Head of Reward, Americas

2687 Unilever United States, Inc.; Hoboken (NJ); On-site; USD 228,000 - 398,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement savings benefits

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Parental leave

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

Unilever in Hoboken, New Jersey seeks a Head of Reward to lead Global Compensation and Benefits strategy across the Americas. You will partner with Global Reward CoE to translate strategy into local programs, ensure competitiveness, and influence policies through data-driven insights.

You will build and coach a high-performing rewards team, navigate a matrix organization, and work with senior HR leaders to align performance with pay, employment terms, and long-term incentives.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5+ years of progressive leadership experience in Total Rewards, Compensation, and Benefits.
• Experience leading reward across multiple markets, not just the U.S.
• Strong knowledge of local labor laws, regulations, and market practices across North America.
• Proven ability to design and implement effective reward strategies that drive engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead Global Compensation: partner with Global Reward CoE to translate strategy into local programs.
• Oversee Benefits programs design, implementation, and administration.
• Represent Unilever in industry reward forums and benchmark against market needs.
• Collaborate with North America HR leadership to align performance management with reward.
• Contribute to Global Reward Leadership Team and influence policy application.
• Use data analytics to drive insights and continuous improvement of reward programs.

Skills

Total Rewards

Compensation

Benefits

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Job description

BUSINESS CONTEXT AND MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB

Unilever is one of the world's leading consumer goods companies, serving billions of consumers every day through a portfolio of trusted brands across Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods. With annual turnover of €50.5 billion in 2025, Unilever combines global scale, market-leading innovation, and a strong commitment to sustainability to drive long-term growth and positive impact. The HR function has a critical role to play in enabling business ambition, and Total Rewards expertise is critical to that. With the relatively recent external hiring of a Chief Reward Officer and a new Reward strategy being executed around the globe, Unilever is embarking on a new chapter for Total Rewards – this is an exciting moment to be part of a team that are committed to drive business outcomes! As a Head of Reward, you will play a key leadership role partnering not only Americas and beyond. As part of the North America HR Leadership team and Global Total Reward Leadership Team, you will play a key leadership role and shape outcomes for employees and business groups globally.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Global Compensation: partner with the Global Reward Centre of Expertise (CoE) in bringing the global reward strategy to life, always ensuring a good fit for country business priorities. Ensure that the strategy supports the attraction, retention, and engagement of talent, while remaining competitive.
• Benefits: partner with the Global Pensions & Reward CoEs in the design, implementation, and administration of local health and welfare, insurance, retirement/savings and recognition programs.
• Industry: represent Unilever in industry reward forums. Ensure program alignment with market and business needs through ongoing benchmarking and review.
• Unilever NA HR: Play and active role as a member of the North America HRLT. Collaborate with HR teams to establish and maintain effective performance management systems and provide guidance and support to leaders in effectively linking performance and reward.
• Unilever Global Reward Leadership Team: Play an active role as a member of the Global Reward Leadership Team, as well as the broader reward community. Influence the development of global strategy, offer feedback on policy application in the field.
• Be data driven: Utilize data analytics tools and techniques to analyze reward-related data, identify trends, and provide insights to inform decision-making. Use data-driven insights to continuously improve reward programs and address any gaps or areas of improvement.
• Leadership across the Americas: Lead and develop a high-performing team of reward professionals across the Americas, partnering with local HR and business leaders to deliver reward solutions that support business priorities and drive sustainable growth.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED

• Commercial & business acumen: From an outside-in perspective, understanding the business priorities, key metrics to demonstrate value, values & impact, knowing what competitors are doing in the local market, emerging people trends.
• Change & transformation agent: Flex plans and style to adapt to changing situation with a sense of urgency.
• Strategic thinker & problem solver: It’s a complex role and hence strategic clarity and problem-solving skills are a must. Ability to see and understand linkages and interactions beyond silos, to anticipate and pull together the right actions and interventions, through end-to-end thinking, in support of business growth.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and bias for action: independent, self-starter who is not taking things for granted and challenges the status quo when it gets in the way, applying critical thinking and creativity to problem solving.
• Team leadership: Driving psychological safety, creating an environment where everybody can express their ideas and different views are respected. Be a talent magnet and a leader who develops strong well-knit teams.
• Performance Coaching & Casting: Ability to challenge, stretch and coach others, demonstrates strong EQ to become the objective and trusted partner of the teams/leadership they support, to drive superior performance. Builds deep knowledge of talent, their development needs and skilled in casting for a more nuanced world.
• Adaptability & Resilience: personal capacity to test, reflect, and pivot to succeed in a complex external environment, balance priorities short v/s long term.
• Resourceful in coming up with new approaches, integrating different ideas, from both internal and external landscape, to achieve best outcomes with real and measurable impact.
• Passion for growth and high performance: putting great care and rigor into what we do, being accountable for and taking pride of our work.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Minimum 5+ years of progressive leadership experience in Total Rewards, Compensation, and Benefits, including leading high-performing reward teams. Experience of leading reward, not just in the U.S., but also in other markets. Strong knowledge of local labor laws, regulations, and market practices across North America. Experience operating within a global, multinational organization; exposure to supporting additional geographies is strongly preferred. Proven track record in designing and implementing effective reward strategies and programs that support business goals and drive employee engagement. Experience in managing complex projects and leading teams in a cross-functional, matrix environment. Excellent analytical skills with the ability to leverage data and metrics to drive insights and inform decision-making. Strong communication and influencing skills to effectively engage with senior leaders, HR business partners, and employees. Ability to navigate ambiguity, adapt to change, and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Pay: The pay range for this position is $227,700 to $398,475. Unilever takes into consideration a wide range of factors that are utilized in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, qualifications and education, and other business and organizational needs.

Bonus: This position is bonus eligible.

Long-Term Incentive (LTI): This position is LTI eligible.

Benefits: Unilever employees are eligible to participate in our benefits plan. Should the employee choose to participate, they can choose from a range of benefits to include, but is not limited to, health insurance (including prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage), retirement savings benefits, life insurance and disability benefits, parental leave, sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, as well as access to numerous voluntary benefits. Any coverages for health insurance and retirement benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

At Unilever, inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. We welcome applicants from all walks of life and are committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive/succeed. All applicants will receive fair and respectful consideration, and we actively support the growth and development of every employee.

Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities.

For more information on your federal rights, please see Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses. The Protected Veterans or Individuals with Disabilities AAP narratives are available for inspection by any employee or applicant for employment Monday through Friday during normal business hours at establishment.

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