Senior Director, Total Rewards and Workplace Strategy at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences

Yakima, Washington, United States -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

11 May, 26

Salary

140000.0

Posted On

10 Feb, 26

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Compensation Strategy, Benefits Administration, Data Analysis, Job Architecture, Market Benchmarking, Holistic Well-Being, Workplace Strategy, Collaboration, Change Management, HR Systems Modernization, Employee Experience, Financial Modeling, Compliance, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Strategic Planning

Industry

Higher Education

Description

Description Recruitment Period: 02/09/2026 - Until Filled Status: Full-Time, 40 hours/week Salary Information: Annual Minimum Salary-$102,700-Annual Maximum Salary-$174,600 Hiring Rate: $130,000-$140,000 Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Pro-rated based on hours/week. Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) does not sponsor employment visas. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and for the duration of their employment with PNWU. Employment eligibility will be verified in accordance with federal law. Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) was founded as a 501(c) (3) non-profit medical institution in 2005 aimed at increasing access to health care in medically underserved areas of the Pacific Northwest. The University currently offers the degrees of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Doctor of Dental Medicine, Master of Arts in Medical Science, and Master of Science in Occupational Therapy enrolling over 550 students annually with plans to develop other programs and/or colleges. Interprofessional education partnerships with other universities adds another 100 students to the population. The campus includes 300 employees with academic programming spread over a five-state region. PNWU is located in Yakima, WA, a city of approximately 95,000 located in the south-central part of the state near the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains in a major agricultural and outdoor recreation region. It is approximately 140 miles from Seattle, 170 miles from Portland, and 200 miles from Spokane. The Yakima Valley is a wonderful place to live, work and play. For more information, visit https://www.visityakima.com/. General Summary: The Senior Director of Total Rewards and Workplace Strategy is a senior leader within the Human Resources and Workplace Experience team at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU). Reporting to the Vice President of Human Resources and Workplace Experience, this role serves as a strategist for total rewards and workplace strategy, ensuring that compensation, benefits, and workplace practices are equitable, sustainable, and aligned with PNWU’s mission and values. PNWU is in an important season of institutional growth, systems modernization, and workforce evolution. The Senior Director plays a key role in strengthening faculty and staff stability, trust, and engagement so that the University can consistently deliver excellence and care to students, patients, and the communities it serves. This role is responsible not only for program design and oversight, but also for developing clear frameworks, decision processes, and practices that support thoughtful, values-informed people decisions across a complex academic and clinical environment. The Senior Director provides strategic and operational leadership for compensation, benefits, job architecture, workplace accommodations, and holistic well-being initiatives, working in close partnership with Payroll, Finance, IT, Academic Affairs, and campus leaders. While this role does not directly oversee payroll operations, it establishes strong collaboration and shared accountability to ensure a seamless, accurate, and respectful employee experience across the employment lifecycle. This position blends analytical rigor with human-centered leadership and requires systems thinking, sound judgment, and the ability to navigate complexity with steadiness and care. The Senior Director serves as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, offering clear analysis, practical recommendations, and consistent leadership during decisions that directly affect employees and institutional sustainability. The role calls for a leader who can balance empathy with accountability, bring clarity and transparency to total rewards and workplace decisions, and contribute positively to a healthy, inclusive, and mission-driven workplace culture at PNWU. Alignment with PNWU Mission, Vision, and Values This role directly advances PNWU’s mission and values with an explicit commitment to holistic well-being for faculty and staff: Mission-Driven: Designs and stewards total rewards and workplace strategies that attract, retain, and sustain a workforce committed to advancing healthcare education and service to rural and underserved communities, while supporting institutional continuity and long-term capacity. Collaborative: Partners across Payroll, Finance, IT, Academic Affairs, and campus leadership to align people systems, clarify roles and decision processes, reduce friction, and support sound, institution-wide decision making built on trust and shared accountability. Compassionate: Centers