Compensation & Benefits — M1
COMPEN.COMPENSA4BBC.M1
Management of compensation and benefits design, administration, and governance — pay structure and salary-band design, market benchmarking and survey participation, job evaluation and classification, salary/merit-cycle administration, benefits program operation and vendor management, pay equity, and (at the top) global total rewards and executive/board-facing compensation strategy. Distinct from HR generalist or talent-management focuses; this family owns the firm's pay and benefits architecture and its regulatory compliance.
Management of compensation and benefits design, administration, and governance — pay structure and salary-band design, market benchmarking and survey participation, job evaluation and classification, salary/merit-cycle administration, benefits program operation and vendor management, pay equity, and (at the top) global total rewards and executive/board-facing compensation strategy. Distinct from HR generalist or talent-management focuses; this family owns the firm's pay and benefits architecture and its regulatory compliance.
Focus — Compensation & Benefits
Management of compensation and benefits design, administration, and governance — pay structure and salary-band design, market benchmarking and survey participation, job evaluation and classification, salary/merit-cycle administration, benefits program operation and vendor management, pay equity, and (at the top) global total rewards and executive/board-facing compensation strategy. Distinct from HR generalist or talent-management focuses; this family owns the firm's pay and benefits architecture and its regulatory compliance.
Material PAY and SKILL differential vs the function baseline.
Responsibilities by level
What this person actually does at each level on the management track — escalating scope, not one generic blob. Your level is highlighted.
- Supervises individual-contributor analysts and coordinators executing salary-survey submissions (e.g., Radford, Mercer), job matching, and benchmarking audits, checking deliverables for data accuracy before submission.
- Oversees daily upkeep of pay structures, salary bands, the job catalog, and compensation records in Workday/SAP so classifications and ranges stay current.
- Compiles and reconciles compensation data from internal HRIS and external survey databases, producing the routine data extracts HR and finance consume.
- Assigns and sequences analyst workloads for the annual compensation review so internal jobs are compared to external market on schedule.
- Answers routine job-evaluation and exempt/nonexempt classification questions within established policy, escalating non-standard cases to the manager.
- Manages skilled analysts and senior analysts, owning end-to-end tactical delivery of job evaluations, salary benchmarking, and market-pricing recommendations rather than reviewing data feeds.
- Runs the merit/focal cycle and off-cycle pay increases in line with the pay-for-performance philosophy, coordinating timelines and inputs with HRBPs and department leaders.
- Performs and signs off on complex job pricing using external surveys (Radford, Willis Towers Watson) and internal models, judging internal-equity trade-offs within known frameworks.
- Partners cross-functionally with HR and finance to investigate compensation concerns and support the build-out of salary structures and career ladders.
- Documents compensation procedures and analyst guidelines, standardizing classification and band-placement decisions across the team.
- Manages the compensation function or department, owning operational delivery, staffing, and the program budget for salary structures and the annual review cycle.
- Evaluates diverse market data and pay trends to develop or modify salary structures and market-pricing recommendations across the organization.
- Leads policy development for job evaluation, salary benchmarking, and pay equity, advising stakeholders on FLSA and wage-and-hour compliance.
- Partners with department and functional leaders to design career ladders and resolve escalated compensation and classification disputes.
- Directs the design of decision-support tools and manager guidance used during focal and off-cycle pay actions.
- Manages multiple compensation and benefits sections, owning the firm's pay and benefits structure and ensuring its design will not jeopardize competitiveness or compliance.
- Formulates compensation and benefits policies, procedures, and programs and ensures plans comply with ERISA, ACA, and FLSA, partnering with legal on changes.
- Selects and manages outside partners — benefits vendors, insurance brokers, investment managers — and oversees design of employee benefits-selection tools; mediates between benefits providers and employees on escalated issues.
- Prepares and operates within the total rewards program budget, monitoring competitive wage rates to modify compensation and benefits plans accordingly.
- Engages senior leaders on functional total rewards strategy and oversees governance for job architecture, pay-structure design, and pay equity across sections.
- Directs total rewards across the division through compensation and benefits managers and reports to the CHRO or VP of HR on the firm's rewards posture.
- Provides strategic direction for executive compensation, base salary, variable pay, equity, and annual short- and long-term incentive programs, including board/compensation-committee-facing materials.
- Develops global strategies to attract, retain, and motivate employees aligned with company objectives, balancing market competitiveness against internal equity.
- Influences executives and major stakeholders on key compensation issues — pay-equity outcomes, equity burn-rate and dilution, executive pay positioning.
