Total Rewards Manager

Are you a strategic and analytical people leader with a passion for designing and delivering competitive total rewards programs? We are seeking an experienced Manager – Total Rewards to lead the development, implementation, and governance of compensation, benefits, and recognition strategies that attract, motivate, and retain top talent, while ensuring internal equity, market competitiveness, and alignment with organizational goals in a dynamic and evolving environment.

Job Overview

The Manager, Total Rewards is a key strategic role within the Guardian Group, responsible for designing, implementing, and continuously improving the total rewards strategies, policies, and programs to ensure consistency, local relevance, competitiveness, and alignment with Guardian’s values and business objectives. The role partners with HR Business Partners, Finance, and business leadership to drive a high-performance culture through compensation, benefits, mobility, and recognition programs.

Job Responsibilities

• Strategy & Policy
• Contribute to the formulation of the Total Rewards (TR) strategy and policy framework, ensuring alignment with Guardian Group’s corporate HR principles and business priorities.
• Translate group TR principles into regional / territory -level programs and guidelines, ensuring that local implementations respect group consistency but allow for market flexibility.
• Monitor trends in compensation, benefits, mobility, recognition, and reward innovations, benchmarking against peers and external surveys, and recommend enhancements.
• Lead or support special Total Rewards projects (e.g. redesign of incentive schemes, pay equity initiatives, salary structure refresh, benefits harmonization, recognition programs).
• Compensation & Incentives
• Oversee (or support) the annual compensation cycle (salary review / merit increases), variable pay programs (e.g. short-term bonus, sales incentives, spot bonuses), and long-term incentive plans (where applicable).
• Partner with HR Business Partners and business leadership to guide fair and differentiated pay decisions, ensuring pay-for-performance culture is embedded.
• Lead job analysis, job evaluation / grading processes, and role benchmarking to maintain internal equity and external competitiveness.
• Manage vendor relationships (e.g. salary survey providers, compensation consultants) to ensure high-quality benchmarking data.
• Benefits, Mobility & Well-Being
• Design, oversee, and continuously improve employee benefits programs (health, retirement, insurance, wellness, leave, etc.), balancing cost, compliance, and employee value.
• Work with regional / country teams to ensure compliance with local regulatory / legal requirements related to benefits, taxation, and social security.
• Support group wide mobility / expatriate compensation / relocation policies as required, often in partnership with mobility teams.
• Promote and integrate wellness, recognition, and non-financial reward initiatives into the broader total rewards ecosystem.
• Analytics, Reporting & Governance
• Define, monitor, and report on key metrics / KPIs for the Total Rewards function (e.g. compensation cost as % of revenue, participation rates, equity gaps, ROI of incentive programs).
• Drive continuous improvement of processes, systems, and data (e.g. via HRIS enhancements, automation, dashboards) to increase efficiency, accuracy, and transparency.
• Ensure compliance and governance: audits, internal controls, alignment with local labor laws, and adherence to Guardian’s compensation / benefits policies.
• Prepare business cases, budget requests, and scenario modelling for senior leadership.
• Stakeholder Management, Communication & Change
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior HR leads, HR Business Partners, senior business leaders, and Finance on total rewards topics.
• Coach and train HR teams, managers, and stakeholders on reward philosophies, pay decisions, benefits design, and TR processes.
• Lead the communication strategy for total rewards (e.g. “Total Rewards Statements,” awareness campaigns) to improve employee understanding and engagement.
• Drive change management in rollouts of new or enhanced reward programs.
• Team & Delivery
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team (if applicable).
• Manage external vendors, service providers, and consultants supporting the Total Rewards function.
• Ensure on-time, high-quality delivery of all TR processes, project deliverables, and execution across geographies.
  
  

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum 8–12 years of progressive experience in compensation, benefits, and total rewards within a large, complex, or matrixed organization.
• Proven experience designing and managing total rewards programs (base pay, variable pay, benefits, mobility, recognition).
• Experience working with cross-country or multi-regional compensation and benefits frameworks.
  
  

Additional Requirement

As a regulated entity with obligations under the Know Your Employee guidelines, a Certificate of Character is required.

Person Specification

The Total Rewards Manager must be strategic, analytical, and results-driven, with the ability to design and execute reward programs that align with Guardian Group’s business objectives and talent strategy. He/She must demonstrate strong financial acumen, data-driven decision-making, and the capability to balance global consistency with local market relevance. The individual must be proactive in anticipating workforce and market trends, managing complex stakeholder relationships, and driving initiatives that enhance employee engagement and organizational performance. A spirit of global excellence, continuous improvement, and commitment is essential, along with the ability to exercise sound judgment, uphold confidentiality, and maintain the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and professionalism.

Applications will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Deadline date for applications is Tuesday 30th December, 2025.