Associate Principal - Total Rewards

We all know that great work deserves great compensation. But rewarding deserving professionals is becoming increasingly complex. The workforce is more demanding. There is a focus on transparency, not just at executive level but at the workforce level too. New jobs, with no pay precedent, are emerging all the time. And flatter structures and contingent workforces mean career paths are no longer clear. We understand the differing dynamics of compensation markets around the globe and in all sectors. We know current trends, how to create engaging employee value propositions, and have the right Total Rewards strategy. We develop flexible and competitive work architecture and compensation strategies that align employees and senior executives with the business strategy. And we build thoughtful employee engagement programs that attract and engage a diverse workforce and reinforce company culture and goals.

The Role

The Associate Principal work closely with colleagues to deliver complex, customized and multi work-stream solutions that meet and exceed client expectations. At this level, business development and client relationship management feature as an important focus of the role in addition to delivery. Principals contribute to bids and manage/lead relationships and/or projects of considerable complexity. Principals have developed a deep understanding to solve complex problems in the Pay Transparency area. Depending on the size of the project a principal will lead and manage client projects.

What You'll Be Working On: 

• Establishing ‘Equal Work’ frameworks: deliver job analysis and work measurement (job grading) projects (using the Korn Ferry Hay method for job evaluation) to establish relative weight and nature of roles within organisations.
• Identifying and Closing Pay Gaps: Use data-driven approaches to uncover disparities and recommend corrective actions.
• Analyzing and Communicating Pay Frameworks: Support the development and disclosure of salary ranges, compensation principles, and decision-making processes.
• Championing Fair Compensation: Help implement transparent pay practices that ensure equity across roles, demographics, and regions.
• Driving Compliance with Global Legislation: Contribute to aligning work architecture and compensation strategies with evolving laws like the EU Pay Transparency Directive.
• Supporting DE&I Goals: Use pay transparency as a tool to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion across the organization.
• Engaging a New Workforce Generation: Collaborate with HR and leadership to meet expectations of Millennials and Gen Z for openness and fairness in pay.
• Boosting Talent Attraction and Retention: Help position the organization as a trusted, ethical employer through transparent work architectures and competitive compensation.
• Building Trust and Accountability: Foster a culture where employees understand and trust how their compensation is determined.

In this role you will focus on:

• Building strong customer relations, typically works with clients across different sectors and countries.
• Conducting complex product and services clients’ onboardings and training for Korn Ferry Talent Suite.
• Analyzing HR clients and market data, creations of insights to provide information and business advice to your clients.
• Facilitating workshops with management.
• Supporting the creation, renewal and maintenance of the reward database in the assigned country.
• Sharing in the EMEA community technical expertise of Korn Ferry Talent Suite and industry best practices.
• Effective project management providing accurate forecasts on existing projects with timely status updates.

Korn Ferry is on a fascinating journey of growth globally and locally, considered by clients to be the world leading partner in a very broad array of services. The pace of tools development and change is immense and bring new opportunities constantly.

Experience and Professional Qualifications

• Experience of leading complex total reward programmes and negotiating solutions with complex range of stakeholders (executive teams, trade unions etc.)
• BA/Msc Degree is useful - ideally Business Admin, Business Engineering, Law, Mathematics or similar.
• Experience in consulting or professional service in Work & Career Architecture, Job Grading, Total Reward/Compensation and Benefits, Mobility, HR
• Knowledge of the design of job grading (ideally Korn Ferry Hay job evaluation method) and reward systems.
• Competent use of Microsoft office programs, especially Excel and data tools
• Good communicator, combined with problem solving competence, analytical skills and team orientation.
• Ideally Experience with Works Counsil or Union exposure
• Client focus and confident, positive attitude and high engagement
• Results and solution focused while managing complex situations.

Skills and Competencies

• Good stakeholder management skills and the ability to build and maintain professional relationships.
• A high degree of customer focus and attention to detail.
• Strong drive for results and a commitment to producing a high level of work efficiently and often within tight timeframes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in German and English – other EU languages would be great.
• Ability to adapt to new processes and effectively deal with change and ambiguity.