Lead Total Rewards & Governance

Role &

Location: Hyderabad
Experience: 812+ Years
Employment Type: Full-time
Function: Human Resources – Total Rewards / Compensation & Benefits / HR Governance

Job Summary

We are looking for an experienced Lead – Total Rewards & Governance to establish and govern a scalable Compensation & Benefits ecosystem for our organization in India. The role will drive Total Rewards strategy, compensation governance, payroll controls, benefits administration, statutory compliance, workforce analytics, and governance initiatives.

The position will partner closely with HR, Business, Finance, Tax, Legal, and Global/Regional Rewards teams to ensure competitive, compliant, and data-driven reward practices aligned with business and workforce requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and govern Compensation & Benefits frameworks aligned with global rewards philosophy and local market practices.
• Partner with HR and business leadership on compensation strategy, salary structures, pay positioning, and workforce cost optimization.
• Lead salary benchmarking, market pricing, compensation analytics, salary ranges, and internal equity initiatives.
• Drive governance of job architecture, job evaluation, job leveling, grading, and pay structures.
• Lead annual merit, salary review, incentive, and compensation planning cycles.
• Partner with regional and global Total Rewards teams to implement and govern rewards programs and policies.
• Provide insights on pay trends, workforce costs, retention risks, compensation competitiveness, and talent costs.
• Oversee healthcare, insurance, wellness, retirement, employee assistance, and other benefit programs.
• Manage benefits governance, vendor relationships, renewals, benchmarking, and continuous improvement.
• Define and strengthen payroll policies, controls, service levels, governance standards, and compliance processes.
• Oversee payroll accuracy, taxation, statutory compliance, variable pay administration, settlements, and related controls.
• Partner with Finance and Tax teams to ensure payroll accounting accuracy and statutory compliance.
• Drive payroll and rewards digitalization, automation, transformation, and process improvement.
• Act as a subject matter expert on employment legislation, labour regulations, statutory compliance, and evolving regulatory requirements.
• Lead impact assessment and implementation readiness for India's New Labour Codes.
• Coordinate with Legal, consultants, auditors, and regulatory stakeholders on compliance matters.
• Support internal audits, statutory audits, SOX controls, compliance reviews, and governance assessments.
• Provide governance oversight for employee benefit trusts and statutory retirement benefit programs.
• Develop HR/Compensation dashboards and workforce analytics to support strategic decision-making.
• Support annual workforce budgeting, compensation budgeting, forecasting, and GCC workforce planning.

Required Skills & Experience

• MBA / Master's degree in HR, Finance, Business Administration, Labour Relations, or related discipline.
• 8–12+ years of experience in Total Rewards, Compensation & Benefits, Payroll Governance, HR Compliance, and HR Operations.
• Strong experience in Compensation Strategy, Salary Benchmarking, Market Pricing, Pay Structures, and Internal Equity.
• Experience in Job Architecture, Job Evaluation, Job Leveling, and Grading.
• Strong understanding of India payroll, taxation, statutory compliance, PF, ESI, gratuity, bonus, and labour regulations.
• Knowledge of India's New Labour Codes and their potential impact on compensation, payroll, benefits, and compliance.
• Experience managing annual merit cycles, salary reviews, compensation budgeting, and variable pay programs.
• Strong experience in benefits governance, including insurance, healthcare, retirement, wellness, and employee benefits.
• Experience with HR analytics, compensation dashboards, workforce cost analysis, and reporting.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with experience working with HRBPs, Business Leaders, Finance, Tax, Legal, and Global/Regional HR teams.
• Experience working in a GCC, Shared Services, or multinational organization is preferred.
• Experience with compensation benchmarking platforms such as Mercer, Aon/Radford, or WTW is preferred.
• Exposure to HR technology such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP HCM, or similar HRIS platforms is preferred.