Senior Director Distribution Total Rewards

northwesternmutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwestern Mutual is seeking a Senior Director to lead the Field Rewards team, shaping compensation, recognition, and benefits programs for the distribution system. You will influence strategic decisions through complex analyses and collaboration with executives and field leaders to align programs with company goals.

The role emphasizes designing and monitoring programs, ensuring regulatory compliance, and delivering knowledge transfer across domains while driving risk-aware, financially sound

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in finance, analytics, mathematics, accounting or actuarial science, or equivalent.
• 10+ years of leadership, enterprise results, and financial/data analysis experience.
• Proven ability to build rapport and collaborate with Home Office and field.
• Ability to influence outcomes and negotiate with key business partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives and align priorities across business and field.
• Build and lead Field Benefits Committee and other ad hoc committees as required.
• Conduct analyses and modeling to inform program design and changes with financial, regulatory, and field-experience insights.
• Develop relationships with field members to co-create and negotiate through committee structures.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Influence without authority

Financial analysis

Data modeling

Stakeholder management

Regulatory compliance

Communication

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Finance/Analytics/Mathematics/Accounting/Actuarial Science

Job description

About the Job:

The Field Rewards team is responsible for leading the design of compensation, recognition and benefit programs to influence members of our distribution system, including field leadership and producers.

The programs and contracts this team designs and monitors are integral to the delivery of the company strategy and a number of functional strategies, including growth of the distribution system. As such. the design of programs and contracts require review of financial implications for the company, advisor, and field leader, understanding of legal and compliance implications, ensuring a positive field experience, application of behavior economics, awareness of technology and systems implications as well as implementation and administrative feasibility, and finally implications to risk and wealth products.

The Senior Director leads the work for creating and delivering programs and contracts as well as leads a specific domain of total rewards with accountability for ensuring alignment of the domain and future work with cross-functional strategies. The Senior Director is also responsible for ensuring knowledge transfer and documentation across their domain and oversight of escalations.

The Senior Director has broad visibility as they regularly partner with executive officers, business leaders and key field leaders to influence decisions related to design and communication of programs. In addition, the Senior Director play a key role in developing the vision and strategy for their domain as well as

What You'll Do:

• Leads complex, cross-functional, and ambiguous initiatives that are new to the company, and often industry, by engaging with leaders across the business and field to align on priorities, objectives and guiding principles and then leads stakeholders through design, implementation and execution, all of which require development of strong partnerships and influence of others without authority.
• Responsible for building and leading of Field Benefits Committee, Honors Committee or other Ad Hoc Committees as required. This includes partnering with the Field Associations to obtain membership, developing a cadence and structure for operating, and keeping them engaged in the work to achieve stated objectives.
• Leads complex analyses and modeling to develop and make recommendations on program design and program changes using expertise related to financials, regulations, compliance, administration, and field experience.
• Builds strong relationships with key field members in order to co-create and negotiate with field partners through the Field Committee structure: MP Compensation Committee, MD Compensation Committee, and FR Compensation Committee
• Oversees the maintenance of existing programs (compensation, recognition, and benefits) to ensure they meet financial objectives, remain compliant with ever changing laws, align with the strategy, and achieve desired outcomes. This includes ownership of implementation and execution as well as change management with the field on any changes.
• Anticipates impacts to success of program design in achieve objectives based on monitoring changes in competitive, regulatory, and economic environment as well as evolution of field practices and recommends changes as appropriate.
• Subject matter expert on risk product compensation, investment compensation, bonuses, field contracts, ensemble compensation, retirement benefits, medical benefits and other ancillary field benefits, and corporate recognition of advisors and field leaders.
• Supports the development of team members by directing and coaching within the work they partner on and through mentoring team members.
• Owns resolution of escalations from field members to members of Senior Leadership Team and Executive Leadership Group.

What You'll Bring to the Role:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in finance, analytics, mathematics, accounting or actuarial science, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven leader with 10+ years of experience, including leading initiatives, driving enterprise results, and performing financial and data analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to develop rapport and establish and maintain effective, cooperative, and supportive relationships at all levels in the Home Office and field.
• Proven ability to effectively lead without authority, influence outcomes and negotiate with key business partners.
• Strong understanding of how to navigate the organization and advance ambiguous work forward in alignment with other priorities.
• Intellectual agility, analytical and problem-solving abilities with a proven ability to seek creative solutions to previously 'unsolvable' challenges.
• Ability to pull and present key insights from analysis that helps drive decisions or design for various audiences, including ability to express technical concepts in understandable language and deliver difficult messages in a empathic way.
• Expert at leveraging data and tools for research and analysis.

Skills You Hav