Position Title: Compensation Manager
Work Type: Full time
Location: Swarthmore College
Who We Are:
The Human Resources department is a proactive, strategic partner to our campus community, attracting, retaining, developing, and engaging talent to create a positive and respectful workplace. We support and advocate for our faculty and staff, advancing the mission of the College by fostering a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable environment. We commit to this mission by:
- Delivering exemplary service by acknowledging and responding to employee inquiries promptly.
- Creating and assessing competitive and equitable compensation and benefits programs to address the needs of our diverse workforce.
- Partnering with managers to develop a culture of mutual respect, integrity, and professionalism.
- Serving as subject matter experts with respect to Human Resources best practices, compliance, and risk management.
- Providing opportunities to encourage professional growth and development and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements.
- Addressing employee well-being and mental health needs by encouraging a supportive and flexible work environment.
- Being prepared and available to shift priorities and act in the face of urgent matters, including providing crisis management support and direction as needed.
- Providing timely communications regarding changes to human resources policies, programs, and procedures.
The Opportunity:
Reporting to the Assistant Vice President, Human Resources, the Compensation Manager ("Manager") provides thoughtful consultation, analytical expertise, and stewardship of the College's compensation framework. The Manager ensures compensation practices align with compensation laws and regulations and Swarthmore's mission while promoting internal equity, and maintaining market competitiveness. Responsibilities include administering salary surveys, writing and/or evaluating job descriptions and maintaining salary structures. The Manager also oversees the career progression process, manages position budgets, and evaluates and approves organizational restructuring.
Additionally, this role acts as the primary functional owner for Workday compensation and position management modules. The Manager participates in and contributes to the development of project improvement initiatives within the division of Human Resources. This position is eligible for hybrid work.
Essential Responsibilities:
Compensation Strategy, Design, and Administration
- Designs, analyzes, administers, and maintains the College's compensation programs in accordance with institutional goals, market objectives, and internal equity standards.
- Serves as an in-house expert to HR colleagues and campus partners in the day to day application of compensation structures, policies, and reclassification requests.
- Evaluates job duties and compensation to determine appropriate FLSA classification.
- Partners with talent management to design competitive offer packages that align with College policy and support successful recruitment and retention efforts.
- Manages the annual salary increase process, market adjustments and promotions within established budget parameters.
- Collaborates with the Business Office in the review and determination of independent contractor status.
Salary Benchmarking & Data Analytics
- Benchmarks compensation to the market using Comp Analyst, CUPA-HR and other regional/national surveys as needed.
- Completes annual salary surveys (e.g., CUPA-HR, Mercer) and analyzes results to assess competitiveness, internal equity and market-based ranges.
- Provides data including IPEDS information to institutional research, effectiveness and assessment, and other functional areas as requested.
- Conducts analyses of staff compensation, staffing levels, and position budgets to identify trends, forecast needs, and support data-driven decision-making.
- Responsible for working with functional managers to identify and ensure staff are working within budgeted hours.
Workday & Position Management
- Configures and maintains templates, workflows, business processes, report improvements, related EIBs and relevant journeys, ensuring data integrity and system accuracy.
- Oversees position development, job descriptions, and maintenance within Workday, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance with federal, state and local laws.
- Completes and configures compensation system related actions, to include updating job architecture, job code table, compensation transactions, implementation frameworks, and managing day-to-day compensation actions.
- Ensures accuracy through validation, testing and process optimization in Workday.
- Tracks changes and utilizes detailed reports to ensure position budget accuracy and reporting.
What you bring:
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or a related field.
- A minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in compensation administration including job evaluation and classification, salary benchmarking, and HR data and compensation analysis.
- Hands-on, functional experience using Workday (specifically compensation and position management modules) and general knowledge of other Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS).
- Experience using compensation administration and salary survey systems.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret policy, evaluate data, and make sound compensation related recommendations.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion when handling sensitive employee and compensation information.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex classification and compensation concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Strong consultative and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively across diverse campus constituencies.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and work independently with minimal supervision.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous experience working in higher education.
- Experience with Google Suite.
- Experience leading compensation projects.
- Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) or similar certification.
- Experience with Comp Analyst and/or CUPA-HR.
What You Will Get:
You'll work at one of the world's most renowned liberal arts Colleges, with incredible benefits, a stunning 420-acre campus, and a collaborative work environment. Join a team of passionate, creative people who work hard and have fun supporting the College students, faculty, and staff.
The market range for this position is $115,000-$135,000 per year, which represents the College's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. The salary offered is determined based on factors including, but not limited to, experience and education of the final selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information.
PA Criminal Clearance Required
Swarthmore College requires a PA Criminal background check for all staff positions prior to the start of employment.
Education Verification Required by Position
An education verification is required for this position because a college degree is a required qualification for this position.
Applications received are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. An optional cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience have prepared you for this position is preferred. If you have experience that meets any of the preferred qualifications, please include a detailed explanation of any such experience in your cover letter and how it meets the preferred qualification(s).
Upon benefit eligibility, the College contributes 10% of an employee's salary to their retirement account. Employees are 100% vested in their accounts on the date participation begins.
Swarthmore Benefits and Programs
Swarthmore College is committed to creating a culture of respect and inclusion so that every member of our community feels a sense of belonging. We actively seek and welcome candidates with diverse perspectives and experiences, exceptional qualifications, and a demonstrable commitment to a more inclusive society and world. Swarthmore College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on any identity or characteristic protected by law or College Policy.
Swarthmore College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore has a strong institutional commitment to excellence through diversity in its educational program and employment practices and actively seeks and welcomes applications from candidates with exceptional qualifications, particularly those with demonstrable commitments to a more inclusive society and world.
