Global Manager, Workforce Planning & Total Rewards

Join our global team for a career filled with opportunities to solve challenges both small and large, local and global, simple and complex.

About Us                                                                        

Wilhelmsen Ship Management is one of the world’s largest third-party ship managers originated from Oslo, Norway with a portfolio of more than 450 vessels, a pool of more than 14,000 seafarers and over 900 shore-based employees all over the world. Our employees are working with a comprehensive global maritime group providing over half of the merchant fleet with essential products and services, along with supplying crew and technical management to the largest and most complex vessels ever to sail.

We offer a culture and vibrant work environment of strong leadership, collaborative, career development, work-life balance and a job that is both challenging and stimulating. All team members are empowered with the freedom to influence each other as long it complies with our Company’s values and vision.

Main responsibilities

Workforce Planning and Personnel Expense Management

• Lead the annual and periodic workforce planning process, consolidating headcount, personnel expense and relevant HR cost assumptions across the network.

• Partner with Finance, business leaders and HR stakeholders to align workforce plans, organisational changes, personnel-cost forecasts and budget submissions.

• Establish standard tools, assumptions, data definitions, controls and reporting routines for planning, forecasting and variance analysis.

• Provide scenario modelling and decision support for investments, restructures, new setups and workforce changes.

• Develop and maintain management insights on workforce movements, cost drivers, capacity and affordability.

Compensation and Pay Governance

• Lead salary benchmarking and market-pricing activities, working with the job-architecture owner to ensure reliable job matching.

• Develop and govern salary ranges, compensation principles, decision frameworks and advisory processes that support market competitiveness and internal equity.

• Coordinate annual salary review and adjustment processes, including planning, guidance, data validation, approvals and reporting.

• Lead compensation readiness for applicable pay-transparency requirements, including data, governance, process and stakeholder requirements.

• Own governance and review of bonus plans across WSM, ensuring clear design principles, administration and alignment with business objectives.

Benefits, Mobility and Payroll Governance

• Own governance and periodic review of employee benefits, insurance and pension arrangements, including BUPA, Zurich, Manulife and other applicable providers or plans.

• Identify benefit gaps, duplication, cost or employee-experience improvement opportunities and make evidence-based recommendations.

• Provide governance and advisory support for expatriate and mobility arrangements outside the relevant GBS service scope.

• Provide global oversight and coordination for payroll administration, working through GBS, local HR and providers to improve accuracy, controls, issue management and service consistency.

• Maintain clear ownership, calendars, controls and escalation routes for recurring reward, benefit and payroll processes.

Projects, Systems and Stakeholder Advisory

• Lead development of the personnel-expense budgeting tool and related workforce-cost reporting capability.

• Own business requirements or process leadership for reward, payroll, benefits and expense-management initiatives, including relevant Concur and Kyriba workstreams.

• Partner with Organisation Development & HR Transformation on system implementation and integration where project coordination or technical delivery is required.

• Provide practical workforce and total-rewards advice to leaders and HR stakeholders, supported by consistent data and documented principles.

• Establish the pillar’s operating model, annual calendar, governance, service interfaces, documentation and continuous-improvement agenda.

Accountabilities

The Global Manager will be measured against:

• Accurate, timely and decision-useful workforce plans, personnel expense forecasts and variance insights aligned with Finance requirements.

• Established and consistently applied compensation governance, salary ranges, market-benchmarking methods and annual review processes.

• Effective salary and bonus administration supported by appropriate controls, approvals, communications and reporting.

• Benefits, insurance, pension and mobility arrangements reviewed and governed with clear recommendations on cost, competitiveness, compliance and employee value.

• Reliable global payroll governance, with clear ownership, issue escalation and continuous improvement across delivery partners.

• Delivery of priority pillar foundations and projects, including the personnel expense budgeting tool and pay-transparency readiness.

• Trusted, evidence-based advice to management and HR stakeholders on workforce cost, compensation and benefits matters.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Fluent spoken and written English, with strong communication, facilitation and stakeholder-management capability.

• Experience working across regions or in a global, matrixed organisation.

• Strong business acumen, analytical judgement, structured execution and the ability to translate complex issues into practical solutions.

• High integrity, collaborative working style and the confidence to engage senior stakeholders.

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Organisational Development or a related discipline; a relevant postgraduate qualification is advantageous.

• Approximately 8 to 12 years of progressive experience across workforce planning, compensation, benefits, payroll governance, HR finance or total rewards, including meaningful regional or global exposure.

• Strong knowledge of workforce budgeting, personnel-cost forecasting, salary benchmarking, salary structures, annual pay review and incentive processes.

• Working knowledge of employee benefits, insurance, pension, expatriate or mobility arrangements and payroll operating models.

• Advanced analytical capability and confidence working with complex workforce and financial datasets, planning tools and HR systems.

• Experience establishing or strengthening governance, processes and stakeholder interfaces in a complex organisation.