Sr Director, Global Total Rewards

Watlow Recruitment Team•St. Louis, MO

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Global Total Rewards & Systems leads compensation, benefits, payroll, and HR systems for Watlow’s 5,000+ employees in more than 30 countries. Reporting to the CHRO, the position serves on the Global HR Leadership Team and leads four direct reports. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for setting the global rewards strategy while also executing key work. Near-term priorities include completing the global job architecture project, improving the sales incentive plan, generating more value from benefits spending, and introducing better HR technology. The role requires comfort advising executives and working directly with market data and detailed analysis. Success includes completing and rolling out the global job architecture; aligning the sales incentive plan more closely with business results; improving benefits costs without losing what employees value; reducing manual steps and improving data quality in HR systems and payroll; and establishing Total Rewards as a business partner.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, human resources, or a related field.
15+ years of experience in total rewards, including global total rewards experience.
At least 5 years of experience leading a team.
Experience designing incentive plans and pay programs for engineering or other technical roles.
Experience leading a job architecture or leveling project.
Previous experience and oversight of global payroll and HR systems such as Dayforce, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, or Oracle.
Experience selecting and managing benefits brokers, consultants, and vendors across multiple countries.
Solid financial and analytical skills and the ability to explain complex topics plainly to executives and employees.
Proven leadership skills, including the ability to lead, guide, motivate, and delegate to deliver results.

Nice To Haves

CCP, GRP, or CBP certification, or an MBA.
Experience in a global manufacturing or industrial technology company.
Experience with pay transparency and pay equity programs in Europe, Asia, and North America.
A track record of using AI or automation to improve HR processes.

Responsibilities

Complete the Global Job Architecture project, including pay and cost impact analysis, presenting recommendations to the Executive Team, and delivering the rollout to managers.
Build pay programs to attract and retain engineers and other technical talent in key labor markets, including the United States, Mexico, India, and Malaysia.
Implement sales incentive plan changes in partnership with Sales leadership and Finance.
Select and onboard an international benefits consultant and use the partnership to reduce benefits costs across more than 30 countries.
Guide the team delivering payroll conversion and implementation of a new payroll vendor in Mexico.
Apply AI and automation to HR, beginning with compensation, payroll, and employee self-service.
Own the global pay philosophy, salary structures, and job leveling, keeping them current with market data from survey providers.
Run annual merit, bonus, and promotion cycles from planning through manager communication.
Lead incentive plan design, including annual, production, and sales incentive plans across 30 countries.
Oversee benefits plan design, renewals, vendor and broker management, and compliance in every country of operation.
Own HR systems and related tools, including data quality, reporting, and advancement of AI tools across the function.
Oversee payroll compliance and integration across in-house payroll, vendors, and employer-of-record partners.
Lead pay equity reviews and prepare the company for pay transparency rules, including the EU Pay Transparency Directive and U.S. state laws.
Advise the CHRO, executive team, and Board on pay decisions, workforce cost, and rewards strategy.
Handle rewards-related work for acquisitions, integrations, and entry into new countries.
Lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing team of four and build the function’s talent bench as the company grows.