Total Rewards Director

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Tempe (AZ); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental and Vision

Vacation

Holidays

401K Company Match

Life Insurance

Leadership training

Tuition assistance

Job summary

Unitek Learning, a healthcare education organization, seeks a Director of Total Rewards to lead compensation and benefits for corporate, salaried, and hourly staff across all units. You will own pay structures, incentive programs, health and welfare plans, and retirement benefits, shaping strategy and driving end-to-end execution.

This hands-on senior role requires overseeing merit cycles, open enrollment, benefit strategies, broker negotiations, and compliance with ERISA/ACA, partnering with

Qualifications

• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) or Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS).
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification.
• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Prior experience building or formalizing a total rewards function.
• Experience supporting executive compensation or board compensation committee reporting.
• Advanced Excel and analytical skills with HRIS/benefits systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and own compensation and benefits architecture across corporate, salaried, and hourly staff.
• Lead the evaluation of roles for leveling and FLSA classification; support offers and equity reviews.
• Oversee market benchmarking and pay analysis to maintain competitiveness.
• Design and administer merit and incentive programs; support cost modeling and scenario planning.
• Own the total rewards budget and financial stewardship; present to CPO and Finance.
• Oversee benefits portfolio design, renewal, and day-to-day administration.
• Lead open enrollment end-to-end, communications, and system configuration.
• Manage broker/vendor relationships and renewals; resolve escalated issues.
• Ensure ERISA/ACA/COBRA/HIPAA/FLSA and pay-transparency compliance.
• Own HRIS configuration and analytics for leadership decision-making.
• Develop total rewards communications and employee value propositions.
• Partner on M&A total rewards integration and harmonization.
• Collaborate with HR, Finance, Legal and business leaders to ensure alignment.

Skills

CCP/CEBS

SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP/PHR/SPHR

Advanced Excel & HRIS

Executive compensation

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business

Master's degree in HR/Business Administration

Tools

Dayforce/UKG/ADP

HRIS systems

Job description

As a leading healthcare education organization, Unitek Learning’s family of schools helps thousands of students launch and accelerate their careers every year. As a rapidly growing and highly successful company, Unitek is also a great place to pursue a rewarding and challenging career. We offer a competitive salary, generous benefits, unlimited growth potential, and a collegiate work environment.

Job Description

The Director, Total Rewards leads compensation and benefits for Unitek Learning’s workforce — corporate, salaried, and hourly employees across every business unit. This role owns the pay structures, incentive programs, health and welfare plans and retirement benefits that keep Unitek Learning competitive and compliant in every market where we operate.
This is a hands-on senior role. You’ll shape strategy and drive execution — running merit and incentive cycles, leading open enrollment, setting benefit strategies and compliance direction, and negotiating with brokers at renewal. You should be equally comfortable presenting a pay philosophy to the CPO and building the data model behind it.

Job responsibilities:

Compensation Strategy & Structure: Architect and own Unitek’s job architecture, salary structures, and pay bands across corporate, salaried, and hourly populations; ensure structures remain market-competitive, internally equitable, and aligned to business strategy.

Job Evaluation & Leveling: Evaluate new and existing roles for appropriate leveling and FLSA classification; partner with HR Business Partners and hiring managers on offer construction and internal equity reviews.

Market Benchmarking & Pay Analysis: Lead compensation survey participation and rigorous market analysis; develop pay positioning recommendations, geographic differentials, and targeted adjustments that close pay equity gaps and keep Unitek competitive for talent.

Merit & Incentive Programs: Design, budget, and personally administer the annual merit increase cycle and all short-term incentive, bonus, and plant-level incentive plans; partner with Finance on cost modeling and scenario planning to maximize investment impact.

Budget & Financial Stewardship: Own the total rewards budget, including benefits program spend and merit and incentive funding; develop annual cost projections, model plan changes, and present financial performance and recommendations to the CPO and Finance.

Benefits Strategy & Administration: Own Unitek’s full benefits portfolio — medical, dental, vision, 401(k), leave, wellness, and relocation — from strategic plan design and renewal through day-to-day administration; balance program quality, employee value, and cost sustainability.

Open Enrollment: Lead annual open enrollment end-to-end plan updates, employee communications, education sessions across corporate and plant locations, and system configuration.

Vendor & Broker Management: Lead broker and vendor strategy — managing relationships with benefits brokers, carriers, and third-party administrators; driving RFPs and renewals; negotiating rates and plan terms; and personally resolving escalated employee issues to protect both experience and cost.

Compliance: Ensure compensation and benefits programs comply with ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, FLSA, and applicable state pay transparency and equal pay laws; own required filings in partnership with Legal and Finance.

Total Rewards Systems: Own compensation and benefits configuration within the HRIS; maintain data integrity and build analytics and reporting that drive executive-level decisions on pay, workforce costs, and program performance.

Total Rewards Communication: Develop compelling total rewards statements, manager toolkits, and employee communications that translate the full value of Unitek’s compensation and benefits programs into a clear employee value proposition.

M&A & Total Rewards Integration: Partner with HR and business leadership to assess total rewards implications of mergers, acquisitions, and organizational restructuring; lead the harmonization of compensation and benefits programs for acquired or integrated employee populations.

Cross-Functional Partnership: Serve as a strategic partner to HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and business leaders across every unit, ensure total rewards and payroll programs are consistently designed, compliantly administered, and effectively communicated company-wide.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business, Finance, or a related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

8+ years of progressive experience leading compensation and benefits, with strategic involvement in both areas, and demonstrated ownership of total rewards programs at an enterprise or multi-site organization.

Demonstrated experience designing and administering base pay structures, incentive plans, and job-leveling frameworks.

Strong working knowledge of benefits plan design and administration and applicable regulations (ERISA, ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, FLSA).

Experience managing broker/vendor relationships and leading RFP or renewal processes.

Advanced Excel and analytical skills, with experience in HRIS, compensation, and benefits systems (Dayforce, UKG, ADP, or similar).

Ability to operate at both the strategic and execution level — comfortable setting direction and getting into the details to get it right.

Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex pay and benefits concepts clearly to employees and leadership.

Experience supporting a multi-site, blended hourly and salaried workforce across multiple states; manufacturing or distribution experience strongly preferred.

List of relevant skills necessary to successfully perform the job, using terms that proficiency or thorough understanding/knowledge.

Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) or Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS).

SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification.

Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.

Prior experience building or formalizing a total rewards function.

Experience supporting executive compensation or board compensation committee reporting.

Additional Information

We Offer:

• Medical, Dental and Vision starting the 1st of the month following 30 days of employment
• 2 Weeks’ starting Vacation per year. Increasing based on years of service with company
• 12paid Holidays and 2Floating Holiday
• 401K with a Company Match
• Company Paid Life Insurance at 1x’s your annual salary
• Leadership development and training for career advancement
• Tuition assistance and Forgiveness for you and your family up to 100% depending on program