Head of Compensation & Benefits

PEOPLECERT; Kentucky; On-site; USD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

International exposure

Free cert vouchers

Learning development

Global projects

High visibility

Career progression

Collaborative culture

Job summary

PeopleCert is seeking a Head of Compensation & Benefits to design, implement, and evolve compensation and benefits across the Group. Reporting to the VP People & Culture, the role partners with senior leaders, finance, payroll, legal and regional teams to ensure competitive, equitable, and sustainable reward practices.

The role requires strong analytical skills, executive communications, and a track record of leading complex reward programs in multinational settings.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and governing complex global reward strategies.
• Proven senior leadership with executive stakeholder influence.
• Degree in HR, Finance, or related fields; professional reward certification advantageous.
• Experience across multiple countries; UK experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Group compensation and benefits strategy.
• Lead salary structure, job architecture, pay ranges, and frameworks.
• Set job evaluation and market pricing across entities.
• Govern annual compensation review cycle including increases and bonuses.
• Oversee incentives programmes and executive remuneration.
• Lead benefits design, administration, and vendor negotiations.
• Address pay equity, transparency and regulatory requirements.
• Provide reward analytics and dashboards for decision making.
• Ensure data governance and confidentiality of compensation data.
• Define operating model, policies, controls and governance standards.

Skills

Compensation & Benefits leadership

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Financial acumen

HR systems analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

HRIS systems

Job description

Are you interested in working with a leading education technology player, the global leader in the assessment and certification of professional skills industry with a presence in more than 200 countries worldwide?

PeopleCert is looking for an experienced Head of Compensation & Benefits to lead the design, implementation, and continuous development of compensation and benefits programmes across the Group.

Reporting to the VP People & Culture, this strategic role will partner closely with senior business leaders, People Business Partners, Finance, Payroll, Legal, and regional People teams to ensure that PeopleCert's reward practices remain competitive, equitable, financially sustainable, and aligned with the Group’s business and talent priorities.

The successful candidate will bring strong compensation and benefits expertise, excellent analytical and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to translate complex data and market insights into clear, practical recommendations.

As a Head of Compensation & Benefits, your responsibilities will include:

• Define and lead the Group compensation and benefits strategy, ensuring alignment with PeopleCert's business objectives, talent strategy, employee value proposition and long-term growth priorities.
• Lead the design and continuous evolution of salary structures, job architecture, job grades, pay ranges and compensation frameworks to support internal equity, external competitiveness and organisational scalability.
• Set the Group approach to job evaluation and market pricing, ensuring consistent, robust and commercially appropriate methodologies across functions, entities and geographical markets.
• Provide strategic leadership and governance for the annual compensation review cycle, including salary increases, promotions, bonus allocations, compensation modelling, approval processes and executive reporting.
• Lead the design and governance of short-term and long-term incentive programmes, including executive remuneration arrangements, to support organisational priorities and reinforce a high-performance culture.
• Set the strategic direction for employee benefits across the Group, overseeing programme design, administration, provider performance, renewals and commercial negotiations to ensure relevance, competitiveness, cost-effectiveness and value for money.
• Lead the Group’s approach to pay equity, pay transparency and emerging reward regulation, promoting fair, transparent and consistent reward decisions and ensuring organisational readiness across relevant jurisdictions.
• Establish executive-level reward analytics, dashboards and reporting on compensation, benefits, workforce costs, market positioning and other key reward metrics to support informed business decisions.
• Own the governance, integrity, accuracy and confidentiality of compensation and benefits data across HR systems and reporting tools.
• Define and continuously evolve the Group Compensation & Benefits operating model, including policies, processes, controls, decision rights, approval authorities and governance standards across People & Culture, Finance, Payroll and the business.
• Lead the reward workstream for acquisitions, integrations and organisational transformation, including due diligence, risk assessment, cost modelling and the harmonisation of compensation and benefits arrangements.
• Build and lead the Group Compensation & Benefits capability, setting priorities, developing internal expertise and coordinating specialist external advisers and providers where required.

What we are looking for:

• A senior Compensation & Benefits or Total Rewards leader with substantial experience designing, leading and governing complex reward strategies and programmes within an international, multi-entity organisation.
• A demonstrated track record of operating at senior leadership level and influencing executive stakeholders on complex, sensitive and commercially significant reward decisions in a fast-moving, matrixed and evolving environment.
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Finance, Mathematics, Economics, Business Administration or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience. A postgraduate qualification or recognised reward certification would be an advantage.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with the ability to balance market competitiveness, internal equity, employee experience, affordability and business performance.
• Substantial experience leading compensation and benefits across multiple countries or geographical markets. Experience in the UK would be considered a strong asset.
• Strong understanding of relevant employment, tax, regulatory, pay-equity and pay-transparency requirements across international markets.
• Advanced capability in reward analytics, financial modelling and HR systems, with the ability to interpret complex information and translate data into clear executive recommendations.
• Excellent executive communication, influencing and presentation skills, with a strong command of English and the credibility to challenge and advise senior stakeholders.
• High levels of integrity, professionalism and discretion when handling sensitive and confidential employee information.
• Experience leading reward transformation, harmonisation or integration following acquisitions, organisational change or the consolidation of multiple entities.
• Proven ability to lead and develop specialist teams, build organisational capability and manage external reward consultants, benefits advisers and service providers.

What we offer:

• Competitive remuneration package
• Work in an international, dynamic and collaborative atmosphere
• Two free vouchers for all certifications from PeopleCert's Portfolio per year for all employees
• Huge learning experience in using best practices and a global environment
• Constant personal and professional development
• Exposure to international projects and stakeholders across multiple regions
• Opportunity to shape the Group’s compensation and benefits strategy during an important stage of growth and integration
• High-visibility role with direct impact on employee experience and business performance
• Collaborative, inclusive, and people-centric culture
• Career development opportunities and internal mobility pathways

If you are passionate about creating competitive and equitable reward programmes, using data to guide business decisions, and improving the employee experience within a global organisation, we would love to hear from you.

Join us and help build a reward environment where our people and business can thrive together.

About PeopleCert

PeopleCert is a global leader in assessment and certification of professional skills, partnering with multi-national organizations and government bodies for the development & delivery of standardized exams. Delivering exams across 200 countries and in 25 languages over its state-of-the-art assessment technology, PeopleCert enables professionals to boost their careers and realize their life ambitions.

Quality, Innovation, Passion, Integrity, Clarity and Velocity are the core values which guide everything we do.

Our offices in UK, Greece, and Cyprus boast a culture of diversity, where everyone is different, yet everyone fits in. All of us at PeopleCert are committed to the reflection of the diversity and inclusion of our customers and the communities in which we do business.

Working on Home Office (HO) Secure English Language Tests (SELTs)

Any person who is engaged by PeopleCert to work on the SELT service must undergo a Background Check prior to commencing their SELT duties. All SELT personnel will be required to complete a declaration (provided by PeopleCert) where the existence of any criminal record and/or bankruptcy must be declared.

• If we work on the SELT service in the UK, background checks will include:
• If working on the SELT service anywhere in the world (outside of the UK) personnel will undergo background checks that are equivalent to those stated for the UK.

All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality.