Total Rewards Strategy Lead - Compensation

Wellmark • Des Moines, IA

3d

About The Position

The Total Rewards Strategy Lead - Compensation is a senior-level individual contributor who partners closely with the Director, Total Rewards and the Compensation team to execute and evolve enterprise compensation frameworks, programs, and governance. The role aligns compensation practices with Wellmark’s business strategy, compensation philosophy, and desired culture, spanning enterprise compensation design, pay-for-performance practices, executive compensation, and strategic incentive programs. It aims to keep compensation consistent, appropriately transparent, future-focused, compliant, and operationally effective in a regulated and changing environment.

The position connects compensation strategy with organizational design, talent strategy, operating models, leadership expectations, and the broader employee value proposition. The successful candidate is a consultative compensation professional able to navigate complexity and transformation, translate sophisticated concepts into practical frameworks and decision-making tools, and use analytical capability and sound judgment to guide sensitive, high-impact work. The role collaborates across HR and with Finance, Legal, and other stakeholders to support enterprise change and long-term business priorities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent work experience.
• At least 6 years of progressive compensation or Total Rewards experience, with depth in enterprise compensation program design, governance, market pricing, job evaluation, and pay structure development.
• Experience serving as a strategic advisor to HR partners and business leaders and influencing decisions on complex or high-impact compensation topics.
• Strong knowledge of compensation principles, including base pay, incentive design, pay-for-performance practices, job architecture, and internal equity and external competitiveness.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, including the ability to explain complex compensation concepts and conduct critical conversations clearly and practically.
• Experience consulting and influencing decisions using sound judgment and data analysis to drive positive business outcomes, and supporting change management through planning and collaboration.
• Critical thinking skills, including the ability to synthesize business information and deliver relevant insights and recommendations.
• Ability to think strategically, connect initiatives, and work cross-functionally.
• Experience leading and delivering compensation-related change initiatives and programs, with organizational skills to support delivery and sustainability.
• Analytical capability to translate market data, benchmarking, and compensation analytics into clear, decision-ready insights and recommendations.
• Experience interpreting and applying compensation-related regulatory and compliance requirements, with strong judgment and discretion.
• Experience partnering across HR, including HR Business Partners, Talent Management, and HR Operations/HRIS, and with cross-functional stakeholders such as Finance and Legal.
• Working knowledge of HR technology platforms, such as Workday, and their use in compensation programs, processes, and reporting.
• Experience supporting executive or officer compensation programs, including incentive plans and governance processes.

Nice To Haves

• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) or similar professional certification.
• Broad-based Total Rewards experience, such as benefits or wellness.
• Experience in a complex, regulated, or transformation-oriented organization, balancing market competitiveness, internal fairness, and financial sustainability.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Director, Total Rewards as a consultative thought partner, connecting compensation strategy and program design to enterprise strategy and operating priorities.
• Translate compensation strategy and philosophy into practical frameworks, guardrails, and shared practices, including job architecture, pay-for-performance and talent management integration, incentive design principles, and leader education.
• Strengthen consistency and decision quality across compensation practices by clarifying guardrails, decision logic, and shared approaches; advise HR partners and leaders and ensure policies are applied and reviewed appropriately.
• Work with the Director, Total Rewards and HR partners to shape, prioritize, sequence, communicate, and advance compensation-related change initiatives, supporting understanding, adoption, and consistent application.
• Elevate the Compensation team’s collective capability by reinforcing shared frameworks, analytical standards, and ways of working; improve work products so insights are clear, consistent, and decision-ready.
• Serve as an escalation point for high-impact or high-risk compensation topics, applying judgment, market insight, enterprise perspective, and consultative partnership.
• Collaborate with Finance, Talent, HR Operations, Communications, and other partners to integrate compensation strategy into planning, performance, talent, and operational processes.
• Build cross-functional relationships and consultative routines that connect compensation practices to business priorities and support effective implementation of programs and changes.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior