Assistant Vice President - Total Rewards

About the role

The Assistant Vice President, Total Rewards will lead compensation, benefits, payroll, HR systems, and workforce analytics, building the function from the ground up at Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union, the nation’s third‑oldest credit union founded in 1912, headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, with $2.2 billion in assets, over 100,000 members, eight full‑service branches, three high‑school branches, and 289 team members. The credit union’s mission is to help each member make smart financial choices, and it is a Great Place to Work Certified™ employer with a strong culture of social responsibility through the We Share a Common Thread Foundation and year‑round volunteerism.

Responsibilities

• Establish a modern total rewards philosophy, translated into durable, well‑communicated programs: refreshed job architecture, standardized job descriptions, greater transparency around salary grades, ranges, merit and incentive criteria, with managers as aligned partners.
• Strengthen and optimize payroll following the recent conversion to ADP, building controls, procedures, and process discipline for accurate, timely, compliant cycles, and owning the full calendar through audits, reconciliations, tax reporting, and year‑end.
• Build out the credit union’s HR technology (ADP, BVS, Screensteps, RingCentral), unlocking full capabilities, automating manual processes, and establishing data integrity and governance practices.
• Serve as steward and strategist for a generous, distinctive benefits program, owning annual renewal and open enrollment end‑to‑end, managing broker, consultant, and vendor relationships, and keeping the portfolio competitive, cost‑effective, and clearly understood.
• Lead annual compensation planning, including market analyses, benchmarking, merit increases, incentive payouts, profit sharing, salary structure reviews, and ensuring pay equity and regulatory compliance.
• Establish workforce analytics as a decision‑support capability, building enterprise dashboards and workforce metrics for executive leadership and Board reporting, and defining data governance standards and reporting methodologies.
• Hire, coach, and develop the Total Rewards team, building both programs and people, and partnering across Accounting and Finance, Risk, Compliance, and operational leaders.
• Maintain policies, procedures, and controls that keep total rewards programs sound, including compliance with ERISA, COBRA, ACA, HIPAA, and applicable employment, payroll, and data privacy regulations.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, or finance, and ten years of related human resources, payroll, benefits, and/or compensation experience, including five or more years supervising in an HR department, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Skills

• Strong working knowledge of payroll, benefits, and compensation practice and regulatory compliance, along with federal and state employment laws; general knowledge of credit union operations valued.
• Strong financial and analytical skills, including the mathematical and statistical concepts that underpin data analysis and reporting, and strong research skills to ensure HR data integrity.
• ADP experience and advanced proficiency across Microsoft Office applications; experience with BVS, Screensteps, and RingCentral valued.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present abstract or detailed information to employees, managers, and leadership at every level.
• A builder’s mindset and a collaborative, consultative, people‑first style, with proven judgment regarding sensitive information and the highest standards of integrity and confidentiality.

Benefits

• Four weeks of vacation, six sick days, three personal days, and eleven paid holidays annually, plus a paid birthday holiday
• Choice of three medical plans (two HMO and one PPO) supported by a generous employer‑funded Health Reimbursement Arrangement, with coverage effective on day one
• Dental and vision coverage
• Company‑paid life and disability insurance
• 401(k) through Fidelity with company match plus an employer‑paid profit sharing plan
• Eligible to participate in 457(b) plan
• Tuition reimbursement of up to $6,000 per year
• Student loan repayment assistance
• Paid volunteer opportunities