Director, Total Rewards
The Director, Total Rewards provides enterprise leadership for the strategy, design, governance, and effectiveness of Cherokee Federal’s total rewards portfolio, including compensation, benefits, retirement, leave, wellness, recognition, and related regulatory compliance. This role establishes the total rewards strategy and operating framework necessary to attract, retain, engage, and reward talent while supporting Cherokee Federal’s business objectives and the unique financial, contractual, and regulatory requirements of federal government contracting.
The Director serves as the enterprise leader and senior advisor on compensation and benefits strategy, balancing market competitiveness, internal equity, employee experience, affordability, cost allowability, contract-specific wage obligations, and regulatory requirements. The role translates business strategy, workforce needs, market intelligence, and financial data into scalable total rewards programs and executive-level recommendations.
The Director partners closely with HR leadership, HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, Payroll, Finance, Contracts, Legal, CNB, and business and program leadership to ensure total rewards programs support Cherokee Federal’s ability to win, staff, and profitably execute federal contracts. This role provides leadership to the Total Rewards function, establishes enterprise governance and standards, and ensures programs remain competitive, compliant, financially sustainable, and operationally effective.
Compensation & Benefits
Estimated Starting Salary Range for Director, Total Rewards: [Enter $]
Pay commensurate with experience.
Full-time benefits include Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K, and other possible benefits as provided. Benefits are subject to change with or without notice.
Director, Total Rewards Responsibilities Include:
Total Rewards Strategy & Leadership
- Develop and lead Cherokee Federal’s enterprise total rewards strategy, aligning compensation, benefits, retirement, leave, wellness, and recognition programs with business strategy, workforce requirements, talent priorities, and financial objectives.
- Establish enterprise total rewards philosophy, governance, policies, and decision frameworks that support consistent and defensible practices across a decentralized, multi-entity federal contracting environment.
- Advise HR and executive leadership on emerging total rewards trends, workforce implications, market competitiveness, cost considerations, regulatory developments, and opportunities to strengthen attraction and retention.
- Develop multi-year strategies and roadmaps for total rewards programs, technology, processes, vendor relationships, and employee experience.
- Establish key performance indicators and analytics to evaluate competitiveness, utilization, cost, equity, compliance, and program effectiveness.
- Provide executive-level analysis and recommendations regarding significant compensation, benefits, workforce, and organizational decisions.
Compensation
- Provide strategic leadership and governance for the enterprise compensation framework, including compensation philosophy, job architecture, career levels, salary structures, incentive programs, FLSA classification, and job description standards.
- Direct the annual compensation planning cycle, including merit, promotion and incentive planning, financial modeling, executive recommendations, governance, manager guidance, and employee communications.
- Serve as the Total Rewards lead supporting the Compensation Committee, including development of meeting materials, compensation market and internal analyses, market and benchmarking data, program recommendations, and governance considerations to support informed decision-making.
- Establish the enterprise market-pricing strategy and oversee the use of compensation surveys, benchmarking methodologies, salary structures, geographic differentials, and other market intelligence.
- Provide senior-level consultation and approval guidance for complex or high-impact offers, promotions, retention actions, internal equity matters, and organizational changes.
- Direct periodic pay equity analyses and develop recommendations to address identified risks or inconsistencies.
- Ensure compensation practices appropriately account for wage determinations, collective bargaining agreements, contractual requirements, internal equity, market competitiveness, and applicable cost allowability considerations.
- Establish governance and data standards for compensation programs within Oracle HCM Cloud.
Benefits and Retirement
- Provide strategic oversight of Cherokee Federal health, welfare, and retirement programs in coordination with Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB), ensuring programs support employee needs, organizational objectives, financial sustainability, and compliance requirements.
- Partner with CNB on plan strategy, annual renewals, open enrollment, plan design considerations, rate modeling, vendor performance, and employee experience.
- Oversee retirement plan governance and operations in partnership with the recordkeeper, Finance, CNB, and other stakeholders, including eligibility, contributions, testing, required filings, and audit support.
- Analyze benefits performance, utilization, market competitiveness, and cost trends and provide recommendations to leadership.
- Provide benefits cost modeling and analysis to support fringe rate development, contract pricing, workforce planning, and business decisions.
- Establish escalation and governance processes for complex benefits eligibility, coverage, and administration issues.
Leave and Absence Management
- Provide enterprise governance and strategic oversight of leave and absence programs, including FMLA, ADA accommodations, military and USERRA leave, workers’ compensation coordination, parental leave, and applicable state and local paid leave requirements.
- Establish standards and controls designed to promote consistent, compliant, and effective leave administration across the enterprise.
- Partner with HRBPs, Legal, Risk, and business leadership on complex or high-risk leave and accommodation matters.
- Oversee third-party leave administration and establish service-level, performance, compliance, and employee-experience expectations.
- Monitor leave utilization, cost, operational impact, and risk trends and recommend program or policy improvements.
Wellness and Recognition
- Partner with CNB and HR leadership to establish enterprise wellness strategies addressing physical, mental, financial, and preventive health.
- Provide strategic oversight of recognition and service award programs, including program design, governance, budget, platform strategy, and effectiveness.
- Establish measures for participation, employee experience, program effectiveness, and return on investment and recommend enhancements that reinforce company values and support retention and engagement.
Compliance and Governance
- Establish governance and oversight processes designed to ensure total rewards programs comply with applicable requirements, including ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, ADA, GINA, and federal, state, and local requirements.
- Ensure timely and accurate completion of required filings, notices, disclosures, audits, and reporting obligations.
