Compensation & Total Rewards Lead

Job Description:

Our client 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 US and Canada. This role will play a critical part in ensuring our salary structures and total rewards offerings are competitive, equitable, and aligned with our business strategy.

This role will conduct external benchmarking, evaluate internal compensation data, and develop structured salary guidelines across practices, levels, and actuarial credential progression. This role requires strong attention to detail, excellent analytical and interpersonal capabilities, and experience translating data into actionable compensation recommendations.

Key Responsibilities:

Market Benchmarking & Research

• Conduct a comprehensive benchmarking analysis of salary, bonus, and total rewards across relevant markets (Life, P&C, and Health actuarial consulting)
• Identify appropriate peer groups and data sources, including both internal data and industry benchmarks/surveys
• Analyze trends in compensation tied to actuarial credentials, exams, years of experience, and specialization areas

Salary Framework Development

• Develop structured salary ranges/guidelines by:
• Practice area
• Role / job family
• Level of experience
• Actuarial exam progression / credential (e.g., ASA, FSA)
• Propose frameworks for base salary and total compensation positioning

Internal Compensation Analysis

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

Total Rewards Review

• Evaluate broader rewards package (benefits, incentives, exam support, etc.)
• Recommend enhancements to improve competitiveness and retention

Stakeholder Engagement & Deliverables

• Present findings and recommendations to HR leadership and senior business stakeholders
• Develop clear, actionable reports and tools (e.g., compensation bands, guidelines, dashboards)
• Provide documentation to support ongoing compensation management

Experience Required:

• 5+ years of experience working in compensation, human resources, finance, or HR analytics roles
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint; must be comfortable working with and manipulating large amounts of data in Excel (pivot tables, modeling, etc.)
• Ideal candidate would have experience working with compensation survey data, preferably in actuarial, insurance, consulting, or professional services environments
• Familiarity with actuarial career paths and credential structures (ASA, FSA, exams)