POSITION SUMMARY:The Director, Total Rewards is the network leader responsible for establishing and evolving the total rewards approach across the UConn Health Community Network. This role leads the design and governance of compensation, health and welfare benefits, leave programs, retirement programs, wellbeing, incentive, and recognition programs within a multi-site healthcare environment serving both unionized and non-unionized employee populations.
The role plays a key part in guiding the ongoing evolution and sustainment of the network's current benefits and retirement offerings toward a more sustainable future-state total rewards portfolio. This includes balancing cost, administrative complexity, employee experience, and organizational readiness as the network matures.
Operating within a networked HR environment, the Director, Total Rewards sets standards, priorities, and ways of working for total rewards activities, with accountability for equity, market competitiveness, compliance alignment, and financial sustainability across the network. The role enables local HR and operational leaders to apply network guardrails effectively, while partnering closely with Finance, Payroll, HR Technology, and Labor Relations/Legal on matters that affect pay practices, bargaining unit provisions, system configuration, and workforce cost outcomes.
This position is well suited for a senior total rewards leader who is comfortable designing and governing compensation, benefits, leave, and retirement programs, and who can partner effectively with Finance, Payroll, peer network HR leaders, and local HR teams to balance equity, affordability, compliance, and workforce needs across the network.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:- Bachelor's degree required (Human Resources, Finance, Business, Economics, or related field).
- 10+ years of progressive experience across compensation, benefits, retirement, and/or total rewards, with increasing scope and accountability.
- 5+ years of experience in enterprise-level or multi-site roles, including responsibility for designing or establishing total rewards practices, not solely administering or inheriting them.
- Demonstrated experience designing or materially evolving compensation structures, job architecture, or pay frameworks in complex, regulated, or union-influenced environments.
- Demonstrated experience leading or supporting multi-year benefits strategy or redesign efforts, including balancing cost, administrative complexity, employee experience, and organizational readiness.
- Strong working knowledge of wage and hour requirements, pay equity considerations, benefits and retirement regulations, and the operational and financial implications of collective bargaining agreements in environments with mixed union and non-union populations.
- Proven ability to exercise sound judgment and navigate precedent-setting or sensitive rewards matters, including compensation exceptions and equity considerations affecting multiple roles, sites, or bargaining units.
- Experience partnering closely with senior or executive leaders to shape total rewards priorities, balancing market competitiveness, internal equity, and affordability.
- Experience partnering with Payroll and HR Technology teams to translate pay, benefits, and leave design into operational rules, approval workflows, and system configuration.
- Strong analytical skills, with experience using data and insight to inform total rewards governance, workforce cost decisions, and risk identification.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:- Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, Healthcare Administration, or related field.
- Experience in healthcare, academic medical centers, or other highly regulated, labor-intensive environments.
- Experience operating within a networked or system-level HR model.
- Professional certification (e.g., CCP, CEBS, SHRM-SCP, SPHR).
- Experience supporting organizational integration, scaling, or transformation efforts.
COMPETENCIES:- Enterprise Total Rewards Leadership: Thinks across the organization; understands how rewards influence workforce behavior, equity, and financial sustainability.
- Rewards Design & Governance: Able to create clear, scalable compensation, benefits, leave, and retirement frameworks with well-defined guardrails.
- Judgment & Risk Awareness: Comfortable navigating sensitive or high-impact rewards decisions in regulated and partially unionized environments.
- Financial & Market Acumen: Understands labor markets, affordability constraints, and workforce cost drivers.
- Collaborative Partnership: Builds strong working relationships with peer network HR leaders, Finance, and local HR teams.
- Change & Scale Readiness: Adapts total rewards practices as the organization grows and operating complexity increases.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITIES: Disclaimer: Job descriptions are not intended, nor should they be construed to be, exhaustive lists of all responsibilities, skills, efforts or working conditions associated with the job. They are intended to be accurate reflections of the principal duties and responsibilities of this position. These responsibilities and competencies listed below may change from time to time.- Network Total Rewards Strategy & Practice Design
- Establish and evolve network-wide total rewards practices, priorities, and operating expectations.
- Lead the design of scalable approaches across compensation, benefits, retirement programs, wellbeing, incentive, and recognition efforts.
- Establish and maintain total rewards standards, frameworks, and governance across the network.
- Compensation Strategy & Pay Governance
- Define network standards for job architecture, salary structures, market pricing, and pay progression.
- Set network guardrails and escalation paths for compensation actions (e.g., offers above range, sign-on incentives where applicable, retention actions, and off-cycle adjustments), including decision points and documentation expectations.
- Partner with Finance and HR leadership on compensation affordability, budgeting considerations, and workforce cost implications.
- Partner with Payroll and HR Technology to align compensation structures, pay elements, and approval workflows with system configuration and controls.
- Benefits, Leave, Retirement, Wellbeing & Vendor Partnership
- Establish the network approach to health and welfare benefits, leave programs, retirement programs, and wellbeing offerings, supporting movement from current offerings toward a more streamlined and sustainable future-state design.
- Provide leadership on the evolution of benefits and retirement strategy, considering cost, administrative burden, workforce needs, and employee experience across plan years.
- Partner with external benefits consultants to conduct analysis, develop options, and support execution, while retaining internal ownership of direction and decisions.
- Provide strategic direction on benefits and retirement program evolution in coordination with Finance, Payroll, HR Operations, and Labor Relations, recognizing distinctions between employer-sponsored programs and union-managed pension arrangements.
- Compliance, Risk & Union Alignment
- Maintain alignment of compensation, benefits, leave, and retirement practices with applicable employment regulations, pay equity principles, and collective bargaining agreements.
- Partner with Labor Relations and Legal on the interpretation and application of collective bargaining agreement provisions that affect pay structures, premiums, differentials, retirement coordination, and benefits administration practices.
- Establish governance approaches for identifying and addressing total rewards-related risk areas across the network.
- Data, Insights & Continuous Improvement
- Own the use and interpretation of network-level total rewards data and insights, including compensation, benefits, retirement, and workforce cost themes.
- Partner with local HR teams to incorporate site-level data and context into network-wide analysis and decision support.
- Identify equity risks, cost drivers, administrative pain points, and improvement opportunities using quantitative data and qualitative insight.
- Use insights to inform the evolution of total rewards frameworks, workforce cost strategies, and governance over time.
- Network Enablement & Partnership
- Enable local HR leaders to apply network total rewards standards effectively within site-specific contexts.
- Collaborate with peer network HR leaders (Talent, HR Operations, HR Technology) to maintain aligned people practices.
- Support readiness for integration of new sites by maintaining total rewards practices that are clear, compliant, and scalable.
- Provide regular insights to network and hospital leadership to support informed decision-making and prioritization.
