Associate Director - Rewards

Main Purpose of Role

The Human Capital – Reward Consulting practice seeks a senior leader with extensive specialised knowledge within the Rewards profession. The main purpose of the role is to lead and deliver complex remuneration advisory engagements, drive client relationship management at a senior level, and contribute to the strategic growth of the Rewards and Wellbeing practice. The role will also contribute to leading and shaping the Deloitte Africa Total Reward and Benefits strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives, compliance with legislation, and adoption of global best practices. This will involve partnering with leadership and Finance teams across Southern, East, and West Africa to develop innovative, competitive, and market-leading reward solutions that enhance employee experience and drive business outcomes.

The role requires deep technical expertise in executive remuneration, broad-based rewards, and governance, combined with strong commercial acumen and leadership capability.

Your role as a leader

At Deloitte we believe in the importance of leadership at all levels. We expect our people to embrace and live our purpose by challenging themselves to identify issues that are most important for our clients, our people, and for society and make an impact that matters. In addition to living our purpose, Managers across our organization:

• Develop high-performing people and teams through challenging and meaningful opportunities
• Deliver exceptional client service; maximize results and drive high performance from people while fostering collaboration across businesses and borders
• Influence clients, teams, and individuals positively, leading by example and establishing confident relationships with increasingly senior people
• Understand key objectives for clients and Deloitte; align people to objectives and set priorities and direction.

Key Performance Areas

Client Delivery

• Lead multiple, complex reward advisory engagements across sectors, ensuring high-quality, commercially sound outcomes
• Provide specialist advice on:
  • Executive and non-executive remuneration structures
  • Short- and long-term incentive design
  • Employee value proposition and total rewards strategy
  • Remuneration governance (King V, Companies Act, JSE Listings Requirements)
• Serve as a trusted advisor to boards, Remuneration Committees, and senior executives
• Oversee the development of client deliverables, including remuneration reports, benchmarking analyses, and policy frameworks
• Ensure technical accuracy and alignment with regulatory and market best practices.

Business Development

• Originate and convert new business opportunities within existing and new client accounts
• Build and maintain senior client relationships, identifying cross-selling opportunities across Human Capital and broader consulting offerings
• Contribute to proposal development and pricing strategies
• Drive revenue growth in line with practice targets.

Business Partnering & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong relationships with business leaders, HR Business Partners, and Finance teams
• Serve as a trusted advisor on reward matters and act as a key liaison with regional counterparts
• Engage with external partners and industry forums to benchmark and enhance reward offerings.

Leadership and People Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop managers, senior consultants, and junior team members
• Provide clear direction on project delivery and ensure effective resource utilisation
• Foster a high-performance team culture aligned with firm values
• Contribute to talent development, coaching, and performance management processes.

Practice Development

• Contribute to the development of thought leadership, tools, and methodologies in rewards and wellbeing
• Stay abreast of regulatory, market, and technical developments impacting reward practices
• Participate in internal initiatives to strengthen the Human Capital offering.

Reporting

• Prepare and present reports on pay parity, transformation, and reward trends to senior leadership.

Financial Management & Compliance

• Develop and manage budgets for reward programmes, ensuring financial discipline and value for money
• Ensure compliance with statutory, fiduciary, and governance requirements across Southern, East, and West Africa
• Maintain robust risk management frameworks for all reward activities.

Project & Change Management

• Lead and deliver key reward projects and change initiatives, ensuring alignment with business enablement goals and quality standards
• Support and participate in reward projects, sharing expertise and promoting best practice.

Key Competencies

Technical Expertise

• Advanced knowledge of reward strategy, executive compensation, and incentive design
• Strong understanding of South African regulatory and governance frameworks (e.g., King V, Companies Act, JSE requirements)
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, practical advice for clients.

Strategic Thinking & Business Acumen

• Align reward strategy with business objectives.

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams and manage multiple complex engagements simultaneously
• Strong coaching and mentoring capability.

Commercial Acumen

• Proven ability to generate revenue and manage client portfolios
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills at senior levels.

Stakeholder Management

• Credibility and confidence in engaging with boards and executive teams
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Analytical & Problem Solving

• Uses data to inform decisions and continuous improvement

Key Performance Indicators

• Revenue generation and contribution to practice growth
• Client satisfaction and retention
• Quality and timeliness of deliverables
• Team development and engagement
• Contribution to thought leadership and market positioning.

• Completed undergraduate degree in Finance, HR, Economics or related field is essential
• Relevant postgraduate qualification and/or Global Remuneration Professional (GRP) certification highly preferred
• Professional certification e.g. SARA – Chartered Reward Specialiste or above, CA (SA), CFA etc. would be advantageous
• Minimum 10+ years’ experience in remuneration consulting, corporate remuneration, or related advisory roles, with at least 5 years at management level
• Demonstrated experience engaging with boards or Remuneration Committees
• Additional experience in a complex, matrixed environment, ideally with exposure to multiple African markets

How you’ll grow

At Deloitte, our professional development plan focuses on helping people at every level of their career to identify and use their strengths to do their best work every day. From entry-level employees to senior leaders, we believe there’s always room to learn. We offer opportunities to help build world-class skills in addition to hands-on experience in the global, fast-changing business world. From on-the-job learning experiences to formal development programs at Deloitte University, our professionals have a variety of opportunities to continue to grow throughout their career. Explore Deloitte University, The Leadership Center. https://deloitte.zoomforth.com/du

Benefits

At Deloitte, we know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and offer employees a broad range of benefits. Learn more about what working at Deloitte can mean for you. https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/careers/articles/benefits.html

Our purpose

Deloitte is led by a purpose: to make an impact that matters. Every day, Deloitte people are making a real impact in the places they live and work. We pride ourselves on doing not only what is good for clients, but also what is good for our people and the communities in which we live and work—always striving to be an organization that is held up as a role model of quality, integrity, and positive change. Learn more about Deloitte’s impact on the world.  https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/impact-that-matters.html

Note: The list of tasks / duties and responsibilities contained in this document is not necessarily exhaustive.  Deloitte may ask the employee to carry out additional duties or responsibilities, which may fall reasonably within the ambit of the role profile, depending on operational requirements.

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At Deloitte, we want everyone to feel they can be themselves and to thrive at work—in every country, in everything we do, every day. We aim to create a workplace where everyone is treated fairly and with respect, including reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities.

We are committed to employment equity and building a diverse and inclusive workplace across the African continent. Our recruitment processes are aligned with our Employment Equity Plan and the principles of the Employment Equity Act. Preference may be given to candidates from designated groups.

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