- Owns the full total rewards portfolio governance — compensation, benefits, equity, recognition, and regulatory compliance — across all business units and geographies.
Level guidelines
The universal leveling rubric applied to this function — how scope, complexity, collaboration, and experience step up across levels.
| Level | Knowledge & Application | Complexity & Problem Solving | Collaboration & Interaction | Typical Degree & Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Functional expert in compensation analysis applying established practices for survey participation, job matching, and band maintenance; impact limited to short-term unit goals and budgets. | Resolves limited-scope problems using established compensation practices; routes non-standard classification or pricing questions to higher authority. | Daily interactions with analyst staff and HR/finance peers to coordinate data compilation and survey submissions. | Functional compensation expert with some leadership exposure directly supervising individual contributors. |
| M2 | Applies judgment within known compensation factors to own benchmarking, job evaluation, and merit-cycle execution end to end; impacts short-term goals and budgets. | Makes judgments within established frameworks on complex job pricing and band placement, resolving issues with internal models and survey data. | Drives cross-functional cooperation with HRBPs and department leaders on compensation concerns and career ladders. | 2–5 years in team leadership or specialist compensation roles, managing skilled ICs or junior staff. |
| M3 | Applies compensation expertise to diverse market issues and trend evaluation to shape salary structures and policy; responsible for departmental operations and budgets. | Evaluates diverse compensation issues and market trends to develop or modify structures and pay-equity policy where precedent is limited. | Leads the functional compensation team and engages department/functional leaders on structures and escalations. | 5–7+ years managing compensation professionals and program budgets. |
| M4 | Sets pay and benefits structure and policy aligned with business objectives across compensation and benefits; misalignment with regulation or market could jeopardize business activities. | Addresses strategic total rewards problems spanning compensation, benefits, vendor relationships, and compliance; defines policies under ERISA/ACA/FLSA constraints. | Engages senior leaders on functional total rewards strategy and manages external vendors, brokers, and benefits providers. | 8–10+ years; complex multi-section total rewards leadership. |
| M5 | Defines organization-wide and global total rewards methods and strategy impacting overall division or company operations, including executive and incentive design; reports to CHRO/VP HR. | Solves complex org-wide rewards issues — equity strategy, incentive design, pay equity, dilution — and frames choices for executives and the compensation committee. | Influences executives, major stakeholders, and the board/compensation committee on key compensation issues; leads through department managers. | 10–12+ years with second-level management and total rewards strategy experience. |
Skills
Focus-specific skills the role applies — the relevance layer beyond the occupational base.
- Market benchmarking & survey analysis
- Comparing internal jobs to external market data to price roles and build competitive pay structures using compensation survey tools and databases such as Radford, Mercer, and Willis Towers Watson.
- Pay structure & salary band design
- Developing compensation structures, salary bands, and job architecture aligned with internal equity and market competitiveness.
- Job evaluation & classification
- Evaluating positions to determine grade alignment, classification, exempt/nonexempt status, and appropriate salary.
- Compensation compliance knowledge
- Knowledge of ERISA, ACA, FLSA, pay equity principles, and wage and hour compliance for advising stakeholders and ensuring legal compliance.
- Vendor & partner management
- Selecting and managing benefits vendors, insurance brokers, and investment managers, and mediating between providers and employees.
- Executive & long-term incentive design
- Designing executive compensation, equity plans, and annual short- and long-term incentive programs, including burn-rate and dilution analysis.
- Total rewards strategy
- Developing and governing fair, competitive, and compliant total rewards programs — compensation, benefits, equity, recognition — aligned with business goals.
- Data analysis & visualization
- Using coding languages (SQL, R) and BI tools (Tableau, Power BI) to analyze and visualize compensation data for stakeholders.
Provenance
The evidence base behind this profile — every layer is sourced; quality is scored by an adversarial review panel (1–5; passes at ≥4 on the minimum dimension).
Level — M1 — Manager (Team Lead)
Front-line people manager of a single team; owns delivery, coaching, and execution.
- Scope
- A single team
- Autonomy
- Manages within established goals
- Complexity
- Day-to-day delivery and people issues
- Impact
- Team output and health
- Decision rights
- Owns team execution, hiring input, performance
- Leadership
- Direct people management of one team
- Typical experience
- 3–6 yrs
Adjacent roles
Nearest roles by structural coordinates (level + taxonomy). Distance 0 → 1; each carries its 3-state match band. How coordinates work → · Compare side-by-side →
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O*NET / SOC
- code=11-3111source=jfm-factory.resolve