Senior Director of Total Rewards

Department: Human Resources

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

Financial Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

George Mason Human Resources is dedicated to creating a people-centered environment where every employee feels valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. Our mission is to attract, engage, and retain talented faculty and staff through meaningful programs and practices that foster connection, growth, and well-being.

As a trusted strategic partner, our team champions an all-inclusive and innovative culture that prioritizes community and belonging. We play a vital role in advancing the university’s goals by designing and delivering services that support each employee’s professional and personal journey.

Serving close to 10,000 employees and retirees, our HR team continuously evolves to meet the needs of a dynamic and dedicated workforce, building a workplace where people can do their best work and feel a strong sense of purpose.

About the Position:

The Senior Director of Total Rewards serves as a strategic leader responsible for developing and executing George Mason University’s comprehensive total rewards philosophy and programs, including compensation, benefits, and retirement offerings. Reporting to the Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief Human Resources Officer, this role sets the vision and framework for total rewards that support an engaged, inclusive, and high-performing workforce.

This leader brings prior experience shaping and evolving institution-wide compensation and benefits strategies—ensuring competitive, equitable, and fiscally responsible programs. This role seeks to deliver a transparent, university-wide communications approach to promote understanding and trust in the university’s total rewards framework, reinforcing employee engagement, performance, and institutional alignment.

The Senior Director ushers in new market-based compensation strategies that support the attraction and retention of top talent across the institution. Simultaneously, they lead a forward-looking benefits strategy that enhances the employee experience—promoting well-being and flexibility—while serving as a prudent fiduciary of the university’s financial resources and compliance obligations.

Acting as the university’s senior subject matter expert in total rewards, this position guides the evaluation and design of salary structures, job architecture, and health and retirement benefit programs. The Senior Director leads cross-functional collaboration with senior leadership in Finance, Academic Affairs, Legal, Administration, and across HR Centers’ of Expertise (COEs) to operationalize strategic reward priorities. This includes directing the integration of pay equity principles, benefits program innovation, and compensation governance across faculty, staff, and senior leadership populations.

As a key partner in institutional strategy and a member of the HR leadership team, the Senior Director provides consultation on workforce trends, compensation and benefits modernization, and employee value proposition enhancements. This position brings the judgment, presence, and credibility to navigate complex organizational dynamics, advise on sensitive matters including senior leadership compensation and compliance, and lead through institutional transformation.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Total Rewards Leadership

• Develops and leads a unified, data-informed total rewards strategy that supports recruitment, retention, engagement, performance, and fiscal stewardship across a diverse employee population;
• Champions a merit-based culture by designing compensation and recognition frameworks that reinforce individual and team contributions, aligning reward structures with performance, institutional priorities, and mission-driven outcomes;
• Advocates for the transparent linkage between performance outcomes and reward opportunities, ensuring employees understand how contributions are recognized through both base and variable pay strategies;
• Serves as a senior advisor to university leadership on compensation, benefits, and retirement strategy, ensuring integration with institutional goals, including workforce planning, financial modeling, and pay equity; and
• Designs a long-range roadmap for rewards modernization, including the implementation of scalable frameworks for career paths, job architecture, salary bands, and benefit program redesign.

Compensation Program Design and Management

• Provides strategic direction and operational leadership for Mason’s enterprise-wide compensation programs, advancing a modern, transparent, and market-informed framework that supports a high-performing and inclusive workforce;
• Leads the continued evolution of the university’s compensation model, with a focus on transitioning to a market-based structure that balances external competitiveness with internal equity and reflects the diverse roles across academic, research, and administrative functions;
• Designs and maintains institution-wide job architecture, classification systems, and comprehensive salary structures, that enable career progression, support recruitment and retention, and allow for data-informed workforce planning;
• Implements and governs consistent job architecture and titling standards, including academic staff, administrative professionals, postdoctoral researchers, and senior leaders, aligned with institutional goals and external benchmarks;
• Conducts and oversees regular market pricing, internal equity analyses, and pay audits to ensure competitiveness, legal compliance, and transparency;
• Develops strategies for linking pay to performance through incentive programs, recognition structures, and non-base awards, in alignment with a merit-based cultures;
• Partners with stakeholders to implement salary adjustments, equity reviews, and special compensation actions;
• Oversees the annual merit, market, and equity increase process, including budgeting, guidelines, calibration tools, communication, and reporting, in collaboration with Finance and Budget teams; and
• Serves as the institutional subject matter expert on FLSA, wage compression, senior leadership compensation, and pay transparency practices, while ensuring compliance with all federal, state, and university policies; Leverages analytics, dashboards, and workforce data to support compensation-related decision-making and board-level reporting, and to advise on strategic investments in talent.

