Global Total Rewards Director Business Assurance

We are SGS – the world's leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for sustainability, quality and integrity. Our 99,600 employees operate a network of 2,600 offices and laboratories, working together to enable a better, safer and more interconnected world.

At SGS, we have an open corporate and international culture. We offer a dynamic work environment in a leading global company. Our high professional standards and our sustainability approach guarantee you a future-oriented work environment. We invest in our employees for the long term and are committed to supporting your development within the company. Our business principles include: Integrity, Health, Safety & Environment, Quality & Professionalism, Respect, Sustainability, and Leadership.

Reporting To: Global Head of Human Resources, Business Assurance

Key Stakeholders: Group Total Rewards team, Regional Total Rewards Leaders, Regional & Country HR Directors, Finance, Legal, and Business Assurance Leadership

Location: Flexible / Global (Hybrid)

Travel: Occasional international travel

Role Overview

The Global Total Rewards Director for Business Assurance (BA) is responsible for designing, governing, and evolving Total Rewards strategy across nearly 100 countries and 8,500 employees. This role drives all global activities related to Compensation, Benefits, Job Architecture, Incentives, Benchmarking, Governance, and Reward Transformation for the Business Assurance division.

As Business Assurance undergoes significant growth and transformation, this role will be instrumental in shaping competitive reward frameworks, harmonising practices across countries, improving internal equity, and ensuring strategic alignment with both Business Assurance business goals and SGS Group Total Rewards policies.

Key Responsibilities

Global Total Rewards Strategy & Governance

• Develop and execute a comprehensive global Total Rewards strategy aligned with BA’s business priorities and growth ambitions.
• Act as the strategic Total Rewards leader for BA, ensuring full alignment with Group Total Rewards.
• Establish strong governance frameworks for compensation, benefits, job architecture, and incentive plans across 90+ countries.
• Ensure consistency, internal equity, and global standards while balancing local market realities.
• Advise BA Executive Leadership on reward trends, risks, and strategic decisions.

Compensation Frameworks & Grading

• Lead global job architecture, ensuring clarity, consistency, and scalability across BA’s organisation.
• Own and manage the grading framework, ensuring rigorous application and calibration globally.
• Implement robust processes for job evaluation, leveling, and internal benchmarking.
• Partner with regional HR/Total Rewards to ensure correct and consistent application of compensation policies.
• Drive salary and bonuses reviews processes.

Market Benchmarking & External Competitiveness

• Lead global compensation and benefits benchmarking in Consulting, Audit, and Training sectors, in partnership with Group TR and external vendors (Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, local providers).
• Monitor market competitiveness across diverse geographies and propose adjustments proactively.
• Maintain a holistic, up-to-date view of competitiveness for BA’s critical roles globally.

Annual Compensation Cycles

• Lead and coordinate the annual global compensation cycles for BA (merit increase, bonus, promotions).
• Design guidelines and calibration methodologies for leaders, regions, and countries.
• Partner with Finance for labor cost scenarios, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Ensure strong communication, training, and change management with HR and business stakeholders.

Incentive Plans & Bonus Structures

• Review, harmonize, and improve incentive plans across BA, ensuring competitiveness, fairness, and performance alignment.
• Design or refine bonus schemes for different populations (sales incentives, auditors incentives, management incentives, special schemes).
• Ensure performance-based reward models that support BA’s commercial and operational priorities.

Offer Management & Reward Advisory

• Own global guidelines for compensation offers, ensuring competitiveness and internal equity.
• Support senior-level or critical-role offer decisions, including expatriation and mobility packages.
• Provide strategic reward advisory to HRBPs and BA leadership on complex cases.

Reward Transformation & Continuous Improvement

• Drive major Total Rewards transformation initiatives in BA (harmonization, digitalization, simplification).
• Identify gaps, inefficiencies, or inconsistencies across regions and implement corrective actions.
• Modernize reward processes, tools, dashboards (in collaboration with Group TR).
• Support Workday or other HR system enhancements related to rewards.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Act as BA’s main liaison to Group Total Rewards for global strategy alignment, tools, and methodologies.
• Partner with regional Total Rewards leaders to ensure alignment and smooth deployment globally.
• Work cross-functionally with HR, Finance, Legal, Business Leaders, and Group HR.
• Communicate complex reward concepts to diverse stakeholders with clarity and impact.

HRIS, Workday & Rewards Systems Governance

• Lead the strategic oversight of HRIS systems supporting Total Rewards (Workday compensation, grading, incentives, and benefits), ensuring global consistency, scalability, and data integrity.
• Drive automation, digitalization, and dashboard development to strengthen analytics, forecasting, and data-driven decision-making.
• Continuously improve reward system processes, reducing manual interventions and enhancing user experience for HR and business stakeholders.

Experience

• 15+ years in Total Rewards / Compensation & Benefits, ideally in global or multi-regional organisations.
• Extensive experience across compensation strategy, grading, executive and broad-based compensation, incentives, and benefits.
• Proven track record in global reward harmonization and transformation.
• Strong understanding of compensation practices across APAC, EEMEA, Europe, Americas, and emerging markets.
• Experience supporting business models similar to BA (professional services, audit, certification, technical industries).

Skills & Competencies

• Reward Expertise: deep knowledge of compensation, benefits, job evaluation, benchmarking, and market practices.
• Analytical Strength: strong financial mindset; ability to model scenarios, build business cases, and assess impacts.
• Transformation Leadership: ability to lead global change, harmonize frameworks, and simplify complexity.
• Stakeholder Influence: credible advisor to senior leaders; strong cross-cultural communication.
• Project Management: ability to drive multiple global initiatives simultaneously.
• Technology Fluency: good command of HRIS (e.g., Workday), Excel, and reward tools (Mercer, WTW platforms).
• Fluency in English required; other languages are a plus.

Why Join Business Assurance

• Lead Total Rewards for a global division operating in 90 countries.
• Create high-impact reward strategies in a business undergoing transformation and growth.
• Work closely with Group Total Rewards while shaping the future of BA’s people strategy.
• Exposure to executive stakeholders, global complexity, and meaningful transformation.