Senior Total Rewards Specialist

MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence); Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

MBZUAI is seeking aSenior Specialist, Total Rewards to design and oversee the Total Rewards framework, including salary structures, benefits, and benchmarking. The role collaborates with Finance and HR to ensure equity, competitiveness, and cost discipline.

You will lead compensation analyses, support annual salary reviews and bonus cycles, develop workforce models, and provide data-driven insights to support strategic decisions across academic and professional services teams in the UAE.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business Administration, Economics or related field.
• Postgraduate degree preferred.
• Professional certification in compensation, benefits, reward, or HR is desirable (e.g., CCP, CBP, GRP, CCBP, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD, HRCI).

Responsibilities

• Design, review, and administer MBZUAI Total Rewards framework.
• Benchmark compensation and benefits against higher education, research, technology and UAE markets.
• Support annual salary reviews and bonus cycles.
• Provide compensation recommendations for hires, promotions, transfers, renewals.
• Maintain Total Rewards governance, policies, and documentation.
• Develop workforce planning and dashboards to support decision-making.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Business Administration/Economics

Postgraduate degree preferred

Job description

The Senior Specialist, Total Rewards supports the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of MBZUAI’s Total Rewards and workforce planning frameworks, ensuring competitive, equitable, and financially sustainable people practices aligned with the University’s strategic priorities.

The role provides specialist expertise across compensation, benefits, job evaluation, salary benchmarking, pay structures, reward analytics, and annual reward processes, while supporting workforce planning, organizational design, and workforce analytics. Through market intelligence, scenario modelling, and people analytics, the role provides data-driven recommendations on reward competitiveness, internal equity, workforce requirements, and people costs.

Working closely with Human Resources, Finance, and University stakeholders, the position supports integrated workforce and reward decisions that enable MBZUAI to attract, retain, and optimize a high-performing and globally competitive workforce.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the design, review, and administration of MBZUAI’s Total Rewards framework, including salary structures, allowances, incentives, benefits, and other reward programs.
• Conduct compensation and benefits benchmarking and market analysis to assess competitiveness across relevant higher education, research, technology, and UAE labor markets.
• Support the annual salary review and bonus cycles, including eligibility validation, modelling, calibration, analysis, and implementation.
• Provide compensation recommendations for new hires, promotions, transfers, contract renewals, and other employee movements, considering market positioning, internal equity, approved salary structures, and applicable policies.
• Monitor the utilization, cost, competitiveness, and effectiveness of employee benefits and provide analysis to support program reviews and renewal decisions.
• Monitor market trends and regulatory developments and provide evidence-based recommendations to maintain competitive, equitable, and financially sustainable reward practices.

Job Evaluation & Reward Governance

• Conduct job evaluations and provide recommendations on appropriate job grades using the University’s approved job evaluation methodology.
• Design and maintain job architecture frameworks, including job families, role levels, grading structures, and titling conventions.
• Review new and revised positions to assess job size, internal relativity, grading implications, and alignment with established organizational and reward structures.
• Maintain Total Rewards policies, guidelines, methodologies, and supporting documentation to promote consistent and transparent reward decisions.
• Ensure compensation and grading decisions are supported by appropriate analysis, approvals, and documentation in accordance with MBZUAI policies and Delegation of Authority requirements.

Workforce Planning & Cost Management

• Translate institutional priorities into annual workforce plans, headcount requirements, and hiring forecasts in coordination with Finance and departmental stakeholders.
• Develop workforce models and scenario analyses to assess planned hiring, attrition, workforce growth, hiring sequencing, and associated cost implications.
• Monitor actual headcount against approved workforce plans and identify material variances, emerging requirements, and workforce risks.
• Support workforce planning across academic, research, and professional services populations, accounting for their distinct workforce profiles, talent requirements, and hiring cycles.
• Support organizational design and workforce-shaping initiatives, including structural reviews, role clarity, spans and layers, and workforce composition.
• Provide workforce analysis to support decisions on hiring priorities, workforce composition, Emiratization, and longer-term capability requirements.
• Develop and maintain workforce and Total Rewards dashboards covering headcount, workforce cost, compensation, benefits, hiring trends, attrition, and workforce composition.
• Analyze workforce and reward data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities related to internal equity, retention, workforce cost, and organizational effectiveness.
• Deliver workforce insights and scenario analysis to support leadership decision-making on workforce planning, talent investment, compensation, and resource allocation.
• Support pay equity analysis, workforce segmentation, and workforce cost modelling.
• Maintain data integrity and consistency across relevant HR, payroll, ERP, and reporting systems.

Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Advisory

• Provide specialist advice to management and HR stakeholders on compensation, benefits, job evaluation, workforce planning, and organizational design matters.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to provide market and internal compensation guidance for new hires and contract renewals.Collaborate with HR Business
• Partners, Academic Appointments, Talent Management, Employee Services, Finance, and Financial Planning & Analysis to support integrated workforce and reward decisions.
• Support leadership in making informed decisions on workforce structures, hiring priorities, reward positioning, and resource allocation.
• Facilitate alignment between academic, research, and administrative units on workforce and Total Rewards requirements.

Governance, Reporting & Compliance

• Ensure Total Rewards and workforce planning practices comply with institutional policies, governance requirements, and applicable UAE regulations.
• Maintain accurate workforce and reward data, documentation, and audit-ready records.
• Support reporting on key workforce, reward, and institutional priorities, including Emiratization.
• Identify opportunities to improve Total Rewards and workforce planning processes through automation, analytics, and AI-enabled solutions.

Qualifications and Criteria

• A bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Economics, or related field.
• A postgraduate degree will be preferred.
• Professional certification in compensation, benefits, reward, or HR is desirable, such as Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), Global Remuneration Professional (GRP), Certified Compensation and Benefits Professional (CCBP), SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, CIPD, or HRCI certification

Professional Experience Required

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits, Reward, or a closely related HR specialization.
• Demonstrated experience in compensation benchmarking, salary structure analysis, and reward programme administration.
• Experience supporting annual salary review, bonus, or other compensation cycles.
• Experience in job evaluation, grading, and job architecture.
• Experience analysing employee benefits and supporting benefits programmes.
• Experience in workforce planning, headcount forecasting, or workforce cost modelling.
• Strong analytical and financial modelling capability, with advanced proficiency in Excel and experience working with HR data.
• Demonstrated ability to translate compensation and workforce data into practical recommendations for management.
• Strong stakeholder-management and communication skills.

Preferred

• Experience within higher education, research, technology, consulting, or another complex organization.
• Familiarity with compensation survey methodologies and market benchmarking tools.
• Familiarity with UAE labor market practices, employment regulations, and Emiratization requirements.
• Experience supporting Total Rewards or workforce transformation initiatives.