Benefits and Retirement Program Oversight

• Provides strategic leadership and operational oversight of university benefit functions, in collaboration with state human resources partners;
• Ensures institutional financial accountability, accurate fringe benefit forecasting, and efficient processing of benefits-related transactions in accordance with state policies and budget requirements;
• Advances employee well-being by identifying, evaluating, and implementing supplemental and enhanced benefit offerings that complement the university’s core packages and differentiate Mason as an employer of choice;
• Leads a proactive benefits communication strategy, ensuring faculty and staff understand available offerings, eligibility, and how to maximize their value;
• Champions George Mason’s employee value proposition by highlighting the total rewards experience—particularly long-term financial security, retirement readiness, and work-life flexibility—as key aspects of recruitment and retention;
• Oversees the administration and compliance of all benefits programs including retirement, leave policies, and employee assistance resources;
• Ensures alignment with university policy, federal/state regulations, and audit readiness; and
• Manages and develops a high-performing benefits team, fostering a service-oriented culture, professional development, and collaborative relationships with HR partners and internal stakeholders.

People Leadership and Staff Development

• Leads and develops a team of compensation and benefits professionals, fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, service excellence, and innovation;
• Establishes performance expectations, mentors team members, and guides succession planning and professional development; and
• Collaborates across HR and with institutional stakeholders to ensure consistent, transparent, and effective total rewards communication and administration.

Technology Integration and Data Analytics

• Collaborates with HRIS and IT teams to improve HR systems functionality in support of compensation and benefits administration and analytics;
• Ensures data integrity and deliver regular reporting, dashboards, and analytics to inform policy, budget, and program development; and
• Promotes digital self-service tools and system enhancements that improve access, understanding, and user experience for employees.

Policy, Compliance, and Governance

• Ensures compliance with all applicable federal, state, and university regulations, including ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, FLSA, and IRS reporting requirements;
• Leads policy development related to compensation and benefits and manage audits, plan documents, and regulatory filings; and
• Serves on university committees and provide governance advice on total rewards-related matters and advise senior leadership on regulatory trends and risk management.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field;
• Master’s degree in human resources, business administration, public administration, or a related field (bachelor's degree may substitute for those with robust experience);
• Extensive progressive experience in total rewards, including senior leadership roles overseeing both compensation and benefits programs (generally ten or more years);
• Demonstrated success leading strategic rewards initiatives in large, complex, and highly regulated organizations;
• Demonstrated experience leading through large-scale transformation, including classification modernization, implementation of pay transparency, and navigating cultural shifts;
• Strategic Orientation: Ability to shape and align total rewards strategy with long-term institutional goals and workforce planning priorities;
• Stakeholder Engagement: Proven ability to build relationships and influence decisions across multiple stakeholder groups, including senior leaders and governance bodies;
• Data-Informed Decision-Making: Strong analytical acumen with demonstrated ability to use data to model financial impact, evaluate trends, and drive strategic planning; and
• Communication Excellence: Ability to effectively communicate complex information to diverse audiences, ensuring transparency, alignment, and understanding.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field;
• Advanced professional certification (CCP, CBP, CEP, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or PHR);
• Experience with public sector or higher education environments, including knowledge of shared governance and academic structures;
• Experience with enterprise HR systems such as Banner, PeopleAdmin, or Workday.
• Equity and Inclusion: Ability to take a leadership approach rooted in advancing pay equity, inclusive access to benefits, and transparent, equitable program design; and
• Executive Presence: Ability to exercise the discretion and credibility necessary to advise executive leadership on high stakes matters, such as senior leader compensation and compliance risks.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Senior Director of Total Rewards at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide Cover Letter and Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: August 8, 2025

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  October 10, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes