Global Head of Benefits

JLL•Chicago, CO

16h•Onsite

About The Position

JLL is seeking a Global Head of Benefits to lead their Total Rewards strategy within Global HR. This role is crucial given the evolving healthcare and benefits landscape, cost pressures, new care models, AI-enabled navigation, and diverse workforce needs. With JLL's scale (110,000 employees, $700M in annual spend, operations across 80+ countries), this position requires strategic vision, financial discipline, deep expertise, and the ability to translate complexity into understandable and valuable programs. The Global Head of Benefits will be responsible for the full lifecycle of JLL’s benefits strategy globally, including design, governance, vendor management, financial oversight, and employee experience. This role reports to the Head of Total Rewards and is part of the Global HR Leadership community. The ideal candidate will be energized by the intersection of human impact and financial stewardship, viewing benefits as a strategic lever for attraction, retention, and workforce resilience. They will proactively address challenges in the healthcare space, such as pharmacy costs, mental health access, value-based care, and AI-powered benefits navigation.

Requirements

15+ years of progressive experience leading benefits for a large, complex, multinational organization.
Operated at the intersection of strategy and execution.
Comfortable making the case for investment and solving vendor performance problems or compliance issues in new markets.
Understanding of healthcare economics, ability to read actuarial reports, interrogate vendor medical loss ratios, and explain stop-loss structures.
Understanding of pharmacy trends and their impact on renewals.
Strong leader of people, building teams with high standards and investing in development.
Excellent communication skills, able to communicate with employees, brokers, and senior executives.
Deep expertise in U.S. health and welfare plan design, retirement programs, and global benefits structures.
Demonstrated experience managing multi-hundred-million-dollar benefits budgets with accountability for financial outcomes.
Strong command of benefits-related regulations: ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, and equivalent frameworks globally.
Proven track record of complex vendor negotiations and multi-national broker/insurer management.
Experience leading benefits due diligence and integration in M&A environments.
Exceptional analytical skills — comfortable building a business case, reading actuarial data, and designing dashboards that drive decisions.
Experience developing and executing benefits communication strategies that demonstrably improve employee engagement and utilization.
Proven team leadership across both direct reports and matrixed global partners.
Bachelor’s degree required.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or professional certification (CEBS, CBP) preferred.

Responsibilities

Set the global benefits strategy, defining philosophy, building roadmaps, and ensuring data-driven decisions aligned with business priorities, affordability, and the competitive landscape.
Drive financial stewardship of a $700M+ portfolio through active management of insurance design, vendor negotiations, multi-national pooling strategy, and cost variance analysis.
Develop analytics infrastructure (dashboards, trend analysis, benchmarking) to make performance visible and drive data-informed decisions.
Enhance the employee experience by leading the design of communications, enrollment tools, and education strategies to improve understanding and utilization of benefits.
Define and evolve JLL’s global benefits philosophy, ensuring alignment with business priorities, workforce needs, and the competitive marketplace.
Provide strategic oversight of benefit plan design across all geographies, identifying opportunities to improve quality, close gaps, and manage financial risk.
Lead governance across the global benefits portfolio, including regulatory compliance (ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, and local equivalents globally), plan documentation, and fiduciary oversight of retirement programs.
Direct due diligence for M&A activities, identifying benefits-related risk, designing integration approaches, and ensuring acquired populations are onboarded effectively.
Partner with Finance to build and manage global benefits budgets, providing regular reporting on costs, utilization, and performance against targets.
Develop a robust analytics capability (benchmarking, trend analysis, actuarial review) to drive proactive decision-making.
Lead cost optimization initiatives including insurance design, multi-national pooling, and vendor fee management, with accountability for measurable outcomes.
Build and maintain executive-level dashboards for senior stakeholders on benefits cost, performance, and risk.
Own global relationships with benefits brokers, TPAs, actuaries, insurers, and specialized service providers.
Lead competitive RFP processes and contract negotiations, ensuring performance guarantees and financial terms.
Implement a structured vendor governance model with regular performance reviews and continuous improvement accountability.
Directly oversee benefits design, administration, communication, and employee experience for JLL’s Americas population.
Ensure full compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local benefits regulations.
Lead open enrollment strategy and execution, including vendor coordination, communication campaigns, and post-enrollment analysis.
Partner across HR and business leadership to evolve JLL’s approach to holistic wellbeing (physical, mental, financial, and social).
Lead wellness program delivery and provide strategic direction globally, ensuring programs are evidence-based and measurable.
Lead, develop, and inspire a team of benefits professionals, setting clear expectations for performance, growth, and the standard of work.
Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to HR Business Partners, business leaders, and senior executives on benefits matters.
Build strong collaborative relationships with Finance, Legal, HR Operations, and regional Rewards leaders.