Chief Total Rewards Officer

Skills at this level

Compensation and Benefits Knowledge

— Understands compensation and benefits methodologies — salary benchmarking, band modeling, incentive and equity design, and benefits program economics — and applies them to set competitive, equitable, cost-controlled reward architecture.

Reward Cost Analysis and Budgeting

— Reviews salary data, pay ranges, incentive plans, and benefits costs to identify trends, inequities, and budget pressures; develops and manages the compensation and benefits budget and evaluates the financial impact of proposed reward changes with Finance.

Pay Governance and Regulatory Compliance

— Develops and maintains compensation and benefits policies that comply with FLSA, ERISA, and prevailing-wage regulation, keeping enterprise pay practices defensible under audit and consistent across jurisdictions.

Job Architecture and Salary Structure Design

— Evaluates and benchmarks salary structures, harmonizes job descriptions, and establishes salary bands and refreshed job levels to ensure internal equity and external market competitiveness across the organization.

Incentive and Equity Program Design

— Designs short- and long-term incentive and equity programs, including equity budgeting and burn-rate and dilution modeling, to align reward with business strategy and retention objectives.

Vendor and Provider Negotiation

— Collaborates with external providers such as insurance brokers and retirement plan administrators to negotiate favorable terms and ensure efficient delivery of benefits programs.

Board and C-Suite Reward Advisory

— Sets company-wide reward philosophy and advises the C-suite and board compensation committee on executive pay, equity strategy, and reward governance, shaping strategy rather than executing within it.

Reward Metrics Reporting

— Prepares and presents reports on compensation and benefits metrics — turnover, salary inflation, benefits cost, pay-equity outcomes — to senior management and the board to inform reward decisions.

HR Systems Proficiency

— Uses HRMS platforms such as Oracle E-Business Suite HR and Paylocity to track and report compensation and benefits data, run real-time benefit analysis, and support pay-structure and KPI measurement.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

— Explains complex reward information clearly to executives, managers, and employees and collaborates across HR, Finance, and management teams through speaking, active listening, and writing.

Discretion and Reliability

— Maintains confidentiality of sensitive pay and executive-compensation data and delivers reliably and consistently on reward obligations, given the human-centric and highly sensitive nature of C&B work.