Job Description – India & AMET Rewards Lead
Job title: India & AMET Rewards Lead
- Grade: L3-2
- Hiring Manager: AMEA Rewards Head
- Location: Mumbai, India
- % Remote working and % of travel expected: Hybrid
- Job type: Permanent, Full time
Our Team
The AMEA (Africa, Middle East and Asia) Rewards & Performance team at OPELLA is composed of motivated, energetic, and collaborative seasoned compensation and benefits professionals reporting to the AMEA Rewards and Performance Head, within the OPELLA Global Rewards & Performance Team.
The Global Rewards & Performance team at OPELLA is organized in regional and subject matter expertise sub-teams, with the common objective to improve the business' ability to attract, retain, and motivate top talent by developing and operating compensation and benefits policies and practices.
This India & AMET (Africa, Middle east and Turkey) Rewards Lead is a senior, strategic position based in Mumbai, designed to address the growing complexity and ambition of the rewards agenda across India and the AMET region (Including Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, KSA and UAE countries). The role holder will act as the senior rewards partner for India — working in close collaboration with the India P&C Director and the India Leadership Team — while simultaneously providing regional rewards leadership across AMET countries. This role drives also the transformational projects shaping the future of rewards at OPELLA India, and operates at the intersection of strategic advisory, transformation leadership, and operational excellence across a broad and diverse geography.
Main Responsibilities
This position plays a pivotal role in leading and elevating the OPELLA Rewards strategy across India and the AMET region, with a particular focus on driving transformational change initiatives, ensuring regulatory compliance as a listed entity, and providing senior-level strategic guidance to the India P&C Director, Leadership Team, and AMET business and HR leaders.
1. Rewards and Performance Leadership for India & AMET
Oversee and drive operational excellence across all rewards and performance activities for India & AMET, including:
• Shape and define the comprehensive Rewards strategy for India and AMET in alignment with the business strategy established by leadership, HR strategy and priorities defined in partnership with P&C and market benchmarking analysis.
- Market Competitiveness & Analytics: Lead the monitoring of pay competitiveness in the India & AMET market, oversee benchmarking analyses, and manage annual survey submissions and results interpretation. Provide data-driven insights through dashboards and reporting tools to support leadership decision-making.
• Governance & Compliance: Define and maintain effective governance with GBS, Finance, and P&C Partners for all compensation and benefits activities in India & AMET, within the framework of the OPELLA Global R&P governance. Ensure full compliance with India & AMET-specific remuneration regulations, taxation requirements, and listed entity obligations.
• Strategic Advisory & Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as a trusted senior advisor and compensation subject matter expert for the India & AMET P&C Director, Leadership Team, and HRBPs on all rewards-related matters, including market trends, regulatory changes, and competitive positioning.
• Job Evaluation & Offer Management: Lead job evaluations using the internal global grading framework and review and validate non-standard offers in line with OPELLA governance frameworks.
• Annual Compensation Planning: Drive the annual compensation planning process for India & AMET in close collaboration with P&C and GBS, ensuring timely, accurate, and strategically aligned execution.
• NRC Support: Act as the local rewards point of contact for the India NRC (Nomination and Remuneration Committee), leading the preparation of materials, data, and analyses related to Independent Directors' remuneration and executive compensation
• Benefits & Mobility Services: Oversee the smooth operation of OPELLA Benefits and International Mobility R&P services offered in India & AMET.
2. Lead the transformational projects in India
- Rewards of the "Change the Game" India Strategy: Serve as the primary rewards driver for the "Change the Game" strategy in India, ensuring rewards frameworks and practices are aligned with and actively enabling the broader business transformation agenda.
- Lead the Rewards Side of the COE Transformation Project in India : Drive the strategic leadership of rewards aspects within the comprehensive COE (Center of Excellence) transformation initiative, ensuring successful implementation of a global COE model in India.
About You
Experience
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards, with a strong and demonstrated focus on India & AMET rewards, including deep knowledge of India & AMETn compensation structures, salary components, benefits design, and regulatory requirements — this is a critical requirement for this role.
• Proven experience with the AMET region or other emerging markets in Asia, Middle East, or Africa, with demonstrated ability to navigate diverse regulatory and cultural environments.
• Proven experience leading large-scale, transformational rewards projects from design through deployment, ideally including salary structure redesign and/or flexible benefits programs.
• Experience working within or supporting a listed entity in India & AMET, with knowledge of NRC processes, SEBI regulations, and corporate governance requirements related to executive and director remuneration.
• Experience operating in a matrix organization and partnering with senior P&C, Finance, and business leadership stakeholders at a regional or global level.
• Experience in pharma, life sciences, or consumer goods industry is a strong plus.
Education
- University degree or equivalent required; Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field is strongly preferred.
