Sr Director, Global Total Rewards

Watlow; St. Louis (MO); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual Incentive Program

401(k) plan with company match

Wellness incentives

Employee Personal Assistance Program

Dental, medical, vision, disability

Paid holidays, personal time, vacation

Parental leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Watlow, a global industrial technology leader, seeks a Senior Director of Global Total Rewards & Systems in St. Louis. You will shape compensation, benefits, payroll, and HR systems for 5,000+ employees across 30+ countries, leading a team of four.

The role blends strategic design with hands-on execution, including global job architecture and AI-driven HR initiatives. You will partner with the CHRO and executive team to align rewards with business goals, drive cost efficiency, and ensure pay

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, human resources, or a related field.
• 15+ years in total rewards, including global total rewards experience and at least 5 years leading a team.
• Experience designing incentive plans and pay programs for engineering or other technical roles.
• Experience leading a job architecture or leveling project.
• Previous experience and oversight of global payroll and HR systems such as Dayforce, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, or Oracle.
• Experience selecting and managing benefits brokers, consultants, and vendors across multiple countries.
• Solid financial and analytical skills, and the ability to explain complex topics plainly to executives and employees.
• Proven leadership skills with ability to lead, guide, motivate and delegate to deliver results.

Responsibilities

• Own Watlow's global pay philosophy, salary structures, and job leveling, and keep them current with market data from our survey providers.
• Run the annual merit, bonus, and promotion cycles from planning through manager communication.
• Lead incentive plan design, including the annual incentive plan, production incentive plan and sales incentive plan across 30 countries.
• Oversee benefits plan design, renewals, vendor and broker management, and compliance in every country where we operate.
• Own HR systems and related tools, including data quality, reporting, and the advancement of AI tools across our function.
• Oversee payroll compliance and integration, whether payroll is run in-house, through vendors, or through employer-of-record partners.
• Lead pay equity reviews and get Watlow ready for new pay transparency rules, including the EU Pay Transparency Directive and U.S. state laws.
• Advise the CHRO, the executive team, and the Board on pay decisions, workforce cost, and rewards strategy.
• Handle the rewards side of acquisitions, integrations, and entry into new countries.
• Lead, inspire and develop a high-performing team of four, and build the bench the function needs as Watlow grows.

Skills

Global total rewards

Team leadership

Executive communication

Analytical skills

Pay equity knowledge

Incentive plan design

Education

Bachelor's degree in business or related field

Tools

Dayforce

Workday

SAP SuccessFactors

Oracle

Job description

Working at Watlow

Watlow is a global industrial technology company that designs and manufactures complete thermal systems: heaters, sensors, controllers, and power control solutions. Customers in semiconductor processing, energy, medical, aerospace, food service, and many other industries rely on these systems. Since 1922, Watlow has grown its product capability, market expertise, and global reach, and today it serves customers in more than 95 countries with more than 5,000 employees. Joining Watlow means being part of a team that takes on hard problems, grows together, and helps shape the future of thermal technology.

St. Louis, MO (Corporate Headquarters) | 4:1 Hybrid

About The Role

The Senior Director, Global Total Rewards & Systems leads compensation, benefits, payroll and HR systems for Watlow's 5,000+ employees in more than 30 countries. The role reports to the CHRO, sits on the Global HR Leadership Team, and leads a team of four direct reports.

This is a hands‑on job. You'll set the rewards strategy, but you will also do part of the building yourself. Over the next year that means finishing our global job architecture work, improving the sales incentive plan, getting more value out of our benefits spend, and bringing better technology into HR. We're looking for someone who is comfortable in front of the executive team one day, and in the details of analyzing market data the next day.

First Priorities

• Complete the Global Job Architecture project, including the pay and cost impact analysis, present recommendations to the Executive Team and deliver rollout to managers.
• Build pay programs to help us attract and retain engineers and other technical talent in our tightest labor markets including the US, Mexico, India and Malaysia.
• Implement changes to the sales incentive plan in partnership with Sales leadership and Finance.
• Select and onboard a new international benefits consultant, then use that partnership to bring benefits costs down across our 30+ countries.
• Provide leadership and guidance to team delivering payroll conversion and implementation of new payroll vendor in Mexico.
• Put AI and automation to work in HR, starting with compensation, payroll, and employee self‑service.

Key Responsibilities

• Own Watlow's global pay philosophy, salary structures, and job leveling, and keep them current with market data from our survey providers.
• Run the annual merit, bonus, and promotion cycles from planning through manager communication.
• Lead incentive plan design, including the annual incentive plan, production incentive plan and sales incentive plan across 30 countries.
• Oversee benefits plan design, renewals, vendor and broker management, and compliance in every country where we operate.
• Own HR systems and related tools, including data quality, reporting, and the advancement of AI tools across our function.
• Oversee payroll compliance and integration, whether payroll is run in‑house, through vendors, or through employer‑of‑record partners.
• Lead pay equity reviews and get Watlow ready for new pay transparency rules, including the EU Pay Transparency Directive and U.S. state laws.
• Advise the CHRO, the executive team, and the Board on pay decisions, workforce cost, and rewards strategy.
• Handle the rewards side of acquisitions, integrations, and entry into new countries.
• Lead, inspire and develop a high‑performing team of four, and build the bench the function needs as Watlow grows.

Watlow is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, human resources, or a related field.
• 15+ years in total rewards, including global total rewards experience and at least 5 years leading a team.
• Experience designing incentive plans and pay programs for engineering or other technical roles.
• Experience leading a job architecture or leveling project.
• Previous experience and oversight of global payroll and HR systems such as Dayforce, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, or Oracle.
• Experience selecting and managing benefits brokers, consultants, and vendors across multiple countries.
• Solid financial and analytical skills, and the ability to explain complex topics plainly to executives and employees.
• Proven leadership skills with ability to lead, guide, motivate and delegate to deliver results.

Preferred Qualifications

• CCP, GRP, or CBP certification, or an MBA.
• Experience in a global manufacturing or industrial technology company.
• Experience with pay transparency and pay equity programs in Europe, Asia and N. America.
• A track record of using AI or automation to improve HR processes.

What Success Looks Like

• Global Job Architecture is finished, rolled out, and being used by HR and managers to make pay and career decisions.
• The sales incentive plan is more aligned to the business results we want.
• Benefits costs are moving in the right direction across our international locations without losing what employees value.
• HR systems and payroll run with fewer manual steps and cleaner data.
• The executive team sees Total Rewards as a partner in growing the business, not just a cost center.

Benefits: The Watlow Total Compensation Plan

Benefits

The health, well‑being and financial stability of you and your family is a high priority to us.The Watlow Total Rewards Plan includes competitive compensation and a full range of life and career enhancing benefits:

• Annual Incentive Program
• 401(k) plan that includes a company match on your contribution and an annual company contribution that is tied to company performance
• Wellness incentives
• Employee Personal Assistance Program
• Dental, medical, vision and short‑term and long‑term disability insurance
• Paid holidays, personal time, and vacation
• Parental leave
• Tuition reimbursement

Diversity & Inclusion

We proactively embrace diversity in all its dimensions across our company and cultivate a culture of inclusion and forward thinking that respects and reflects each team member’s individual strengths, views, and experiences. Watlow takes pride in being an inclusive equal opportunity employer and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Please let us know confidentially if you need or require any special accommodations to participate in our recruiting process by emailing us at [e-mail].