Director Executive Reward & Performance

Cochlear Limited; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Cochlear Limited in Sydney is seeking a Director, Executive Reward & Performance to shape and deliver global executive reward, performance and equity strategies. You will partner with the Executive Team and People & Culture Committee to translate complex remuneration concepts into practical solutions.

You will lead end-to-end remuneration processes, oversee equity plans, and ensure governance, reporting and stakeholder alignment across Finance, Legal and Investor Relations.

Qualifications

• Approximately 10 years' experience in Performance & Reward / Remuneration & Benefits.
• Strong analytical capability, with complex data and financial information.
• Experience in ASX-listed environments is advantageous.
• Ability to influence, simplify and connect complex concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end executive remuneration processes and governance.
• Oversee equity plans, including LTI, deferred awards and employee share plans.
• Prepare remuneration papers for the People & Culture Committee.
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Tax and Investor Relations to ensure compliance.

Skills

Executive remuneration

Performance & Reward

Governance

Equity plans

Stakeholder management

ASX experience

Job description

At Cochlear, our work helps people hear and be heard. Behind that purpose is a global organisation that needs contemporary, thoughtful and commercially grounded people practices supporting our performance and growth.

We're looking for a Director, Executive Reward & Performance to play a key role in shaping and delivering our approach to executive reward, performance and equity globally.

Reporting to the Vice President, Global Talent Reward, this is a senior and influential role with exposure across our Executive Team, People & Culture Committee and broader global People & Culture community. You'll combine deep reward expertise with commercial judgement, strong stakeholder influence and the ability to turn complex remuneration concepts into clear, practical solutions.

What you'll do

This is a broad role spanning strategy, governance and execution.

You’ll take end-to-end responsibility for key executive remuneration processes, including supporting the People & Culture Committee, preparing remuneration‑related papers and managing actions arising from the Committee. You’ll also lead the remuneration components of Cochlear’s Annual Report and Notice of Meeting, partnering closely with Finance, Legal and Investor Relations.

You’ll also:

• Lead the management, review and communication of Cochlear's global executive incentive plans, including the Cochlear Executive Incentive Plan and Short‑Term Incentive Plan.
• Co‑develop Cochlear's Executive Total Rewards & Performance strategy, ensuring our approach remains competitive, sustainable and aligned with business and cultural priorities.
• Monitor executive remuneration trends and market competitiveness, bringing strong external thinking and insights from the ASX environment.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership across executive base pay, incentives, superannuation/pension and other rewards.
• Oversee the design, management and administration of Cochlear's global equity plans, including LTI, Deferred STI, Special Awards and employee share plans.
• Partner across Legal, Finance, Tax, Payroll and People & Culture to ensure reward and equity processes are robust, effective and compliant.
• Manage external partners and providers, ensuring leaders have access to high‑quality market data and advice.
• Lead and contribute to global projects that continuously improve how we approach reward and performance.

What you’ll bring

We're looking for someone who knows their craft, but importantly, can also influence, simplify and connect the dots.

You’ll bring significant experience across performance and reward, remuneration and benefits, and reward strategy development, together with hands‑on experience managing executive remuneration.

You’ll also bring:

• (Approximately) 10 years’ experience in Performance & Reward / Remuneration & Benefits and Reward Strategy development with the ability to integrate with broader People and culture strategies·
• Strong conceptual and analytical capability, with confidence working with complex data and financial information.
• Experience developing and improving systems and processes.
• Strong organisational awareness and the ability to build credibility and influence across senior stakeholder groups.
• The ability to lead significant projects with a high degree of autonomy.
• A pragmatic mindset. You can move comfortably between strategic thinking and getting into the detail when it matters.
• Experience and exposure working in an ASX listed business would be advantageous.

What will set you apart

The strongest candidates for this role won’t simply have excellent technical reward knowledge.

They’ll be able to translate complexity into clarity, balance executive and shareholder perspectives, challenge constructively and build trust with senior stakeholders. They’ll understand that great reward strategy isn’t just about designing programs. It’s about ensuring those programs reinforce the performance, behaviours and culture the organisation wants to create.

Why this role?

This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of executive reward, performance, governance and business strategy, with genuine global scope.

You’ll have the opportunity to influence some of Cochlear’s most important reward and performance programs while working collaboratively across People & Culture, Finance, Legal, Tax, Payroll and Investor Relations.

At Cochlear we value and welcome the unique contributions, perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds of our employees and aim to build a culture that celebrates and leverages these differences, creating a sense of belonging and enabling our people to realise their full potential. We offer flexible working arrangements, and we understand flexibility is not the same for everyone. We're open to a conversation about what flexibility means for you.