dignity, accessibility, and consistency in benefits design, accommodation practices, leave administration, and employee support processes, balancing individual needs with operational realities through thoughtful, timely, and fair application. Genuine: Builds confidence through transparency, consistency, and clear communication around compensation, benefits, and workplace decisions that affect people’s livelihoods, fostering understanding, predictability, and institutional trust. Student-Focused: Strengthens faculty and staff stability, capacity, and engagement so students experience continuity, excellence, and care across academic, clinical, and support environments. Healthy: Advances holistic well-being by aligning benefits, flexibility, workload awareness, and sustainable workplace practices that support physical, emotional, financial, and professional health for faculty and staff. Essential Job Functions: Total Rewards and Compensation Strategy Provide leadership for the design, implementation, and ongoing refinement of PNWU’s total rewards strategy, including compensation, benefits, and non-monetary rewards, ensuring programs are equitable, competitive, fiscally responsible, and aligned with the University’s mission and long-term sustainability. Design, steward, and continuously improve job architecture, classification frameworks, and salary structures for staff and administrators, ensuring clarity, internal equity, and alignment with organizational needs. Partner with Academic Affairs to support faculty compensation models, analyses, and related decision-making, recognizing the distinct structures and governance considerations within academic environments. Conduct market benchmarking, pay equity analyses, and financial modeling; translate complex data into clear, practical recommendations that support leadership decision-making and institutional priorities. Provide oversight and guidance for annual compensation processes, including merit, adjustments, and related communications, ensuring consistency, transparency, and timely execution. Benefits, Accommodations, and Holistic Well-Being Provide leadership for the design, administration, and continuous improvement of PNWU’s benefits programs, including medical, dental, vision, retirement, leave, wellness offerings, and employee assistance resources, ensuring they are responsive to workforce needs, compliant, and financially sustainable. Ensure benefits offerings are inclusive and accessible across life stages and employment categories, balancing competitiveness, affordability, and institutional stewardship in a complex academic and clinical environment. Lead and oversee the interactive accommodation process for employees, ensuring consistency, timeliness, and compliance while approaching each request with care, clarity, and sound judgment. Partner with supervisors and leaders to support accommodation outcomes that respect individual needs and operational realities. Contribute to institution-wide efforts that support holistic well-being by aligning benefits, flexibility, leave practices, and workplace expectations with PNWU’s commitment to a healthy and sustainable work environment. Serve as a knowledgeable and steady resource to leaders and employees on benefits and accommodation matters, reinforcing trust through clear guidance, predictable processes, and thoughtful communication. Workplace Strategy and Strategic Partnership Serve as a trusted partner to leaders on workforce planning, role design, compensation decisions, and workplace effectiveness, helping align people practices with operational needs, institutional priorities, and available resources. Integrate perspectives across Human Resources, Payroll, Finance, IT, Academic Affairs, and campus leadership to inform sound, coordinated decisions and reduce fragmentation across people-related systems and processes. Apply systems thinking and practical judgment to navigate organizational complexity, competing priorities, and evolving workplace expectations, offering guidance that is thoughtful, realistic, and grounded in PNWU’s culture. Support change management related to compensation, benefits, systems modernization, and evolving workplace practices, helping leaders and employees understand the purpose, impact, and practical implications of change. Advance a consistent, transparent, and values-aligned employee experience across the employment lifecycle by promoting clarity, predictability, and follow-through in workplace practices and decisions. HR Data, Analytics, and Reporting Provide leadership for HR data and analytics related to total rewards, workforce metrics, and institutional reporting needs, ensuring information is accurate, relevant, and useful for decision making. Develop and maintain dashboards, analyses, and reports that support leadership understanding of compensation, benefits, workforce trends, and resource implications, translating data into clear insights and practical recommendations. Partner with Institutional Research, Finance, Payroll, and IT to ensure data integrity, consistency, and alignment across systems, recognizing the importance of shared definitions and reliable reporting. Support compliance, audit, and regulatory reporting related to compensation, benefits, and employment practices, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and readiness. Use data thoughtfully