HR Director - Total Rewards

Job Overview:

The Director, Total Rewards \& HRIS leads the Total Rewards and Shared Services COE, owning compensation philosophy and administration, benefits design and delivery, HRIS platform governance and optimization, and payroll compliance across all locations. This role serves as the structural backbone of the HR function — ensuring all transactions, systems, and vendor relationships operate efficiently and in compliance. The Director owns the compensation process and job grading framework organization-wide, approves field compensation decisions that fall outside approved grade ranges, and drives HRIS optimization to support more efficient HR processes. The Director oversees four direct reports and a total team of eight, including the newly activated Manager, HRIS \& Payroll who leads the HRIS Admin, Sr HRIS \& Compliance Analyst, and Sr Payroll Administrator.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the Total Rewards COE: design, implement, and administer the compensation philosophy including job grading framework, salary band structure, merit processes, and equity review cycles.
• Serve as the organization-wide compensation process owner; approve all field compensation decisions that fall outside approved grade min/max ranges.
• Partner with the Director, HR Field Operations on monthly compensation alignment and quarterly grade structure reviews to ensure field pay decisions remain consistent with the approved framework.
• Own benefits strategy, design, open enrollment, carrier management, and claims oversight for all employee benefit programs.
• Govern the HRIS platform (Dayforce) — own data integrity, system configuration, reporting infrastructure, integration management, and the HRIS optimization roadmap.
• Drive HRIS continuous improvement: identify opportunities to automate HR processes, increase self-service capability, and reduce manual transactions; lead implementation of improvements.
• Own leave administration including vendor management, FMLA/STD/LTD tracking, return-to-work coordination, and leave compliance.
• Oversee payroll compliance across all sites: multi-site, multi-shift payroll processing, tax compliance, direct deposit, and audit management.
• Directly manage the Total Rewards Analyst — responsible for compensation and benefits modeling, analytics, and market data management.
• Directly manage the Manager, HRIS \& Payroll— who manages HRIS Administrator, Senior HRIS \& Compliance Analyst, and Senior Payroll Administrator, and owns the HRIS optimization roadmap.
• Directly manage the Compensation \& Equity Manager — responsible for job benchmarking, salary band management, offer approvals, and field compensation exception tracking.
• Directly manage the Senior Benefits Administrator — responsible for plan administration, carrier liaison, employee benefits support, and open enrollment execution.
• Provide EEO-1 and ACA compliance data to the Director, People Strategy, Analytics \& Compliance for regulatory filing; coordinate on compliance data requirements.
• Partner with Finance and the CFO on quarterly total rewards cost reviews and annual budget reconciliation.
• Engage Legal on annual benefits compliance reviews, ERISA matters, ACA regulatory updates, and vendor contract disputes.
• Maintain awareness of compensation equity; conduct annual adverse impact analysis and remediate findings within approved thresholds.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Deep expertise in compensation design including job grading methodologies, salary band architecture, pay-for-performance program design, and market benchmarking.
• Strong knowledge of benefits administration including carrier management, open enrollment operations, ERISA compliance, and ACA reporting.
• HRIS platform ownership experience; Dayforce experience strongly preferred. Proven ability to lead HRIS optimization initiatives and automation projects.
• Expertise in multi-site payroll compliance including federal, state, and local tax requirements, FLSA compliance, and payroll audit practices.
• Experience in leave administration and vendor management (FMLA, STD, LTD, return-to-work programs).
• Ability to serve as the compensation process authority for the organization — approving exceptions, maintaining framework integrity, and partnering with field HR on compensation decisions.
• Strong analytical skills; experience with compensation equity analysis, adverse impact review, and total rewards financial modeling.
• Proficiency in HRIS reporting and analytics; ability to build and maintain workforce dashboards and cost reports.
• Excellent financial acumen; experience presenting total rewards program costs and ROI to CFO and senior leadership.
• Strong vendor management skills; experience managing benefits carriers, payroll vendors, HRIS platform vendors, and leave administrators.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field required.
• Master's degree in HR, Business Administration, or Finance preferred.
• CCP (Certified Compensation Professional), CBP (Certified Benefits Professional), PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive HR experience with at least 5 years in a Total Rewards, HRIS, or Compensation \& Benefits leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience managing payroll compliance across multiple states and facilities.
• Experience leading HRIS platform implementations, upgrades, or optimization projects in a manufacturing or multi-site environment strongly preferred.

Physical Requirements

• Primarily sedentary office-based role with regular use of computer, phone, and video conferencing.
• Occasional travel to manufacturing sites for audit support, payroll compliance reviews, and open enrollment meetings — estimated 10–15% of time.
• Must be able to sit for extended periods during system configuration, data review, and budget planning sessions.
• Ability to access all areas of facilities as needed for audit and compliance activities.