This position has primary responsibility for end-to-end operational delivery and continuous improvement of global Compensation & Benefits (C&B) and employee lifecycle On/Offboarding services delivered from Kohler’s captive HR Shared Services Center.
The role acts as an operations leader and subject-matter partner to HR Centers of Expertise (COEs), HR Business Partners, Finance, Legal/Compliance, and external vendors to execute global programs with speed, accuracy, and a customer-centric experience.
The Sr. Manager leads a multi-process team to ensure service delivery excellence, data integrity within HRIS, adherence to internal controls, and achievement of agreed SLAs/KPIs across supported regions.
SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES
Service Delivery
- Own delivery of global HR Shared Services processes for Compensation, Benefits, Onboarding and Offboarding within defined service catalog, SLAs and quality targets.
- Serve as the escalation point for complex cases requiring judgement, policy interpretation, cross-functional coordination and risk assessment.
- Drive operational governance: daily/weekly performance reviews, issue management, backlog control, and stakeholder communications across time zones.
- Ensure data quality and audit practices recognizing HRIS as the system of record; partner with HRIS/IT to maintain integrations, security roles, and workflow accuracy.
- Build and maintain knowledge management artifacts (SOPs, job aids, templates, knowledge articles) to enable standardization and self-service.
Process Management – Compensation
- Partner with Total Rewards/Compensation COE to execute cyclical processes such as annual merit, bonus, and salary review programs: eligibility validation, data preparation, tool uploads, audit checks, letter generation, and stakeholder support.
- Provide operational support for offer compensation fitment and internal equity reviews, including adherence to pay ranges, guidelines, approvals and documentation.
- Support job evaluation and job architecture administration (as applicable) through data governance, process documentation, and cross-team coordination.
- Develop and publish operational dashboards (volume, TAT, SLA, first-time-right, defect rate) and insights for leaders; recommend improvements based on trends.
- Maintain strong internal controls and compliance for compensation-related processing and sensitive data handling.
- Experience in US Compensation is a must have
Process Management – Benefits
- Partner with Benefits COE to execute benefits programs across supported regions: enrollment, qualified life event changes, billing reconciliation, vendor file management, and employee communications.
- Oversee benefits case management and query resolution; ensure accurate interpretation of plan rules, eligibility, and documentation requirements.
- Manage vendor operational performance (TPAs/insurers/brokers) through SLAs, quality audits, periodic reviews, and issue remediation plans.
- Support benefits-related audits and statutory/compliance reporting in partnership with Finance and Legal/Compliance.
Employee Lifecycle – Onboarding
- Lead delivery of onboarding operations from pre-join to Day-1 readiness, ensuring compliant documentation, accurate HRIS transactions, and positive associate experience.
- Coordinate onboarding workflows across HR, Hiring Managers, IT, Security and Facilities (as applicable): employee data setup, policy acknowledgements, required statutory forms, and benefits enrollment kick-off.
- Partner with Talent Acquisition/HRBPs to standardize onboarding checklists, ensure timely completion, and manage exceptions.
- Ensure adherence to regional legal/compliance requirements for new hires (e.g., right-to-work checks, background verification coordination where applicable, mandatory disclosures) with strong documentation controls.
Employee Lifecycle – Offboarding
- Lead offboarding operations to ensure timely, accurate and compliant separations, including final settlement coordination with Payroll and Finance.
- Oversee separation calculations and validations, including payout/recoupment items (e.g., vacation proration, repayment amounts) and ensure timely completion of final settlement.
- Manage exit workflow controls: assignment and tracking of exit checklist actions, company property return instructions, and timely access removal to meet security compliance.
- Ensure capture of required separation documentation, including signed separation agreements where applicable and issuance of employment/reference letters based on regional practice.
- Drive quality assessments for exit and lifecycle cases in the case management tool; support ex-employee verification and audit requests.
Continuous Improvement, Analytics & Transformation
- Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize and automate workflows (case management, HRIS, reporting); lead Kaizen/Lean initiatives to improve cycle time and first-time-right outcomes.
- Partner with HR Digital Enablement/IT to enhance ticketing workflows (e.g., ServiceNow), self-service knowledge base, and HR analytics capabilities.
- Develop capacity models and workforce plans for the tower; manage peak loads during merit, benefits enrollment, and seasonal onboarding/offboarding spikes.
People Leadership
- Recruit, lead, coach and develop a diverse team of HR Shared Services associates; build succession depth and a high-performance culture.
- Set clear goals and metrics; conduct regular performance coaching, quality feedback, and career development planning.
- Maintain strong engagement and a customer-first mindset; create an environment of accountability, collaboration and continuous learning.
- Act as a key leader within HR Shared Services, strengthening the function’s reputation through operational excellence and stakeholder partnership.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree/MBA preferred.
- 12-15 years of progressive experience in HR Operations/Shared Services with strong exposure to Compensation & Benefits delivery; minimum 3–5 years leading teams.
- Demonstrated experience executing cyclical compensation programs (merit/bonus) and administering benefits processes with strong controls.
- Must have experience in US Comp & Benefits.
- Operational experience managing employee lifecycle onboarding and offboarding, including compliance documentation, data governance, and separation settlement coordination.
- Experience working with large-scale HRMS (Workday/SuccessFactors/PeopleSoft preferred) and case management systems (ServiceNow/JIRA or similar).
- Strong analytics capability (advanced Excel; reporting/BI tools a plus) and process improvement mindset (Lean/Six Sigma preferred).
- Excellent stakeholder management, written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to work across geographies/time zones in a matrix environment.
Must demonstrate the following competencies:
- Passion for customer service delivery and associate experience.
- Strong operational governance, risk awareness, and attention to detail.
- Process excellence orientation with technology aptitude and comfort in driving automation.
- Ability to influence and collaborate with COEs and global stakeholders to achieve shared outcomes.
- People leadership: recruit, integrate, motivate, and develop high-performing teams.
