Director, North America Benefits

Job Description

As Director, North America Benefits, you own the strategic direction of every US and Canada benefit program - retirement, health and welfare, wellbeing and the ancillary programs around them - and you make sure they support the company's objectives and fit the wider Reward architecture. You lead a strong team of expert benefits managers and analysts across both countries, and you work with Reward, the wider People team and business leaders to design, optimize and deliver programs that help Thomson Reuters attract and keep the talent it needs while getting real value from the investment.

You are one of two Benefits Directors. The Director, International Benefits owns everything outside the US and Canada; between you, you will assess and propose the global benefits strategy and agenda, working with and reporting to the Head of Reward. What you drive for North America shapes the experience of the company's largest employee population, so the standard is high: competitive programs, defensible costs, clean governance, and an experience employees can easily navigate.

You set the design agenda, hold the vendor relationships that matter, chair and act as a member of key plan committees, and make the hiring, performance and pay decisions that shape your team. You will inherit a live agenda: a run of vendor transitions, annual enrollment for both countries, and M&A and divestiture activity in a fast-moving company.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Operations

• Work with your team to drive the design, implementation and delivery of competitive, innovative and cost-efficient benefit programs across the US and Canada.

• Create an exceptional employee experience by making it easy for employees to understand and use their benefits and wellbeing programs.

• Drive operational excellence through continuous vendor improvement, process simplification and automation, and make sure the platforms and vendors employees touch deliver a best-in-class experience.

• Partner with Sourcing and with TR's brokers to lead contract negotiations on strategic vendor renewals, securing the best terms and service levels the company can get.

• Provide leadership on high-profile projects - plan redesigns, major vendor implementations, M&A and divestitures, outsourcing, and defined benefit de-risking including annuity purchase.

• Ensure North America health and retirement programs support the global wellbeing strategy and the wider Reward agenda.

• Communicate effectively across the organization and build the relationships with business partners, senior leadership and corporate functions that let you get things done.

People Leadership

• Lead a team of benefits managers and analysts across the US and Canada end to end: work direction, performance management, development, compensation recommendations and resource allocation.

• Coach on plan design, vendor management and financial analysis: raise the already high standards of the team.

• Work with the Head of Reward and Director, International Benefits to deliver skills and career development across the team.

Financial Management

• Oversee IBNR, fringe and the various benefits and retirement budgets and cost centers for North America.

• Develop the benefit pricing strategy and put recommendations to senior leadership with the analysis behind them.

• Partner with Sourcing and with brokers to identify cost savings and avoidance opportunities, and build the case for where the money is better spent.

• Manage invoice approvals up to applicable thresholds.

Compliance & Governance

• Oversee compliance and governance of North America benefit plans, ensuring alignment with internal controls and audit requirements.

• Serve as a plan fiduciary.

• Chair the US and Canada Design, Compliance and Administration retirement plan sub-committee.

• Serve on the Investment & Funding and Canadian Pension Management committees, and on the ERISA appeal and severance committees.

• Keep the company ahead of regulatory change rather than reacting to it.

Communications & Engagement

• Own the communication strategy for North America benefits, so that awareness and engagement match the investment behind the programs.

• Make sure the systems and platforms employees use to manage their benefits deliver a genuinely good user experience.

Analytics, Data Management & Plan Design

• Develop data-driven proposals and measure the efficiency of the benefits spend using financial data, competitive benchmarking, claims data, plan participation, market trends and demographic change.

• Benchmark programs continually to keep them competitive, and provide regular reporting on market trends, thought leadership and competitor practice.

• Build business cases and write the papers that go to Committee and to the Board.

• Apply rigorous metrics to measure whether benefit programs and initiatives are actually working.

Wider Thomson Reuters Contribution

• Work with the Director, International Benefits so that the global benefits agenda is coherent and compelling.

• Support the HR M&A team on due diligence, contracting and integration for North America transactions.

• Sponsor cross-team initiatives on process design, benefits systems and tooling, reporting standards and vendor governance.

• Take on additional duties and special projects that raise the performance of the wider Reward team.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in a broad, benefits-focused role, including at least five years leading teams.

• Experience across a wide range of North American benefit programs: retirement (defined benefit, defined contribution and non-qualified plans), health and welfare plans, ancillary benefits and the HR policies around them.

• Demonstrated people leadership: hiring, performance management, development and pay decisions, including difficult conversations handled well.

• Strong working knowledge of IRS, DOL, ERISA, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA and FMLA regulation, and of the Canadian equivalents.

• Strong financial and quantitative skills, with the ability to use data analysis to derive insight and support fact-based decisions rather than to justify decisions already made.

• A record of building business cases and writing papers for committee and Board audiences.

• The ability to partner with and influence people across HR and the business without formal authority over them.

• Comfort with technology, and demonstrated experience delivering benefit programs and communications through digital platforms.

• An effective communicator at every level, with a genuine service orientation toward employees.

Preferred Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Advanced certification such as CEBS or SHRM.

• Experience leading benefits through M&A, divestiture or outsourcing transitions.

• Experience of defined benefit de-risking, including annuity purchase.

• Experience working in a large, global, matrixed organization.

What’s in it For You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.
• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.
• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package to our employees. Our benefit package includes market competitive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs, as well as a competitive 401k plan with company match. In addition, Thomson Reuters offers market leading work life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays (including two company mental health days off), parental leave, sabbatical leave. These benefits meet or exceeds the requirements of paid time off in accordance with any applicable state or municipal laws. Finally, Thomson Reuters offers the following additional benefits: optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee; optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee; Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts; fitness reimbursement; access to Employee Assistance Program; Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee; access to 529 Plan; commuter benefits; Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance; Tuition Reimbursement; and access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan.Thomson Reuters complies with local laws that require upfront disclosure of the expected pay range for a position. The base compensation range varies across locations. For any eligible US locations, unless otherwise noted, the base compensation range for this role is $137,200 USD - $254,800 USD. Base pay is positioned within the range based on several factors including an individual’s knowledge, skills and experience with consideration given to internal equity. Base pay is one part of a comprehensive Total Reward program which also includes flexible and supportive benefits and other wellbeing programs. This role may also be eligible for an Annual Bonus based on a combination of enterprise and individual performance.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

Thomson Reuters makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law. If you reside in the United States and require an accommodation in the recruiting process, you may contact our Human Resources Department at [email protected]. Disability accommodations in the recruiting process may include things like a sign language interpreter, making interview rooms accessible, providing assistive technology, or other relevant accommodations. Please note this email is not intended for general recruitment questions and we will promptly respond to inquiries regarding accommodations. More information on requesting an accommodation here.

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More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com