Senior Manager/Lead - Compensation & Benefits

Position Title: Compensation & Benefits Lead

Designation & Level: Senior Manager

Reporting To: Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

Location: Mumbai

Function: Human Resources

Experience:

8 - 10 years in HR, including 3 - 5 years in Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards

Qualification:

MBA in Human Resources (Full-time)

Role Scope:

Total Rewards, People Operations and Automation, People Policies, and HR Budget

The Opportunity:

We are seeking an accomplished Total Rewards professional to lead a wide portfolio spanning Compensation & Benefits, People Operations, HR process automation, People Policies and the HR function's budget. This is a high-impact role for someone who combines strong reward fundamentals with execution excellence, digital mindset and the confidence to partner with senior leadership.

Reporting directly to the CHRO, the incumbent will help shape an employee experience that is competitive, consistent, compliant and efficient. The successful candidate will translate business priorities into robust reward programmes, simplified policies, digital-first reliable people processes and actionable workforce insights.

Key Responsibilities:

A. Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards:

• Own the design, review and administration of compensation and benefits programmes aligned with business needs, internal equity, affordability and the external talent market.
• Lead the annual compensation cycle, including salary review planning, guidelines, modelling, governance, approvals, communication and post-cycle analysis.
• You will influence how the organisation attracts, rewards and supports talent while building scalable HR operations for the future.
• Drive market benchmarking and compensation analytics across roles, grades and locations; convert insights into clear recommendations for the CHRO and business leadership.
• Maintain and strengthen grade structures, salary ranges and compensation architecture to support consistent people decisions.
• Partner with HR and business leaders on compensation for hiring, promotions, internal movements, retention and critical talent, ensuring disciplined and equitable decision-making.
• Review benefits design, utilisation, vendor performance and employee value; recommend improvements that balance employee relevance, cost and governance.
• Develop dashboards and decision-support analyses covering pay positioning, compa-ratios, pay mix, benefit costs, workforce movement and other relevant reward indicators.
• Ensure accurate documentation, controls, audit readiness and compliance for all reward-related processes.

B. People Operations & Process Automation:

• Lead and continuously improve core People Operations processes across the employee lifecycle, with clear service standards, ownership, controls and escalation mechanisms.
• Identify manual, fragmented or repetitive HR processes and build a prioritised automation roadmap in partnership with HR, IT, Finance and relevant vendors.
• Champion digitisation, workflow simplification, employee and manager self-service, data quality and effective adoption of HR technology.
• Establish process documentation, standard operating procedures, service metrics and dashboards to improve reliability, transparency and turnaround time.
• Strengthen employee master-data governance and coordinate accurate, timely inputs for payroll and other downstream processes, while maintaining appropriate checks and confidentiality.
• Manage HR operations partners and vendors through defined deliverables, service levels, review mechanisms and issue resolution.

C. People Policies & Governance:

• Own the policy architecture for the HR function, including drafting, review, stakeholder consultation, approval, communication and periodic refresh.
• Ensure policies are clear, practical, internally consistent and aligned with organisational values, business needs and applicable requirements.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, Internal Audit and business stakeholders to assess policy implications, strengthen controls and address governance gaps.
• Create employee-friendly policy communication, manager guidance, FAQs and implementation support to enable consistent interpretation across locations.
• Monitor policy effectiveness and employee feedback; recommend changes based on evidence, risk and evolving organisational needs.

D. HR Budget, Analytics & Functional Planning:

• Coordinate the annual HR budget and periodic forecasts across employee costs, benefits, HR programmes, technology, vendors and functional operating expenses.
• Build disciplined tracking of actuals versus budget, explain key variances, identify risks and opportunities, and provide timely decision inputs to the CHRO.
• Partner with Finance and HR stakeholders to improve workforce-cost visibility, headcount planning assumptions and financial controls.
• Prepare concise, decision-ready dashboards and presentations for functional and senior leadership reviews.
• Maintain strong data integrity, version control and documentation for HR financial planning and reporting.

E. Stakeholder Partnership & Team Leadership:

• Act as a trusted adviser to the CHRO and HR leadership team on total rewards, policies, operations, workforce costs and process governance.
• Collaborate effectively with business leaders and enabling functions, balancing employee experience with commercial discipline and organisational consistency.
• Drive projects with structured plans, ownership, milestones, risk management and strong closure discipline.
• Handle sensitive employee and compensation information with discretion, sound judgement and the highest standards of integrity.

Candidate Profile:

Education & Certification:

Full-time MBA in Human Resources from a recognised institution is mandatory. A recognised certification in Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards will be an added advantage.

Experience:

8 - 10 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 3 - 5 years of substantive experience in Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards.

• Demonstrated hands-on experience in compensation cycles, market benchmarking, compensation analytics, benefits administration and reward governance.
• Experience in one or more adjacent areas such as People Operations, HR process digitisation or automation, policy management, HR budgeting or workforce-cost planning.
• Exposure to a multi-location, manufacturing, industrial or similarly complex organisation will be advantageous.
• Experience in engaging with senior stakeholders and converting analysis into clear recommendations and implementation plans.