VP, Total Rewards

Exemption Status: Exempt

Schedule Details: Monday through Friday

Scheduled Hours: Day Shift, Will Vary

Shift: 1 - Day Shift, 8 Hours (United States of America)

Hours: 40

Cost Center: 99940 - 6160 Human Resources Administration

This position may have a signing bonus available; a member of the Recruitment Team will confirm eligibility during the interview process.

At UMass Memorial Health, everyone is a caregiver - regardless of their title or responsibilities. Exceptional patient care, academic excellence, and leading-edge research make UMass Memorial the premier health system of Central Massachusetts, and a place where we can help you build the career you deserve.

The Vice President of Total Rewards is a critical leader within the Human Resources organization at UMass Memorial Health (UMMH), reporting to the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). This is a newly expanded and highly visible role, responsible for unifying benefits, work life, and compensation into an integrated total rewards strategy and operational plan for a large, complex, and highly unionized healthcare system.

The VP of Total Rewards is responsible for compensation (non-physician), benefits (retirement and health and welfare), executive benefits, leave of absence, work life services, and time away from work programs.

This leader will be tasked with rethinking current practices and designing caregiver-centered and financially responsible solutions that meet the evolving needs of a diverse workforce. Operating under significant financial and labor constraints, the VP will assess current models, embrace innovation, and lead a comprehensive redesign of rewards programs to better support caregiver well-being, organizational performance, and financial sustainability.

Major Responsibilities:

• System-Wide Rewards Strategy: Architect and lead the transformation of the total rewards strategy, including benefits, work life services, and compensation into an integrated plan.
• Caregiver-Centered: Assess and understand the experience of caregivers across roles and levels, and co-create programs that are relevant, equitable, and allow for greater personalization.
• Digital Enablement: Champion the use of AI and decision support tools designed to help caregivers understand benefit options and associated costs.
• Compensation Program Reinvention (Non-Physician): Lead a review and benchmarking of non-physician compensation models. Design pay structures, skills-based frameworks for appropriate positions, and incentive plans that reflect performance, equity, and future workforce trends.
• Benefits Strategy for Workforce Resilience: Redesign benefits offerings with a focus on flexibility, personalization, cost-effectiveness, and holistic well-being.
• Wellness: Build a system of work service offerings that provide traditional and cutting-edge programs - EAP, critical incident support, addressing social determinants of health, burnout detection tools, and financial literacy.
• Operational Excellence: Ensure that benefits and compensation programs and practices are translated into reliable operational execution.
• Financial Leadership & ROI Discipline: Bring deep financial acumen to reward strategy. Model multi-year impacts, propose cost reduction and cost avoidance, and deliver programs that balance measurable health outcomes while managing financial trade-offs.
• Executive Compensation & Governance: Oversee executive compensation strategy and design in collaboration with the CHRO and Board Compensation Committee.
• Leadership: Act as the Chairperson of the systemwide Benefits Committee and the Health Plan Steering Committee, as well as leader of the benefits and compensation teams.
• Stakeholder Alignment & Change Leadership: Build deep partnerships with Finance, Legal, Labor Relations, HR Business Partners, Labor Relations, and Operations.
• Vendor Partnerships: Rethink the role of external vendors and consultants - shifting from traditional transactional relationships to partnerships that fuel increased innovation, value, and agile delivery.
• Cultural Stewardship: Use total rewards as a lever to reinforce the organization's culture. Build trust and transparency by making the "value of employment" visible, understandable, and meaningful to every caregiver.

Standard Executive Level Responsibilities:

1. Directs and supervises assigned personnel including performance evaluations, scheduling, orientation, and training.
2. Develops and recommends the budgets for the areas managed. Ensures adequate equipment and supplies for department.
3. Encourages and supports diverse views and approaches, demonstrates Standards of Respect, and contributes to creating and maintaining an environment of professionalism, respect, tolerance, civility, and acceptance toward all employees, patients, and visitors.
4. Integrates diversity into departmental objectives, such as hiring, promotions, training, vendor selections, etc.
5. Fosters the effective integration of efforts with system-wide initiatives. Participates in performance improvement initiatives and demonstrates the use of quality improvement in daily operations.
6. Ensures compliance with regulatory agencies such as Joint Commission, DPH, etc. Develops and maintains procedures necessary to meet regulatory requirements.
7. Ensures that department complies with hospital established policies, quality assurance programs, safety, and infection control policies and procedures.
8. Develops and maintains established departmental policies, procedures, and objectives.
9. Ensures compliance to all health and safety regulations and requirements.

Position Qualifications:

License/Certification/Education:

• Required: Bachelor's degree.
• Preferred: Master's degree in human resources, business, or related field. Certified Benefits Professional (CBP) or Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).

Experience/Skills:

• Required: Fifteen (15) years of Human Resources experience demonstrating progressive knowledge and experience in Total Rewards. Experience working in a large organization with exposure to labor unions.

We're striving to make respect a part of everything we do at UMass Memorial Health - for our patients, our community, and each other. Our six Standards of Respect are: Acknowledge, Listen, Communicate, Be Responsive, Be a Team Player, and Be Kind.

As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, UMass Memorial Health recognizes the power of a diverse community and encourages applications from individuals with varied experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, gender identity and expression, protected veteran status, or other status protected by law.