Vice President, Total Rewards

Northwestern Mutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 258,000 - 386,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive compensation

Equal opportunity employer

Long-term incentives

Job summary

Northwestern Mutual, headquartered in Milwaukee, seeks a VP, Total Rewards, to shape compensation, benefits, health and well-being, performance, and rewards strategies across the enterprise.

Reporting to the VP Total Rewards and Employee Experience, you will lead design, governance, and transformation of job architecture, performance systems, and vendor relationships to drive workforce value and financial stewardship.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business or HR management.
• 12+ years leading HR, benefits, and compensation.
• Strong consulting, communication, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Experience with large-scale rewards and workforce transformations.
• Influence executives and manage vendors.

Responsibilities

• Oversee design and governance of health, welfare, retirement, and financial wellness programs.
• Lead integrated Total Rewards strategy aligned to business priorities.
• Transform performance management and rewards programs.
• Evolve job architecture and compensation structures.
• Provide advisory leadership to senior executives and partners.

Skills

Consulting

Problem solving

Communication

Negotiation

Decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business or HR management

Tools

CEBS designation

CCP designation

Job description

The Vice President, Total Rewards is a key enterprise leadership role responsible for shaping the strategies, systems, and experiences that enable Northwestern Mutual's workforce and business performance. Reporting to the Vice President Total Rewards and Employee Experience, this leader oversees the design, governance and evolution of compensation, benefits, health and well‑being, performance, and rewards strategies while leading the compensation and benefits teams. This leader will help define the future of work at Northwestern Mutual by advancing job and career frameworks, redesigning performance and rewards approaches, and advancing a sustainable health and well‑being strategy. This role serves as a trusted advisor to senior executives and partners across Talent, HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and business leadership to create programs and practices that align to the employee value proposition and drive accountability, performance, organizational agility, and employee engagement. The leader will also oversee the evolution of a personalized Total Rewards experience by designing reward, recognition, well‑being, and benefits strategies that reflect the diverse needs, life stages, preferences, and career aspirations of employees while supporting enterprise objectives. Success requires a leader who can translate strategy into scalable organizational systems, influence executive decision‑making, balance employee experience with financial stewardship, and lead complex enterprise changes.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Benefits and Retirement Programs

• Oversee the design, administration, and continuous improvement of health, welfare, retirement, and financial wellness programs.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable legal, regulatory, and fiduciary requirements.

Health and Well-Being Strategy

• Develop and execute a forward-looking, multi-year health and well‑being strategy focused on employee experience, affordability, prevention, access, and sustainable cost management.
• Drive long‑term health plan design, vendor strategy, and investment decisions to improve employee outcomes and organizational value.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders to balance employee well‑being with responsible financial stewardship.
• Provide strategic leadership for the Mutual Health Center growth strategy, ensuring alignment to employee needs, business priorities, and long‑termin cost stewardship.

Enterprise Rewards and Workforce Strategy

• Set and lead an integrated Total Rewards strategy that supports Northwestern Mutual’s business priorities, workforce strategy, employee value proposition, and evolving operating model.
• Ensure compensation, benefits, performance, career architecture, and recognition programs operate as an integrated talent and business performance system.
• Advise senior leadership on emerging workforce, labor market, rewards, and employee experience trends that impact organizational effectiveness and competitiveness.

Performance and Rewards Transformation

• Lead the transformation of performance management and rewards programs to align with Northwestern Mutual’s operating model, leadership expectations, values, behaviors, and strategic priorities.
• Evolve performance systems to strengthen accountability, talent differentiation, leadership effectiveness, and enterprise outcomes.
• Ensure reward programs reinforce desired behaviors and support a culture of high performance, collaboration, and ownership.
• Ensure rewards programs are strongly linked to organizational and individual performance.

Job and Career Architecture

• Evaluate and evolve the company's job architecture, career framework, and compensation structure to support workforce planning, talent mobility, skills development, and organizational clarity.
• Create scalable frameworks that align roles, accountabilities, capabilities, and career pathways with future business needs.
• Partner with Talent and Workforce Planning leaders to establish foundational systems supporting enterprise talent decisions.

Compensation and Governance

• Lead employee compensation philosophy, design, governance, and market competitiveness.
• Support Board and Compensation Committee activities, providing strategic recommendations and insights.
• Ensure all compensation and benefit programs are effectively governed and aligned with business objectives.
• Ensure compensation programs and management actions are consistent with the Company’s pay for performance philosophy.

Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness

• Build and develop a high-performing Total Rewards organization with strong capabilities in strategy, analytics, consulting, and execution.
• Lead through influence across a complex stakeholder environment, driving alignment and ownership among senior leaders.
• Partner closely with Talent, Employee Relations, HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal, and business executives to advance strategic priorities.

People Analytics & ROI Measurement

• Establish metrics and analytics that measure the effectiveness, return on investment, and business impact of Total Rewards programs, informing enterprise workforce and financial decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business or Human Resources Management, or related field.
• A minimum of 12 years of progressive Human Resources leadership, primarily in Employee Benefits and Compensation.
• Proven superior consulting, problem solving, communication, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Proven experience leading large-scale transformation initiatives involving rewards, performance management, job architecture, or workforce strategy.
• Demonstrated success influencing executive leadership teams and driving enterprise-wide change.
• Experience leading complex vendor relationships, governance processes, and significant program budgets.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect people investments to organizational and financial outcomes.
• Demonstrated understanding of compensation tools and techniques.
• Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) designation.
• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation.

Compensation Range

Compensation Range: Pay Range - Start: $257,600.00 Pay Range - End: $386,400.00

This role is eligible for additional short-term and long-term incentive compensation. We believe in fairness and transparency. It’s why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you’re living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable.

Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do.

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.

At Northwestern Mutual, we believe relationships are built on trust. That our lives and our work matter. These beliefs launched our company over 160 years ago. Today, they’re just a few of the reasons why people choose to build careers at Northwestern Mutual. What started in Milwaukee, WI has grown into 7,000+ home office professionals split across 3 campuses: New York City, Franklin and downtown Milwaukee (HQ) - each one bringing with it its own unique talent and culture. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual as we are growing our digital and tech capabilities and are always on the lookout for bright, tech-savvy candidates.

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.