[Hiring] Global Reward Lead @Norwegian Refugee Council

Role Description

Ready to lead and make a global impact? Join NRC as our Global Reward Lead and take the lead in shaping and delivering our global Compensation & Benefits strategy. In this both strategic and hands-on role, you’ll head a dynamic pooled reward team, guiding NRC Country Offices, NORCAP, and P&O Operations with expert support and insight. You’ll oversee resource allocation based on organisational priorities, manage a regional portfolio, and serve as the thematic lead on key projects. With a 70% focus on operational delivery and 30% on strategic leadership, this is your chance to influence reward practices across a global humanitarian organisation.

If you're passionate about innovation, strategy, and driving HR excellence on a global scale - we’d love to hear from you! This is a temporary cover position for a period of 8 months.

Responsibilities

• Line management responsibility for direct reports, overseeing performance management, workforce planning, recruitment, staff development, duty of care, and ensuring effective work planning and resource allocation based on organisational priorities.
• Ensure quality and effective support provided by Reward pooled team. Standardize P&O Reward approaches within assigned portfolio and coordinate with other teams to align on minimum standards, best practices or specific operational needs.
• Lead on and coordinate the effective and quality implementation of reward systems, tools, and procedures, including pay scale development, allowances, and benefits determination across all NRC operations.
• Lead on the provision of technical guidance on reward and compensation and benefits topics across the Employee Lifecycle for assigned portfolio.
• Provide expert advice for NRC’s senior management decision-making by preparing business cases, briefing documents, and making recommendations on reward-related matters, including policy exceptions and deviations.
• Build capacity within Reward by training and mentoring P&O Managers, country office focal points, and people managers, enhancing management capability and accountability.
• Lead on reward policy review and development, working with stakeholders to design, consult, implement, and monitor changes in related P&O policies, strategies, and frameworks.
• Embed change management principles in reward policy implementation, ensuring strong stakeholder engagement and smooth adoption of new and updated procedures.
• Compliance and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures, and a specific responsibility for the functions policies and procedures.
• Develop, review, and facilitate approval processes for national pay scales while maintaining centralized information resources, including benchmarking data.
• Establish structured consultation mechanisms with country offices, P&O management and Senior management to review and improve Reward P&O policies, tools, and operational frameworks.
• Develop and support compliance mechanisms to ensure adherence to P&O policies, handbooks, guidelines, procedures, and national labour laws related to Reward topics/guidance.
• Maintain relationships with external partners and suppliers (e.g., AIRINC, Birches, etc.) and represent the organisation in reward forums and benchmarking exercises.
• Coordinate and follow up on the maintenance and management of reward data in NRC’s P&O Management System.
• Act as the first escalation point for complex reward cases, including requests for exceptions, deviations or new practices as per CO and NORCAP operational needs. Build business cases for P&O management approvals and provide decision making as delegated from Head of P&O Operations.
• Ensure quality assurance in reward-related processes, tracking derogations and developing long-term solutions for operational challenges.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources management, business administration, or any other relevant specialisation.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in Human Resources Management generally with a specific experience in reward topics and practices, preferably in a humanitarian/recovery context.
• Proven experience in driving and implementing change.
• Previous experience in managing teams.
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken. Language skills in French, Spanish or Arabic would be beneficial.
• Knowledge and experience of working with varied and complex labour laws.
• Knowledge of fundamental P&O and Employee Relations principles.
• Extensive senior-level experience in compensation and benefits, including benchmarking, salary structures, job evaluation, and global reward management.
• Strong knowledge of compensation and benefits in an international context.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, databases, and other Microsoft Office applications.
• Proven ability to lead and manage reward-related projects, driving strategic development.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate at all organisational levels.
• High numeracy skills with experience in basic statistical analysis.

Benefits

• Duty station: Any country where NRC has an operational presence (Except Geneva & Washington DC), or through an Employer of Record (EoR) arrangement in France, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Spain, or the Netherlands.
• Contract: Temporary Cover (8 Months).
• Travel: Up to 20%.
• Salary/benefits: grade 10 on NRC’s Resident salary scale, with accompanying terms and conditions.

Application Process

For Internal candidates: To apply as an internal candidate, log in with your official email or click on Opportunity Market Place. When creating your profile, include your full name as given on your passport. Complete all the system-required fields for experience, employment history and education. Submit your application and CV in English, taking care to attach your latest CV. Applications that do not meet the minimum standards in terms of experience or qualifications will generally not be considered. Unsolicited applications not related to this specific job advertisement will not be considered. We receive many applications for each vacant position and so only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you have any questions about this role, please email [email protected] with the job title as the subject line.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is central to NRC’s work. We expect all employees to:

• treat everyone with respect and dignity
• contribute to building a safe environment for all
• never engage in any form of exploitation, harassment and specifically sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH)
• always report. NRC has a zero-tolerance approach to inaction against exploitation, abuse and SEAH