Total Rewards Manager - South America - São Paulo

Total Rewards, Manager 

Location: São Paulo, Brazil (7 Countries – Brazil (Sao Paulo, Bahia, and Tatuí), Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela)

Team: Lead a team of Compensation and Benefits specialists (3 direct reports) – Detailed below. 

Role Summary: South America Manager, Total Rewards leads the Compensation & Benefits team for Ford Brazil and South America, ensuring market-competitive total rewards, regulatory compliance, high-quality HR data, and effective vendor partnerships. This role translates global compensation and benefits strategy into local execution, provides data-driven recommendations (salary, bonus, LTI, benefits design), supports collective bargaining and unionized populations, and owns the operational excellence of the annual compensation and benefits cycles.

Core Responsibilities Strategy & Governance

• Define and execute local compensation and benefits strategy aligned with global guidelines and business plan; recommend design changes to maintain competitiveness and control costs.
• Represent the region in global reviews, present survey results, budgetary impact scenarios and request approvals from the Global Compensation & Benefits Director.

• Maintain and update published benefits and compensation policies (life@ford) and ensure consistent local application.

  Compensation Leadership

• Oversee annual market benchmarking (WTW and other consultants), lead job-matching and Global Grade validation for all positions in South America
• Drive analysis of survey results across pay elements (Base Salary, Bonus Target/Paid, LTI Target/Paid); recommend grade realignments and targeted adjustments.
• Model budgetary impact (three-scenario approach) and partner with Finance to secure budget and implement approved changes.
• Ensure accurate configuration and continuous data-quality in HCM for grade, job codes, hire/termination dates, eligibility periods and pay plans.

• Be aligned with Ford Global Compensation philosophy, guidelines and DoA 

   

   

  Benefits Leadership

• Oversee benefits benchmarking, vendor sourcing and renewal negotiations for medical, dental, life, Brazil pension plan (VIVEST), mobility, meal/transport, wellbeing programs and vehicles program with marketing and sales partnership.
• Manage broker relationships and monthly monitoring of medical plan sinistrality; lead clinical and cost-containment program design (chronic disease, oncology case management, maternal care).

• Ensure compliance with Brazilian regulators (ANS) and apply necessary plan updates and actuarial submissions.

  Operational & Compliance

• Own monthly payroll/benefits reconciliation, co‑payment collection, and feeding regulatory/taxable benefit adjustments to Payroll; coordinate with Legal/Tax on regulatory changes.
• Ensure vendors managing sensitive employee data complete security and compliance workflows (OSP, DAST/penetration testing, MCRP, BCP) prior to go-live and annually thereafter.
• Manage processes tied to unionized GSR populations and legacy leave cohorts (~300 legacy cases), ensuring continuity of benefits and accurate financial provisioning.
• People & Stakeholder Management
• Lead, coach, and develop compensation and benefits specialists; set clear priorities, KPIs and quality controls.
• Serve as primary regional liaison for Global Compensation/Benefits, HRBPs, Finance, Payroll, Procurement, Legal/IT/Data Protection, and external consultants (WTW, Mercer, AON, Korn Ferry, Lockton).
• Provide semi-annual training and enablement for HRBPs, Talent Acquisition and People First on policy application, market trends and case handling. for the Total Rewards function.

Reporting, Deliverables & Meetings

Deliverables: completed WTW and other survey submissions (with job-match registry), executive competitiveness reports, Global annual compensation plan, budgetary impact models, monthly payroll/benefits variance and sinistrality dashboards, actuarial report, vendor RFP comparisons, MCRP/BCP/DAST evidence packs, wellbeing program calendars and metrics.

Cadence: monthly leadership reviews (payroll & benefits trends), quarterly GEMBA/process reviews, annual renewal/RFP cycle (10–12 weeks prep), weekly team check-ins and stakeholder syncs and Global Total Rewards Meeting, during CPO process RCL meetings.

Key Metrics / KPIs

• Market competitive (+10/-10%) – Base Salary, Bonus and LTI and benefits aligned with industry. 
• HCM data accuracy rate (target >98% for critical fields).
• Key Talent retention rate (target >90%)
• % of job-codes/grades reconciled prior to survey submission (target >98%).
• Brazil Medical plan sinistrality and YoY cost trends.
• % of co-pay reconciliations completed (target >90%).
• Vendor SLA compliance rate (target >90%).
• % of recommended compensation adjustments implemented within approved budget.
• Time to complete WTW job-matching (days) and time to resolve payroll/benefits discrepancies (days).

Supports ~2,400 Salaried employees across South America offices.

Occasional travel to other sites and regional/global meetings (domestic and reginal as required).

Accurate and timely submission of WTW and other surveys with validated job-match registry.

Clear, actionable competitiveness report delivered and approved by the Global Compensation Director with defined budget commitments.

Stable or improved benefits cost trend through broker-led actions and clinical programs, with actuarial submission completed on time.

HCM data quality reached target levels and robust controls in place prior to the annual compensation cycle.

The well-being program calendar established with measurable participation and positive employee feedback. 

Strong vendor security posture with completed MCRP/DAST/BCP for major vendors.

Sinergy, efficiency, and better process across all South America countriesg reviewed and updated periodically.