Global Compensation Lead

Syneos Health • Morrisville, NC

5d

About The Position

We are seeking an inspiring, future-focused Global Compensation Lead to champion and operationalize a world-class compensation strategy for a complex, rapidly evolving people-services organization. Because our business outcomes directly depend on how we attract, retain, and deploy talent, compensation plays a central role in our business economics—and this leader will be at the center of shaping that impact. This role is ideal for a builder and a strategist: someone who brings both big-picture vision and deep hands-on expertise; someone who thrives in a dynamic environment of change; and someone energized by the opportunity to elevate compensation as a core driver of operational excellence and financial performance. As a senior leader within Global Total Rewards & Performance, you will oversee compensation strategy, detailed design, governance, and the end-to-end execution of programs across a diverse, global workforce. This includes partnering deeply with business leaders and HR Business Partners to ensure our compensation philosophy and practices reflect our values, market realities, and the economics of a global people-services model.

Requirements

• 10–15+ years of progressive compensation leadership experience in a global, matrixed, people-services or professional services organization (CRO, life sciences, consulting, or similar strongly preferred).
• Proven success developing and scaling compensation strategies across the US, India, and multiple international markets.
• Experience training and uplifting people managers in compensation fundamentals and business economics.
• A track record of building and leading high-performing global teams.
• Deep expertise in compensation design, job architecture, benchmarking, pay governance, and compensation cycle execution.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale transformation or global harmonization initiatives.
• Strong partnership skills and executive presence—able to influence, simplify complexity, and tell a compelling story with data.
• Curiosity and comfort with AI, automation, and emerging digital tools in the rewards space.
• A mindset grounded in excellence, continuous improvement, agility, and impact.

Responsibilities

• Compensation Strategy & Design Develop and deliver a global compensation strategy that reflects the realities of a people-services business—where talent is our product, our differentiator, and our core economic engine. Build and manage compensation frameworks, job architecture, salary structures, pay-for-performance programs, and governance models across 60 countries – 12 core countries which employ 85% of our team. Apply AI, automation, and predictive analytics to improve modeling, scenario planning, pay transparency, and scalability. Ensure compensation programs support growth across diverse business units—clinical operations, corporate functions, commercial divisions, consulting teams, and a media/communications agency.
• Manager Capability & Business Education Design and deliver a global manager education strategy that raises the capability of people leaders at all levels. Train managers to understand the fundamentals of business economics in a people-services organization—how compensation decisions directly influence revenue, margin, utilization, and overall organizational performance. Develop simple, scalable tools and learning materials that help managers make consistent, informed, financially sound compensation decisions. Partner with HR Business Partners to embed strong compensation literacy into leadership development, talent processes, and manager onboarding.
• Execution & Governance Oversee the end-to-end execution of global annual compensation cycles with precision, transparency, and operational excellence. Strengthen governance and decision frameworks to ensure consistency and equity, responsible risk management, and alignment with global and local regulations. Implement streamlined processes that drive global harmonization while respecting local market and regulatory requirements.
• Leadership & Partnership Present and communicate strategic compensation recommendations to the CHRO, CFO and CEO, effectively influence decision-making, and translate executive ideas into actionable compensation initiatives aligned with organizational goals. Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing global compensation team of partners and analysts. Serve as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders across clinical, corporate, commercial, and consulting units. Partner closely with HR Business Partners to embed compensation strategy into broader talent and organizational initiatives. Manage vendor relationships to support global benchmarking, job evaluation, specialized analytics, and cycle management.
• Change Leadership Drive compensation transformation across the enterprise, especially in the context of modernization, global harmonization, and digital/AI enablement. Lead the organization through evolving market realities, shifting talent landscapes, and the increasing complexity of global labor markets. Champion simplicity, transparency, and a data-driven approach, helping the business make informed trade-offs in a resource-conscious environment.

Benefits

• Health benefits to include Medical, Dental and Vision
• Company match 401k
• eligibility to participate in Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Eligibility to earn commissions/bonus based on company and individual performance
• flexible paid time off (PTO) and sick time

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees