Director, Benefits EMEA

Digital Realty; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A global technology firm in London seeks a Head of International Benefits to lead the design and execution of competitive benefits programs across EMEA and APAC. The ideal candidate has extensive experience in international benefits and project management. Responsibilities include optimizing vendor relationships, managing compliance, and enhancing employee experiences. This leadership role offers a dynamic opportunity to influence global benefits strategy in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits

Opportunity to influence global benefits strategy

Collaborative global team environment

Dynamic organization with growth opportunities

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in international benefits across EMEA and APAC.
• Ability to design regional benefits strategies balancing cost and compliance.
• Strong project management skills managing multinational initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Lead benefits programs across EMEA and APAC.
• Manage vendor selection and optimize broker relationships.
• Design processes and oversee benefits administration.

Skills

International benefits experience

Project management

Vendor management

Regulatory knowledge

Stakeholder communication

Job description

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Job Description

The Head of International Benefits is a key leadership role within Digital Realty's Global Compensation & Benefits Center of Excellence. This position is responsible for shaping, optimizing, and operationalizing our global and local benefits strategy across the EMEA and APAC regions.

As a working leader, you will balance strategic design, project management, and hands‑on execution to ensure our benefits programs support Digital Realty's ability to attract, retain, and engage diverse global talent. You will collaborate closely with HR, Finance, and Legal partners, as well as with regional leaders, external brokers, and vendors.

What you'll do

1. Regional Benefits Strategy & Governance

• Lead the design and continuous enhancement of competitive, cost-effective benefits programs across EMEA and APAC.
• Evaluate existing programs country-by-country, with input from sub-regional/regional HR leads, to ensure alignment with our global framework, local market expectations, compliance requirements, and Digital Realty's talent strategy.
• Build and propose new benefits value propositions as Digital Realty expands into new geographies or evolves its workforce needs.
• Develop data-driven recommendations that optimize investment, improve employee experience, and drive measurable improvements in attraction and retention.

2. Vendor & Broker Portfolio Optimization

• Assess the fragmented landscape of current benefits, insurance, and broker arrangements.
• Identify opportunities to streamline, consolidate, and renegotiate vendor relationships to improve service quality, simplify administration, and reduce costs.
• Lead selection, RFP, and governance processes for all benefits-related vendors in the regions supported.

3. Process Design, Enabling Technology & Operational Excellence

• Partner closely with our Tier 2 HR People Services lead to define and embed best practices in benefits administration, including:
  • standardized process flows
  • consistent service delivery
  • increased automation
  • enhanced employee self-service
• Ensure People Services has the right frameworks, documentation, and escalation protocols to deliver an exceptional employee experience at scale.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships with Payroll, HR Systems, Legal, and Finance to ensure seamless execution of benefits programs.

4. Working Leadership, Project Management & Execution

• Operate as a hands‑on leader, shifting fluidly between strategy, operational work, and project coordination.
• Manage regional benefits projects end‑to‑end, including re‑designs, renewals, expansions, implementations, and change‑management activities.
• Lead country-specific initiatives such as pension plan reviews, statutory benefit compliance updates, cost‑containment analyses, and new‑country market entries.
• Serve as the lead subject‑matter expert for benefits issues across EMEA and APAC.

5. Employee Experience & Communication

• Ensure clear, employee‑centric communications that explain benefits programs, changes, and processes.
• Partner with the Global Compensation & Benefits team to ensure consistent messaging and branding for benefits across all regions.

What you'll need

• Extensive experience in international benefits and insurance programs across EMEA and/or APAC (multinational or global organization preferred; prior experience supporting a US‑based company preferred).
• Proven ability to design and implement regional benefits strategies that balance cost, competitiveness, compliance, and employee experience.
• Strong understanding of market practices, statutory requirements, and regulatory frameworks across multiple countries.
• Demonstrated experience managing vendors and brokers, including consolidation and RFP processes.
• Well‑established external vendor and partner network.
• Experience partnering with HR Shared‑Services/People Services organizations to improve processes, workflows, and self‑service capabilities.
• Exceptional project management skills; able to manage complex, multi‑country initiatives through to completion.
• Hands‑on, detail‑oriented working style with the ability to shift between strategic leadership and tactical execution.
• Insight and experience with latest benefit management enabling technology platforms.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder‑influencing skills; comfortable working across geographies and time zones.
• Experience in a fast‑paced, growth‑oriented global environment.
• Experience with a second main European language (German or French) is a plus.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic thinker who also enjoys rolling up their sleeves.
• Highly organized, with the ability to juggle multiple priorities across regions.
• Data‑driven decision maker with strong financial and analytical acumen.
• Pragmatic, solutions‑focused mindset; able to navigate ambiguity and create structure.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape and elevate the international benefits strategy for a global industry leader.
• Influence across multiple regions and work with global executives.
• A chance to build, optimize, and modernize benefits structures in a growing, dynamic organization.
• Collaborative global team environment, with strong cross‑functional partnership and visibility.

A bit about us

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx®) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six continents.

To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.