Head of Total Reward

Head of Total Rewards

About Discovery 

Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self-driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.

About Discovery  People

Discovery People operate as a Centre of Excellence, providing strategic leadership, specialist expertise and operational enablement across the full employee lifecycle. It integrates capabilities in areas such as reward, talent, people operations, and organisational effectiveness to deliver consistent, data-driven and high-impact people solutions. As a Centre of Excellence, Discovery People not only set frameworks, standards and governance, but also partners with the business to translate strategy into practical execution—enabling a high-performance culture, enhancing employee experience, and ensuring that people practices support Discovery’s purpose, brand and long-term growth ambitions.

Role Purpose

The Head of Total Rewards is accountable for defining and executing Discovery's enterprise-wide Total Rewards strategy, encompassing executive remuneration, compensation, benefits, recognition, reward governance, pay equity, analytics, and future-focused reward innovation.

This role serves as the organisation's foremost subject matter expert on reward and acts as a trusted advisor to the Executive Committee, Remuneration Committee, and Board on remuneration strategy, executive compensation, shareholder-aligned reward practices, and workforce competitiveness.

The incumbent will combine commercial acumen, technical reward expertise, governance excellence, and advanced analytical capability to ensure Discovery's reward practices attract, retain, motivate, and reward exceptional talent while supporting organisational performance and sustainable growth.

Areas of responsibility may include but not limited to

Strategic Total Rewards Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive Total Rewards strategy aligned to Discovery's purpose, business strategy, talent agenda, and culture.
• Ensure reward programmes strengthen Discovery's Employee Value Proposition and differentiate the organisation in the talent marketplace.
• Continuously evaluate market trends, emerging reward practices, legislative developments, and workforce expectations.
• Drive innovation and transformation across remuneration, benefits, recognition, and reward delivery.
• Position reward as a strategic enabler of organisational performance, employee engagement, and long-term value creation.

Executive and Board Remuneration

• Lead the design and governance of executive reward frameworks, including fixed pay, short-term incentives, long-term incentives, and retention strategies.
• Serve as the principal remuneration advisor to Executive Committees, Remuneration Committees, and Boards.
• Deliver robust remuneration analysis, benchmarking, and strategic recommendations to support executive reward decisions.
• Conduct local and international remuneration benchmarking to ensure competitiveness and alignment with market standards.
• Ensure executive remuneration supports shareholder interests, organisational performance, governance requirements, and sustainable value creation.

Compensation Strategy and Incentive Design

• Establish and maintain enterprise-wide remuneration frameworks, salary structures, grading methodologies, and job architecture.
• Lead annual remuneration review cycles and salary planning processes.
• Design, implement, and govern short-term and long-term incentive schemes.
• Drive equitable and market-competitive pay practices across the organisation.
• Provide strategic guidance on remuneration decisions relating to critical talent, scarce skills, and leadership appointments.

Benefits Strategy and management

• Define and lead Discovery's benefits strategy to optimise employee value while ensuring financial sustainability.
• Oversee retirement funds, medical aid, insured benefits, and related reward offerings.
• Evaluate benefits effectiveness through utilisation analysis, employee feedback, and return-on-investment metrics.
• Manage relationships and negotiations with benefit providers to ensure service excellence and cost effectiveness.

Recognition and Performance Culture

• Develop and execute enterprise-wide recognition strategies that reinforce Discovery's values, behaviours, and performance culture.
• Measure and monitor programme effectiveness through employee experience and engagement insights.

Reward Analytics, Insights and Pay Equity

• Lead enterprise pay equity and gender pay analyses to drive equitable and fair reward outcomes.
• Develop advanced reward analytics, workforce intelligence, and executive reporting capabilities.
• Deliver data-driven insights that inform strategic workforce and reward decisions.
• Identify emerging reward trends, remuneration risks, and retention challenges through predictive modelling and analytics.
• Build executive dashboards and reporting frameworks that support governance oversight and informed decision-making.
• Recommend interventions to address pay gaps, inequities, and workforce competitiveness risks.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with all applicable legislation, taxation requirements, regulatory obligations, and corporate governance standards.
• Develop, maintain, and oversee remuneration and reward governance frameworks, policies, and controls.
• Lead reward-related audit engagements and compliance reviews.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate reward-related risks across the organisation.

