Total Rewards Department Lead

Sequoia Financial Group Llc•Mayfield Heights, OH

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Sequoia's compensation and benefit programs have reached the point where dedicated, specialized expertise is needed. The Total Rewards Department Lead brings a background in compensation and benefit program design and administration and holds explicit, firm-wide responsibility for compensation- and benefits-related programs — work that today is carried by people alongside their primary roles. This role gives Sequoia's total rewards function a single accountable owner for plan design, methodology, governance, and analytics, so that pay decisions across the firm are both correct and explainable, and so that partner functions — Finance, M&A, Compliance, the Advisor organization, and business leaders — have a defined counterpart for compensation questions rather than dispersed, ad hoc ownership.

Requirements

Progressive experience in compensation and benefits program design and administration, including at least several years in a leadership capacity
Demonstrated experience building or maintaining job architecture, leveling frameworks, and salary structures
Experience designing incentive or variable compensation plans, including plan documentation and governance
Strong analytical skills, including pay equity analysis and market benchmarking methodology
Ability to translate complex compensation mechanics into plain, explainable terms for employees and managers
Requires working knowledge of how advisor data is tracked in Salesforce (channel attribution, credit recording, adjustment capture).
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without requiring employer sponsorship to commence or continue employment at any point in time. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience with equity-based compensation programs (e.g., phantom equity, equity grants, share purchase plans)
Experience in wealth management, RIA, or another SEC-registered adviser environment, including familiarity with Form ADV disclosure implications
Experience supporting compensation integration in M&A transactions
Familiarity with Salesforce or comparable CRM/production-tracking systems as they relate to revenue-producer compensation
CCP, CEBS, or other total rewards certification

Responsibilities

Own salary range construction, refresh cadence, and off-cycle update triggers
Own benchmarking methodology and survey source selection
Own the job leveling framework, and job family and career path architecture
Own job description governance and FLSA classification
Design compensation plans for business units, new role types, and M&A-driven needs
Lead annual plan review and updates for role or structural change
Maintain plan documentation of record
Resolve exceptions within defined thresholds
Set advisor compensation philosophy
Design new advisor compensation plans and changes to existing plans
Maintain the documented calculation methodology for every live plan as the document of record
Own range review cadence and location adjustment policy
Design equity-based compensation plans
Own the participant recommendation process — who is put forward, and on what basis
Lead participant understanding and education
Lead annual plan review and updates for role or structural change
Maintain plan documentation of record
Resolve exceptions within defined thresholds
Maintain visibility into compensation and equity terms before they are finalized, and flag interactions with existing plans and firm-wide philosophy
Define the compensation elements for incoming shareholders of an acquired firm
Build and execute the post-close compensation and benefits harmonization plan
Lead leveling and band placement of acquired roles
Set multi-year benefits strategy alongside the annual renewal cycle
Recommend medical plan design evolution and funding strategy as headcount scales
Lead claims and utilization analysis with the broker, and multi-year cost trend forecasting into the budget process
Set cost-sharing philosophy — how much of trend the firm absorbs, and the principle behind it
Own point solution and high-cost coverage decisions
Manage broker, consultant, and vendor relationships, and lead periodic market review
Lead benefits harmonization and plan consolidation in acquisitions
Run pay equity analysis as a standing practice rather than a periodic project
Produce market position reporting by role family
Analyze turnover and offer acceptance against actual compensation and position in range
Supply per-role market cost inputs for the hiring plan
Own the end-to-end cycle process and the published cycle calendar
Design the recommendation process and configure supporting systems
Conduct consistency and equity review of recommendations
Produce compensation statement letters and the manager enablement toolkit
Publish the annual compensation assumptions memo and executive reporting pack