to anticipate trends, identify risks, and inform planning, while remaining attentive to the limits of data and the importance of context and judgment. HR Systems Modernization and Digitization Provide leadership for the ongoing optimization, integration, and effective use of HR systems that support total rewards, accommodations, and workforce data, with attention to accuracy, usability, and sustainability. Partner closely with IT, Payroll, and Finance to improve data integrity, system interoperability, and user experience, recognizing the interdependence of people, process, and technology. Lead or contribute to HR systems modernization initiatives, including workflow redesign, digitization of manual processes, and participation in future system selection, upgrades, or migrations as appropriate to institutional needs and capacity. Ensure that HR systems and workflows support compliance, reliable reporting, and informed decision making, while also reducing administrative burden for employees and supervisors. Balance improvement efforts with operational realities, prioritizing changes that meaningfully enhance clarity, efficiency, and trust in people systems. Collaboration with Payroll and Finance Partner with Payroll to ensure accurate and timely execution of compensation, benefits, and employee lifecycle transactions. Align Total Rewards practices with payroll processes to create a seamless and reliable employee experience. Collaborate with Finance to ensure compensation and benefits strategies are fiscally responsible and aligned with institutional priorities. Support budget planning through modeling of salary actions, benefit cost projections, and workforce investments. Maintain strong data integrity across HRIS, payroll, and financial systems through coordinated processes and shared accountability. Identify and implement process improvements that reduce manual work, increase efficiency, and strengthen internal controls. Ensure compliance with federal and state wage and hour laws, benefits regulations, and audit requirements in partnership with Payroll and Finance. Provide clear reporting and insights that support transparent, equitable, and consistent compensation and benefits decisions. Translate complex Total Rewards information into practical guidance for leaders to support informed decision making. Foster a collaborative, stewardship-minded partnership that aligns people strategy, financial sustainability, and operational excellence. Performs other related duties as assigned and based on departmental need. Requirements Education: • Required: Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business, Finance, or a related field • Preferred: Master's degree in a related field Experience: Required: • Minimum of 7–10 years of progressive HR experience with significant focus on compensation, benefits, and total rewards • Demonstrated experience in compensation strategy, market analysis, and job architecture • Experience leading benefits programs and accommodation processes • Strong analytical, financial, and data reporting skills • Experience partnering closely with Payroll and Finance functions Preferred: • Experience in higher education, healthcare, or complex nonprofit environment • Professional certifications such as CCP, CBP, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, or PHR • Experience leading HR systems modernization or implementation efforts Desired Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities: Knowledge of HRIS and people systems integration; ability to operate effectively at both strategic and operational levels; ability to manage multiple priorities, including direct oversight of multiple functional areas; knowledge of strategic planning, organizational leadership, and operational management; ability to work effectively with executive leaders, faculty, and staff; ability to communicate and have strong interpersonal and negotiation skills; knowledge and commitment to mission and opportunity, and shared governance; and knowledge of confidentiality, integrity, and ethical decision-making. To ensure full consideration submit: • A letter of introduction outlining background and qualifications for the position • Detailed resume • Contact information for three professional references The job announcement above is not the full job description but represents the job responsibilities and requirements. A full job description can be provided upon request. PNWU offers a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees first of the month following date of hire and competitive salary. Benefit Package (benefit eligible is at least .5 FTE): Health Benefits - Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance Paid Time Off 403b with Roth Option Paid Holidays For information about life in Yakima visit our PNWU page. PNWU is a drug-free workplace, equal opportunity employer and educational institution. To request this publication in an alternative format, or to apply in an alternative format, please call Human Resources, 509.452.5100.

Responsibilities

The Senior Director of Total Rewards and Workplace Strategy is responsible for designing and overseeing compensation, benefits, and workplace practices that align with the university's mission. This role also involves providing strategic leadership and ensuring equitable and sustainable programs for faculty and staff.