Senior Compensation Analyst

First Financial Bank•Cincinnati, OH

About The Position

The Senior Compensation Analyst supports the design, administration, analysis, and governance of the organization’s compensation programs. The role provides analytical and consultative support for short-term and long-term incentive programs, merit processes, salary structures, market pricing, job reviews, incentive design and governance, and compensation forecasting. It partners with Human Resources, Finance, business leaders, and other stakeholders to deliver accurate compensation insights, support equitable and market-competitive pay practices, and ensure programs are administered consistently in alignment with business objectives, internal policies, and regulatory expectations. The role handles complex compensation matters involving sensitive employee data, multiple stakeholders, and competing business needs. It supports organization-wide broad-based and incentive compensation programs and contributes to decisions affecting pay competitiveness, internal equity, budgeting, and governance. It operates with moderate to high independence in analyses, recommendations, compensation inquiries, and process support. Significant-cost recommendations, exceptions, incentive design decisions, and sensitive employee matters are escalated to the compensation manager. There are no direct supervisory responsibilities, though the role may provide guidance, training, peer review, and mentorship, or coordinate cross-functional workstreams. The position requires prolonged periods of sitting and working at a computer, frequent use of standard office equipment and video conferencing tools, and verbal and written communication with employees, managers, and business partners. The associate is responsible for meeting First Financial Bank compliance requirements under state and federal law and regulation and related bank policies and procedures, including Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, OFAC, suspicious activity reporting, and other lending and deposit compliance requirements.

Requirements

Strong knowledge of compensation principles, market pricing, salary structures, incentive compensation, job evaluation, and compensation administration.
Ability to analyze complex compensation data, identify trends, develop insights, and present recommendations clearly and accurately.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including formulas, pivot tables, lookups, modeling, and data validation.
Strong attention to detail, data integrity, organizational skills, and ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
Ability to communicate effectively with HR partners, managers, business leaders, Finance, and other stakeholders.
Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential employee, compensation, and business information.
Understanding of applicable employment laws, pay practices, and compensation compliance considerations.
Ability to work independently while appropriately escalating issues, risks, and policy exceptions.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience with Workday compensation, advanced compensation, job profiles, business processes, reporting, or related HRIS functionality.
Experience supporting annual merit, bonus, long-term incentive, or compensation planning cycles.
Experience with salary survey platforms and compensation market data providers.
Experience in financial services, banking, or another regulated industry.
Experience with incentive design, incentive governance, forecasting, or compensation cost modeling.
Knowledge of pay equity analysis, job architecture, career frameworks, or compensation structure design.
Experience creating executive-ready reports, dashboards, presentations, and compensation summaries.
Certified Compensation Professional, SHRM, PHR, or related certification preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Support administration and analysis of annual compensation programs, including merit, short-term incentive, long-term incentive, salary structure updates, and compensation planning.
Conduct market pricing, salary survey submissions, benchmarking, and competitive pay analyses using external survey data and internal compensation information.
Evaluate jobs and provide compensation recommendations for new roles, reorganizations, promotions, transfers, and other job review requests.
Partner with HR Business Partners and business leaders to provide compensation guidance, modeling, and consultation on pay decisions and program application.
Prepare compensation analyses, reports, dashboards, and presentations to support leadership decision-making.
Assist with incentive plan design, governance, documentation, eligibility review, performance tracking, and modeling.
Support compensation governance by ensuring program consistency, documentation quality, data integrity, and compliance with applicable policies and regulations.
Maintain and audit compensation data in Workday and other HR, finance, survey, and reporting systems.
Identify process improvement opportunities and support enhancements to compensation tools, reporting, workflows, and program administration.
Participate in compensation-related projects, including pay equity analysis, job architecture, salary structure design, incentive modeling, and system and process improvements.
Escalate significant-cost recommendations, exceptions, incentive design matters, and sensitive employee issues to the compensation manager.
Meet applicable bank compliance requirements, including Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, OFAC, suspicious activity reporting, and other lending and deposit compliance requirements.
Provide guidance, training, peer review, or mentorship to team members or HR partners as needed and coordinate cross-functional project tasks.