Compensation & Total Rewards Lead

Job Description:

An organization is seeking an experienced Compensation & Total Rewards Lead on a contract basis to lead a comprehensive market benchmarking and internal compensation review focused primarily on the U.S. and Canada. This role will play a key part in helping ensure salary structures and total rewards offerings remain competitive, equitable, and aligned with broader business strategy.

The ideal candidate brings strong analytical and interpersonal capabilities, deep experience in compensation or total rewards work, and the ability to translate data into practical compensation recommendations. This opportunity is especially well suited for someone who can partner with leadership, work across multiple practices and geographies, and create structured frameworks that support ongoing compensation management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead compensation benchmarking and internal total rewards analysis across relevant markets
• Translate compensation data into actionable recommendations for leadership and business stakeholders
• Support salary structure design, compensation positioning, and framework development
• Evaluate internal pay alignment across practices, roles, levels, and geographies
• Develop practical deliverables such as compensation bands, guidelines, reports, and dashboards

MARKET BENCHMARKING & RESEARCH:

• Conduct comprehensive benchmarking of salary, bonus, and total rewards across relevant markets including Life, P&C, and Health actuarial consulting
• Identify appropriate peer groups and data sources using both internal data and external market surveys
• Analyze compensation trends tied to actuarial credentials, exams, years of experience, and specialization areas

SALARY FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT:

• Develop structured salary ranges and guidelines by practice area
• Build frameworks by role or job family
• Align recommendations by level of experience
• Incorporate actuarial exam progression and credential milestones such as ASA and FSA
• Recommend approaches for base salary and total compensation positioning

INTERNAL COMPENSATION ANALYSIS:

• Review current employee compensation data across practices, roles, and geographies
• Assess alignment to market benchmarks, internal equity, and expected pay progression
• Identify outliers, compression issues, and inconsistencies
• Partner with HR leadership to prioritize adjustments based on impact, risk, and budget considerations

TOTAL REWARDS REVIEW:

• Evaluate broader rewards offerings including benefits, incentives, and exam support
• Recommend enhancements to improve competitiveness and retention

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & DELIVERABLES:

• Present findings and recommendations to HR leadership and senior business stakeholders
• Develop clear, practical tools and reports to support ongoing compensation management
• Provide documentation that can be used for future compensation planning and administration

MUST HAVES:

• 5+ years of experience in compensation, human resources, finance, or HR analytics roles
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint
• Comfort working with and manipulating large data sets in Excel, including modeling and pivot tables
• Experience working with compensation survey data
• Strong analytical, detail-oriented, and interpersonal capabilities

WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT:

• Experience in actuarial, insurance, consulting, or professional services environments
• Familiarity with actuarial career paths and credential structures such as ASA, FSA, and exam progression
• Ability to create structured compensation frameworks across practices and levels
• Strong executive-facing communication and stakeholder management skills

WORK MODEL:

• Hybrid contract role
• Expected duration through the end of the year
• Target locations include Boston, New York, Atlanta, or Chicago

Nova Talent Solutions partners with clients who are committed to equal employment opportunity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. RK