Senior Director, Compensation and Benefits

Hanwha Defense USA, Inc.; Arlington, Northern (VA, KY); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonuses

Total rewards package

Job summary

Hanwha Defense USA, Inc. in Arlington, VA is seeking a Senior Director of Compensation & Benefits to lead total rewards across professional, manufacturing, and engineering teams.

The role begins hands-on and evolves into building a dedicated team to scale with the organization. The ideal candidate will drive market-competitive compensation structures, conduct benchmarking, ensure internal equity, and maintain auditable documentation while ensuring compliance with U.S.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in compensation and benefits leadership roles across multi-state professional, manufacturing, or engineering environments.
• Ability to build compensation structures and administer benefits programs with analytical rigor.
• Experience leading mergers & acquisitions components of compensation and benefits.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. federal, state, and local regulatory requirements.
• Defense industry experience preferred; certifications valued but not required.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain market-competitive compensation structures for diverse job families across U.S. regions.
• Conduct compensation research and benchmarking, ensuring internal equity and auditable documentation.
• Partner with leadership to support compensation planning and organizational design needs.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant compensation-related regulations and company policies.
• Provide leadership and oversight for benefits planning and administration in a multi-market environment.
• Manage relationships with benefits vendors, brokers, and third-party administrators.
• Oversee benefits administration, including employee inquiries, plan communications, and issue resolution.
• Lead benefits-related components of M&A activity, including due diligence, plan design reviews, integration strategy, and harmonization.

Skills

Compensation leadership

Benefits leadership

Analytical rigor

Stakeholder management

M&A experience

Regulatory knowledge

Defense industry exposure

Job description

If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact this employer to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.

Senior Director, Compensation and Benefits

Arlington, VA, US

Salary Range: $175,000.00 To $225,000.00 Annually

Position Overview
The Senior Director of Compensation & Benefits is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining Hanwha Defense USA's total compensation and benefits strategies across professional, manufacturing, and engineering roles. This role ensures market competitiveness, alignment with organizational goals, and compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. The Senior Director will initially operate as a hands-on leader and later build and manage a team as the organization scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain market-competitive and defense-industry-specific compensation structures for diverse job families across U.S. regions.
• Conduct compensation research and market benchmarking, ensuring internal equity and maintaining auditable documentation.
• Partner with leadership to support compensation planning, and organizational design needs.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant compensation-related regulations and company policies.

Benefits Strategy & Administration

• Research and evaluate benefits plan options, regulatory requirements, and competitive trends across the U.S.
• Provide overall leadership and oversight for benefits planning and administration in a multi-market, multi-domain environment.
• Manage relationships with benefits vendors, brokers, and third-party administrators.
• Oversee benefits administration, including employee inquiries, plan communications, and issue resolution.
• Lead benefits-related components of M&A activity, including due diligence, plan design reviews, integration strategy, and harmonization.

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Serve as the compensation and benefits lead for comprehensive M&A activities.
• Conduct analysis and provide recommendations related to benefits integration, compensation leveling, and risk mitigation.
• Partner with HR, finance, and legal teams to ensure smooth transition and compliance throughout transactions.
• Operate as a hands-on subject matter expert, with future responsibility for building and managing a compensation and benefits team.
• Collaborate closely with HR, Finance, and operational leaders to support strategic workforce planning and organizational growth.
• Drive continuous improvement in compensation and benefits processes, tools, and governance.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in compensation and benefits leadership roles within multi-state, professional, manufacturing, or engineering environments.
• Demonstrated ability to build compensation structures and administer benefits programs with strong analytical rigor.
• Experience supporting compensation and benefits components of mergers and acquisitions.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. federal, state, and local regulatory requirements.
• Defense industry experience strongly preferred; certifications valued but not required.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Hanwha Defense USA is committed to pay transparency and equitable compensation practices. The salary range listed for this position represents a good faith estimate of the base pay we reasonably expect to offer for the position at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on relevant skills/experience, education and certifications, market conditions, geographic location and internal pay equity. In addition to base salary, employees may be eligible for discretionary annual bonuses, benefits, and other forms of compensation as part of Hanwha Defense USA's total rewards package.

Hanwha Defense USA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.