The Compensation Program Advisor is a seasoned contributor responsible for advancing compensation strategy through the design of scalable, forward-facing tools and frameworks that support both business growth and the evolving needs of a complex healthcare organization.

This role serves as the enterprise lead for large-scale compensation design efforts—such as job architecture, career framework development, and incentive program strategy—and provides expert consultation to HR and business leaders.

The Advisor operates with a high degree of independence, applying deep subject matter expertise to influence systems-level decisions, lead cross-functional projects, and integrate compensation practices with broader talent, performance, and workforce planning strategies.

This position does not provide patient care.

Qualified candidates must have completed:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Organizational Design, or a related field, or equivalency.
• Ten years of progressive compensation experience, including experience designing enterprise-wide structures or programs.

Additional qualifications preferred:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Certification such as CCP (Certified Compensation Professional), SPHR, or similar.
• Significant prior experience in a healthcare or higher education environment.
• Demonstrated experiene delivering large-scale compensation projects requiring sofisticated change management.

Corporate Overview: University of Utah Health is an integrated academic healthcare system with five hospitals including a level 1 trauma center, eleven community health centers, over 1,600 providers, and a health plan serving over 200,000 members. University of Utah Health is nationally ranked and recognized for our academic research, quality standards and overall patient experience. In addition to our clinical delivery system, we have a School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and College of Health providing education and training for over 1,250 providers annually. We have over 2 million patient visits annually and research grants exceeding $350 million. University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics represents our clinical operations for the larger health system.

As a patient-focused organization, University of Utah Health exists to enhance the health and well-being of people through patient care, research and education. Success in this mission requires a culture of collaboration, excellence, leadership, and respect. University of Utah Health seeks staff that are committed to the values of compassion, collaboration, innovation, responsibility, belonging, integrity, quality and trust that are integral to our mission. EO/AA

Strategic Compensation Design & Leadership

• Lead large-scale, enterprise-level compensation initiatives, such as job architecture implementation, compensation redesign, and incentive model transformation.
• Develop modern, scalable compensation tools and job structures that support organizational complexity, with clear pathways for clinical, operational, and business support staff.
• Serve as the organization’s primary expert on compensation frameworks, providing guidance to executive leaders, HR partners, and operational teams.

Enterprise Integration & System-Level Strategy

• Align compensation design with enterprise workforce and talent strategies, including career development, performance management, and workforce segmentation.
• Collaborate across HR centers of excellence to ensure compensation solutions reinforce broader goals related to equity, mobility, and retention.
• Serve as a strategic partner to business leaders on enterprise initiatives where job structure and compensation play a key role in transformation or planning.

Workforce Segmentation & Incentive Design

• Create models for segmenting compensation strategies by job type, department, and operational structure to improve pay alignment, performance management, and program sustainability.
• Lead design of incentive and variable pay programs that reflect organizational mission, labor market dynamics, and evolving work models.
• Balance internal consistency and external competitiveness across diverse roles and organizational units.

Operational Integration & Enablement

• Partner with the Compensation Operations Manager to ensure that compensation designs are scalable, supportable, and integrated into HRIS, budget systems, and operational workflows.
• Translate strategic models into guidance and tools for managers and HR practitioners to support consistent decision-making.
• Inform planning for annual compensation cycles by embedding structure, rules, and data frameworks into the process.

Innovation, Problem Solving & Research

• Monitor emerging compensation trends, policy shifts, and workforce changes to inform future-state compensation strategies.
• Diagnose root causes of structural compensation challenges and deliver clear, data-backed proposals for reform.
• Lead design sprints, workshops, or agile teams to co-develop solutions in collaboration with internal stakeholders.

Governance, Communication & Change Management

• Contribute to institutional governance by advising senior leadership groups, steering committees, and project boards on compensation-related topics.
• Develop thoughtful, clear communication strategies to engage stakeholders in new compensation models or frameworks.
• Coach and prepare managers, HR teams, and other stakeholders to adopt and champion compensation change initiatives.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

• Deep subject matter expertise in compensation design, including modern job architecture, salary structure design, advanced job leveling techniques within job architecture, and incentive/differential programs.

• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives in large, evolving, and matrixed environments.

• Ability to translate strategic goals into operational models and actionable tools.

• Familiarity with academic and academic healthcare systems greatly preferred, including workforce composition and regulatory nuances.

• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with ability to influence across functions and levels.

• High ethical standards and discretion with sensitive compensation and workforce data.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Organizational Design, or a related field, or equivalency.
• Ten years of progressive compensation experience, including experience designing enterprise-wide structures or programs.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Certification such as CCP (Certified Compensation Professional), SPHR, or similar.
• Significant prior experience in a healthcare or higher education environment.
• Demonstrated experiene delivering large-scale compensation projects requiring sofisticated change management.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

Employee must be able to meet the following requirements with or without an accommodation.

• This is a sedentary position that may exert up to 10 pounds and may lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. This position involves sitting most of the time and is not exposed to adverse environmental conditions.