Head Rewards & Recognition, North America

Senior Director | Boston, MA

Purpose of the Position

The Head of Rewards & Recognition, North America, ensures we access, reward, recognize and retain the talent that powers our growth across the US and Canada. At argenx, we are redefining what's possible in biotechnology, and we are driven to transform the lives of patients. Patients are waiting - and how we reward and recognize our argonauts directly shapes our ability to deliver for them.

Reporting to the Global Head of Rewards & Recognition, this leader shapes and delivers the Rewards & Recognition agenda for North America (US & Canada) while co-architecting global initiatives that span the broader organization, partnering closely with the global HR team and business leadership.

Co-creating with senior HR Business Partners across North America, this leader puts rewards & recognition behind the business priorities that matter - building, retaining, and energizing the talent argenx counts on.

We are looking for an inspiring communicator and trusted influencer of senior stakeholders, paired with a genuine entrepreneurial spirit, an innovative mindset, and the humility to learn from the teams around them - ready to roll up their sleeves to architect, build, and scale.

Key Responsibilities

Own the North America Rewards & Recognition Agenda

• Shape and deliver the Rewards & Recognition agenda across North America.
• Set the guiding principles, governance, and frameworks for compensation, incentives, benefits, and recognition across North America.
• Own the integrity of annual compensation cycles in the region, holding ultimate accountability for quality, equity, and fairness of outcomes.
• Translate complex market data and business signals into high-impact, actionable recommendations in co-creation with senior business leaders and HR Business Partners.
• Provide strategic guidance on complex reward decisions, trade-offs, and risk - such as executive new-hire packages, retention cases, pay compression scenarios, ... - and drive transparent communication on pay and rewards practices to build trust across the organization.
• Anticipate macroeconomic, market, and regulatory shifts- including pay transparency legislation, non-compete developments, and competitive intelligence on biotech peers - and translate them into proactive moves that protect growth and capability building.
• Partner with Talent Access on competitive offer construction for critical talent, ensuring rewards directly enable our ability to win the talent we need.
• Foster a culture of co-ownership, high collaboration, and continuous development - anchored in meaningful Personal Development Plans (PDPs) for team members, because we develop our business by developing our people.
• Design and operationalize a recognition approach that celebrates contribution within and across project teams, with concrete mechanisms (peer-to-peer, team-based, milestone) that make the argenx Way visible - especially co-creation, empowerment, and humility - in day-to-day behaviours.
• Speak credibly to equity programs and partner effectively with our Global Equity Lead on regional design questions and grant decisions; ensure integration within the global equity framework.
• Oversee North America mobility and immigration as a focused operational responsibility - ensuring compliant U.S. and Canadian programs (e.g., visa sponsorship, work authorization, cross-border relocation) in partnership with Legal, global R&R colleagues, and external partners.

Co-Architect Global R&R Initiatives

• Partner with the Global Head of R&R and organizational leadership to co-architect and scale the company-wide Rewards & Recognition framework, ensuring regional practices elevate the broader strategy.
• Own, sponsor, and actively execute large-scale, cross-functional global initiatives - including the connection between rewards, talent, and development in partnership with the Talent organization.
• Champion innovation, simplicity, and scalability across all international programs.
• Build and steward external partnerships (consultancies, benchmarking providers, peer networks) that bring best-in-class thinking into argenx.

Build a High-Impact Team Through People and Vendors

• Lead, inspire, and develop the HR and R&R teams - today one direct FTE and one embedded consultant, with vendor partners as extensions of the team. Scaling impact, not headcount: in a growing organization that aims to partner out what can be partnered out at high quality, vendor and stakeholder management is as important as internal capacity.
• Build organizational capability beyond the direct team - coaching HRBPs, business leaders, and global peers as multipliers of R&R fluency across argenx.
• Set sharp priorities and clear expectations while empowering people and partners to build deep capabilities across compensation, benefits, and recognition.
• Foster a culture of co-ownership, high collaboration, and continuous development - we develop our business by developing our people.

Qualifications & Experience

• Total Rewards Expertise: Upwards of 10 years of progressive experience in Rewards & Recognition / Total Rewards, with deep expertise across U.S. and Canadian compensation, benefits, mobility, and regulatory frameworks.
• Global Footprint: A proven track record of operating within a global context - either through end-to-end accountability for a global rewards portfolio, a professional assignment in Europe or Asia, or demonstrated success partnering deeply with global colleagues across time zones and cultures.
• Innovative Thinking: Demonstrated ability to challenge traditional total rewards paradigms and design creative, modern solutions for a rapidly evolving business - including skills-based rewards, project-based team rewards, modern recognition approaches, and equity philosophy evolution.
• Growth-Company Mindset: Background in growth-oriented organizations that are actively building and expanding, with a "building the plane while flying" mentality and a genuine entrepreneurial spirit. Biotech or pharma experience is not required.
• Influencing Senior Stakeholders: Demonstrated ability to build trust with and influence senior business and HR leaders, distilling complex reward concepts into compelling, decision-ready narratives.
• Scale & Framework Building: Demonstrated experience helping an organization build, mature, and scale its job architecture, benchmarking capabilities, and advanced market analytics from the ground up.
• The position is based in Boston, MA with a minimum of one day per week in the office.

Success Measures

• A North America R&R strategy that is fully synchronized with the global framework while meeting local business and market needs - measured through Leadership & HR feedback.
• Tangible impact of cross-functional global R&R initiatives on argenx priorities, including critical talent access, rewards, recognition, retention, and capability building.
• Flawless execution of compensation and benefits cycles, with a clear lift in employee experience and pay transparency.
• A mature, scalable R&R capability - across internal team and external partners - that thrives in ambiguity, embodies organizational ownership, and grows R&R fluency across the business, anchored in PDPs that translate into visible growth and the next layer of R&R leadership for argenx.

#LI-Hybrid

For applicants in the United States: The annual base salary hiring range for this position is $220,000.00 - $302,500.00 USD. This range reflects our good faith estimate at the time of posting. Individual compensation is determined using objective, inclusive, and job-related criteria such as relevant experience, skills, demonstrated competencies and internal equity. This means actual pay may differ from the posted range when justified by these factors. Because market conditions evolve, pay ranges are reviewed regularly and may be adjusted to remain aligned with external benchmarks.

This job is eligible to participate in our short-term and long-term incentive programs, subject to the terms and conditions of those plans and applicable policies. It also includes a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to retirement savings plans, health benefits and other benefits subject to the terms of the applicable plans and program guidelines.