Role : Global Head Total Rewards.

Location : Bengaluru.

Reports to : Global CHRO.

JOB SUMMARY:

Serve at the leader of Ascendion's total rewards function across all geographies - defining compensation philosophy, designing reward frameworks, running compensation cycles, managing benefits programs, and ensuring governance and statutory compliance while positioning Ascendion as a competitive employer in the AI native tech services space.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Total Rewards Strategy:

- Define and maintain Total Rewards philosophy aligned to business growth and competitiveness.

- Design rewards architecture (fixed, variable, benefits, incentives) across geographies.

- Align performance, career progression, and compensation.

- Own job architecture, leveling, and salary bands.

- Define geographic pay, mobility, and deployment policies.

- Partner with HR and Finance on talent strategy alignment.

Total Rewards Budgeting & Planning:

- Lead annual compensation planning and budgeting.

- Partner with Finance on bonus pool sizing and cost planning.

- Support workforce planning with compensation insights.

- Drive cost optimization across rewards programs.

- Contribute to long-range financial planning.

Compensation Program Design & Administration:

- Design merit increases, promotions, and hiring pay structures.

- Govern joining bonuses, retention bonuses, and bench pay.

- Manage annual increment cycle execution.

- Handle promotion cycles and off-cycle adjustments.

- Design and manage bonus and variable pay programs.

- Lead sales incentive plans (SIP).

- Oversee payout execution and payroll coordination.

- Manage leadership retention programs.

Benefits Design & Administration:

- Define global benefits strategy and policies.

- Lead annual benefits renewal and vendor negotiations.

- Manage employee communication on benefits.

- Ensure statutory compliance across geographies.

- Oversee visa-linked benefits with Legal.

- Contracts, Governance & Compliance.

- Establish compensation policies and approval frameworks.

- Manage exceptions and escalations.

- Conduct pay equity reviews.

- Ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations.

- Govern special compensation cases.

- Market Intelligence & Analytics.

- Lead benchmarking using external surveys.

- Analyze labor market trends and pay differentials.

- Monitor macroeconomic and regulatory trends.

- Develop predictive analytics for attrition and pay.

- Translate insights into compensation strategies.

- Executive Compensation.

- Design executive compensation frameworks.

- Support board-level compensation decisions.

- Develop long-term incentive strategies.

- Align executive pay with performance.

- Ensure governance and confidentiality.

KEY SKILLS:

- Strong command of compensation frameworks - job architecture, grading, benchmarking, and pay bands.

- Experience with variable pay design (bonus plans, SIPs) in IT services or consulting environments.

- Proficiency in HR ERP / compensation tools(Workday, SuccessFactors, or equivalent).

- Knowledge of multi-country statutory compliance - India labour laws, US H1B / LCA, Philippines.

- Data literacy - Power BI, Excel modelling, compensation analytics.

- Vendor management experience - benefits brokers, survey vendors, actuaries.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE.

- Postgraduate degreein HR, Finance, or Management.

- 15+ yearsof HR experience with at least 10 years specializing in C&B, preferably in a leading IT/Engineering organization.

- Exposure to multi-geography compensation across India, US, and Southeast Asia (Philippines and Indonesia).

- Agentic AI Solution / IT services experience preferred.

- Working knowledge of US immigration-linked compensation (H1B / L1) preferred.

About us.

- Ascendion is a leader in AI-powered software engineering, helping businesses innovate faster, smarter, and with greater impact.

- We partner with Global 2000 clients across North America, UK, Europe, and APAC to solve complex challenges in data, experience design, software product engineering, and workforce transformation.

- Powered by expert engineers, thousands of AI agents, and our Engineering to the Power of AI- (Engineering AI) method, we deliver measurable outcomes that build trust, unlock value, and accelerate growth.