Director Total Rewards

Who We Are?

Since launching in Kuwait in 2004, talabat, the leading on-demand food and Q-commerce app for everyday deliveries, has been offering convenience and reliability to its customers. talabat’s local roots run deep, offering a real understanding of the needs of the communities we serve in eight countries across the region.

We harness innovative technology and knowledge to simplify everyday life for our customers, optimize operations for our restaurants and local shops, and provide our riders with reliable earning opportunities daily.

Here at talabat, we are building a high performance culture through engaged workforce and growing talent density. We're all about keeping it real and making a difference. Our 6,000+ strong talabaty are on an awesome mission to spread positive vibes. We are proud to be a multi great place to work award winner.

Role Summary

As Director of Total Rewards, you will drive the strategic direction, design, and execution of compensation, benefits, and incentive programs across Talabat. You will act as a senior advisor to business leaders, ensuring our total rewards strategy aligns with our broader people and business objectives.

This role requires deep subject-matter expertise, exceptional leadership, and the ability to influence across all levels of the organization.

What's On Your Plate?

Strategic Leadership & Advisory

• Drive the development and execution of Talabat’s overall Total Rewards strategy in alignment with business goals and long-term talent priorities.
• Act as a strategic advisor to the People leadership team and senior business stakeholders on compensation frameworks.
• Lead the design and evolution of total rewards programs that enhance competitiveness in the market and support employee value proposition.

Compensation & Incentive Design

• Oversee company-wide compensation programs, including base salary structure, incentive plans, LTI
• Lead & Oversee the successful execution of annual rewards cycles, including salary reviews, incentive payouts
• Analyze internal equity, market data, and pay progression to design compensation frameworks that support both performance and fairness.
• Support executive and function-specific compensation strategies in alignment with global benchmarks.
• Assist in bonus and incentive plan analysis & design
• While overlook the bonus payout model with other functions to define SOP's and SLA's & review processes for governance

Data, Benchmarking & Analytics

• Lead compensation benchmarking initiatives to inform pay structures and ensure competitiveness across geographies and roles.
• Provide insights through compensation modeling, cost simulations, and ad hoc analysis to support business decisions.

Benefits Strategy

• Analyze market trends and employee needs to define scalable and competitive benefits offerings.

People Leadership

• Lead and develop a team of Rewards Professionals, setting clear goals and ensuring team capability growth. Foster a culture of operational excellence, innovation, and collaboration within the rewards function.

Process & Systems

• Support the design and implementation of new rewards-related systems and tools to enhance scalability and employee experience.
• Drive process improvement initiatives that simplify and enhance rewards operations across the organization.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Establish trusted partnerships with People Leads, and other stakeholders like Talent Acquisition, Finance, and senior business leaders, serving as the go-to expert on total rewards matters across functions and regions
• Experience in Compensation & Benefits, Rewards Consulting
• Experience in Compensation & Benefits design and/or HR Analytics
• Strong collaboration and business partnering capabilities combined with demonstrated ability to influence with a data-driven approach.
• Strong knowledge of analytics tools like Excel, Google sheets, Tableau, Power BI etc (Is a plus)
• Independent, data driven, a self-starter and a natural ability to lead & collaborate with project team
• Comfortable working in a constantly changing environment
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and work to tight deadlines
• Strong attention to detail and must be able to collect and work with various data