paid time off, prorated based on hire date.
- 11 paid holidays.
- Most benefits start on day one.
- Competitive salary, incentives, and benefit programs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