- Partner with Legal, Compliance, Finance, CNB, and other stakeholders to assess regulatory changes and determine required program, policy, or operational responses.
- Provide total rewards leadership in support of OFCCP obligations, Affirmative Action Plan compensation analysis, EEO-1 reporting, and compliance evaluations.
- Monitor emerging pay transparency, salary history, pay data reporting, and related requirements and establish enterprise approaches in partnership with Talent Acquisition, Legal, and HR leadership.
- Maintain appropriate controls, documentation, and audit readiness across total rewards programs.
Mergers, Acquisitions, Contract Transitions & Growth
- Lead the total rewards strategy and due diligence workstream for mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, and other business transactions.
- Assess compensation and benefit structures, liabilities, severance and change-in-control provisions, workforce costs, and integration risks and provide recommendations to leadership.
- Develop and oversee integration strategies covering job architecture, job mapping, compensation harmonization, benefits transitions, service credit, PTO conversion, employee communications, and related workforce matters.
- Provide strategic total rewards leadership for contract transitions and rebadging events, including incumbent workforce analysis, wage determination requirements, compensation strategy, offer package development, and transition planning.
- Partner with Finance, Contracts, Capture, Talent Acquisition, and program leadership to develop competitive and financially sustainable compensation and benefits assumptions supporting proposals, recompetes, and new business opportunities.
Team & Organizational Leadership
- Lead, develop, and strengthen the Total Rewards function, establishing priorities, organizational capabilities, performance expectations, and succession and development plans.
- Build functional expertise and scalable processes capable of supporting Cherokee Federal’s growth and evolving business requirements.
- Develop team members through coaching, delegation, professional development, and meaningful accountability.
- Establish effective operating relationships across HR, Finance, Contracts, Legal, Payroll, HRIS, Talent Acquisition, CNB, and business leadership.
- Present total rewards strategies, analyses, risks, financial impacts, and recommendations to HR and executive leadership.
- Develop communications and education strategies that enable leaders, managers, recruiters, HR professionals, and employees to understand and effectively apply total rewards programs.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Director, Total Rewards Experience, Education, Skills, Abilities Requested:
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field; an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience will be considered.
- Minimum of eight (8) years of progressive total rewards, compensation, benefits, or related HR experience, including significant experience leading compensation strategy, market pricing, job architecture, salary structure design, and enterprise compensation cycles.
- Demonstrated experience providing strategic leadership for benefits, retirement, and/or leave programs within a multi-state employer environment.
- Demonstrated experience developing and implementing enterprise total rewards strategies, policies, governance, and programs.
- Experience leading, developing, and managing professional staff and/or a Total Rewards function.
- Strong working knowledge of applicable compensation and benefits requirements, including FLSA, ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, and ADA.
- Demonstrated ability to advise senior and executive leadership using market data, workforce analytics, financial modeling, internal equity analysis, and business considerations.
- Advanced analytical and financial modeling skills with the ability to evaluate compensation and benefit costs, trends, risks, and alternatives.
- Advanced Excel skills, including data modeling, lookups, pivot tables, and cost analysis.
- Experience with enterprise HCM platforms and compensation and/or benefits technology.
- Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex total rewards, financial, and regulatory matters into actionable business recommendations.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex, enterprise-wide initiatives involving multiple functions, business units, and competing priorities.
- Ability to operate effectively within a decentralized, contract-driven environment with varying customer, program, workforce, and financial requirements.
- Strong project and change management capabilities with demonstrated success leading multiple concurrent enterprise cycles and initiatives against fixed deadlines.
- Consultative leadership style with demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders across HR, Finance, Contracts, Legal, and business leadership.
- Demonstrated commitment to data integrity, governance, confidentiality, internal controls, and audit readiness.
- Proven ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment.
- Must be able to pass a background check and any customer-required screening.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or otherwise authorized to work in the United States.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience leading Total Rewards within federal government contracting, professional services, or a similarly regulated, multi-entity organization.
- Demonstrated knowledge of federal contracting workforce considerations, including wage determinations and compensation cost allowability.
- Experience supporting OFCCP compliance, Affirmative Action Plan compensation analyses, and/or federal compliance evaluations.
- Direct leadership experience with M&A due diligence and integration, organizational restructuring, contract transitions, and/or incumbent workforce rebadging.
- Experience supporting proposal pricing, capture activity, recompetes, and contract workforce planning.
- Experience with Oracle HCM Cloud.
- Experience leading compensation and benefits programs across multiple legal entities, states, and employee populations.
- Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Certified Benefits Professional (CBP), SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable professional certification.
Company Information
Cherokee Federal is a division of tribally owned federal contracting companies owned by Cherokee Nation Businesses. As a trusted partner for more than 60 federal clients, Cherokee Federal LLCs are focused on building a brighter future, solving complex challenges, and serving the government’s mission with compassion and heart. To learn more about CFED, visit cherokee-federal.com.
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Cherokee Federal is a military friendly employer. Veterans and active military transitioning to civilian status are encouraged to apply.
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Keywords:
- Total Rewards
- Compensation Strategy
- Executive Compensation
- Compensation and Benefits
- Job Architecture
- Pay Equity
- Benefits Strategy
- Federal Government Contracting
- Wage Determinations
- OFCCP
- ERISA
- Oracle HCM
- M&A Integration
- Contract Transitions
Legal Disclaimer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability or any other status protected under applicable federal, state or local law.
Many of our job openings require access to government buildings or military installations.