Financial and Vendor Management

• Develop and manage reward-related budgets and financial plans.
• Optimise reward investment to balance employee value with organisational sustainability.
• Oversee relationships with remuneration consultants, benefits providers, pension fund administrators, and reward partners.
• Monitor and evaluate vendor performance, service delivery, and commercial effectiveness.
• Deliver cost-effective reward programmes without compromising employee experience or market competitiveness.

Leadership and Capability Development

• Lead and develop a high-performing Total Rewards Centre of Excellence.
• Build reward capability across HR Business Partners, People leaders, and senior executives.
• Provide thought leadership on reward strategy, market developments, and emerging workforce trends.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Create succession pipelines and future capability within the reward function.

Future-Focused Reward Leadership in an AI-Enabled Organisation

• Leverage AI, advanced analytics, automation, and digital technologies to enhance reward strategy and decision-making.
• Develop innovative and personalised reward solutions aligned to employee preferences, career stages, and workforce demographics.
• Champion ethical, transparent, fair, and responsible use of AI within reward practices.
• Support the development of predictive models that identify retention risks, reward effectiveness, workforce trends, and talent competitiveness.
• Drive the evolution of skills-based pay approaches and reward frameworks for future-critical capabilities.
• Ensure Discovery remains at the forefront of reward innovation in an increasingly digital and AI-enabled workplace.

Personal Attributes and Skills

•  Integrity and Judgement: Demonstrates the highest levels of integrity, professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical leadership.
• Attention to Detail: High accuracy and maintains meticulous attention to detail across remuneration calculations, executive reward recommendations, governance reporting, financial modelling, and board submissions.
• Commercial Mindset: Balances employee value, organisational sustainability, shareholder expectations, and governance requirements.
• Innovation Orientation: Challenges conventional approaches and embraces emerging reward practices, advanced analytics, and AI-enabled solutions.
• Collaboration and Influence: Builds trusted relationships across executive leadership, governance forums, HR teams, and external partners.

Work Experience

• Minimum 15 years of progressive Human Resources experience.
• At least 10 years of senior leadership experience within Remuneration, Benefits, Compensation, or Total Rewards functions.
• Extensive executive remuneration and incentive scheme experience.
• Significant experience advising Executive Committees, Boards, and Remuneration Committees.
• Experience within a large listed, multinational, financial services, healthcare, or highly regulated organisation.
• Proven track record leading reward transformation, modernisation, and operating model improvements.
• Demonstrated experience integrating technology, analytics, and workforce insights into reward decision-making.
• Experience overseeing annual salary review cycles, executive reward governance processes, benefits strategy, and enterprise-wide compensation frameworks.
• Experience managing complex stakeholder environments with multiple governance and regulatory requirements.

Preferred

• Experience with SAP SuccessFactors Compensation Module.
• Direct experience supporting Remuneration Committees and Board governance processes.
• Experience within an organisation undergoing digital, workforce, or AI-enabled transformation.
• Exposure to international remuneration frameworks and global reward benchmarking

Education, Qualifications and Professional Accreditation

• Bachelor's Degree in Commerce, Accounting, Finance, Economics, Human Resources, Industrial Psychology, or a related field.
• Global Remuneration Professional (GRP) qualification and/or South African Reward Association (SARA) certification.
• Relevant professional standing within the reward, finance, governance, or HR profession.

Preferred

• CA(SA) strongly preferred.
• Honours Degree, Master's Degree, MBA, or equivalent postgraduate qualification.
• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Global Reward Professional (GRP), or equivalent reward certification.
• Additional qualifications in Analytics, Data Science, Finance, Governance, Executive Reward Management, Actuarial Science, or Workforce Analytics.

Professional Registration

Preferred

• South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
• South African Reward Association (SARA).
• Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA).
• Relevant internationally recognised reward and remuneration bodies.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY   
                             
The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.