Principal Financial Group - Senior Consultant - Compensation & Benefits

Key Responsibilities: As a Senior Consultant - Compensation & Benefits, your role will be pivotal in supporting the development, administration, analysis, and governance of our compensation and benefits programs. You will contribute to strategic Total Rewards initiatives and collaborate with HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, Finance, and business leaders to drive market competitiveness, pay equity, employee experience, and operational excellence. Compensation Benchmarking & Market Pricing: - Conduct external compensation, benchmarking and market pricing for jobs across business functions. - Analyze market trends, salary surveys, and compensation data to provide recommendations. - Support development and maintenance of salary structures, ranges, and compensation frameworks. - Maintain market competitiveness while balancing internal equity and pay governance. Annual Compensation Review Processes: - Lead operational execution of annual merit increase, bonus, and salary review cycles. - Coordinate planning, testing, communication, governance, and reporting activities. - Provide compensation modelling, cost analysis, and budget tracking support. - Partner with HR collaborators to ensure smooth implementation and adherence to compensation guidelines. Mid-Year Promotion Process: - Manage compensation reviews associated with promotions and role changes. - Evaluate internal fairness and market positioning for suggested promotional salary adjustments. - Maintain governance and approval processes for compensation decisions. Job Architecture & Job Evaluation: - Support job evaluation and levelling activities using established methodologies. - Ensure consistency of job architecture across functions and locations. - Maintain job descriptions, career frameworks, and position classifications. - Partner with HR and business leaders on organizational build and role evaluation activities. Benefits Analysis & Governance: - Analyze benefits utilization, competitiveness, and efficiency. - Support governance, policy reviews, vendor management activities, and employee communications. - Develop insights and recommendations to improve employee value proposition and benefits efficiency. HR Analytics & Reporting: - Develop and maintain compensation and benefits dashboards, scorecards, and reports. - Analyze workforce and reward data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities. - Generate insights to support leadership decision-making and workforce planning. Compensation, Governance & Policy Management: - Ensure adherence to compensation policies, practices, and governance requirements. - Support audits, policy reviews, documentation, and process improvements. - Manage exception reviews and provide recommendations aligned to compensation principles. Compensation Framework Build & Implementation: - Participate in building and implementation of compensation frameworks, pay structures, benefits programs, and reward initiatives. - Conduct analysis and modelling to support strategic compensation decisions. - Drive continuous improvement and process standardization across reward programs. Total Rewards Projects: - Lead and assist with Total Rewards initiatives. - Collaborate with cross-functional collaborators to deliver project objectives. - Contribute to change management, communication, and implementation activities for reward programs. Minimum Qualifications: - Master's degree in human resources, Business Administration, or a related field. - Over 8 years of applicable experience in Compensation, Benefits, Total Rewards, or Human Resources. - Proven experience in compensation benchmarking, market pricing, and salary administration. - Experience supporting annual compensation cycles and promotion review processes. - Strong analytical and quantitative skills. - Advanced Excel skills and experience working with HRIS systems. - Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills. - Ability to think strategically while accomplishing operationally. - Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities. - High level of professionalism, discretion, and integrity. Preferred Qualifications: - Certification in Compensation and Benefits (WorldatWork GRP/CCP or equivalent) is preferred. - Experience working in a global or multinational organization. - Knowledge of compensation regulations, pay equity principles, and reward guidelines. - Experience with HCM and compensation planning tools preferred.