As Head of Distribution Economics, you serve as a key member of the Group Benefits Distribution Operations leadership team and are responsible for creating and leading Guardian’s total Distribution expense and partner investment strategy. The responsibilities include owning of our Sales Planning Process, our Distribution Compensation Strategy, execution of our compensation and planning operations, and oversight of our total Distribution expense spend. You will help Guardian determine where Distribution investment dollars should be placed, how those investment decisions are governed, and how value creation is measured across the entire Distribution ecosystem. This role extends beyond compensation strategy and administration into strategic business unit investment management, governance, financial stewardship, portfolio optimization, and executive decision support. Compensation Operations is a component of this role and reports to the Head of Distribution Economics. This role reports to the Head of Distribution Operations, Group Benefits.
You will partner with Finance, Pricing, Product, Underwriting, HR, Partnership Management, and Distribution leadership to turn Distribution spend into clear trade-offs and decision-ready recommendations.
Provide strategic leadership for Total Distribution Expense across Group Benefits, including partner economics, the broker supplemental compensation and incentive investment view, internal compensation, GA/COE, BenTech/API, enrollment support, and market access strategies.
Answer the core question for the business: where should our Distribution investment dollars by invested, governed, measured, reallocated, redesigned, or sunset.
Lead portfolio management of Distribution investments, including portfolio trade-offs, prioritization, investment recommendations, economic guardrails, and renewal, redesign, and sunset recommendations.
Build and run governance for material Distribution investment decisions, including intake, approval readiness standards, decision log, RACI, scorecards, review cadence, and enforcement triggers.
Evaluate strategic partner fee programs, BenAdmin administrative fee programs, enrollment firms, and broker platforms to determine whether each investment is justified, measurable, strategically aligned, and subject to stewardship commitments.
Connect Finance compensation analytics with partnership management, pricing, funding, profitability, persistency, and market-access economics to inform enterprise trade-offs.
Establish scorecard accountability for Distribution investments and drive the reallocation of underperforming spend toward higher-value opportunities.
Build economic models, scenario analyses, and ROI frameworks that quantify the cost, return, and risk of Distribution investment alternatives.
Deliver decision-ready executive recommendations to Group Benefits and Distribution leadership, and facilitate leader conversations on funding trade-offs, growth objectives, and investment priorities.
Lead the Compensation Operations sub-function, which reports to this role and owns compensation plan design and implementation, calculation, administration, sales credit, commission and override payments, compliance, and payment integrity for internal and external programs. Ensure compensation execution is accurate, compliant, and aligned with Distribution investment decisions.
Build strong relationships across Distribution, specifically with the Regional Vice Presidents (RVPs) across all segments and Client Management heads (HCMs), as well as Finance, Pricing, Legal, and Partnership Management, to provide consultation and partnership and to identify needs and priorities.
Lead, hire, develop, and manage the Distribution Economics team, including the Compensation Operations sub-function.
Stay abreast of and ensure alignment with legal, regulatory, and market requirements affecting Distribution expense, compensation, and partner arrangements, including all corporate policies.
$158,480.00 - $260,360.00
The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.
At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.
As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits. Benefits apply to full-time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits.
Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.
Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact MyHR@glic.com. Please note: this resource is for accommodation requests only. For all other inquires related to your application and careers at Guardian, refer to the Guardian Careers site.
Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment-based visas (e.g., such as an H-1B). In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship/support now or at any time in the future.
As part of Guardian’s job application process, Guardian may use artificial intelligence tools (“AI Tools") to automate the sorting and filtering of information provided by applicants as part of its preliminary screening. This preliminary screening may be used to help identify applicant materials and resumes relative to their indication that the applicant meets the requirements for the specific job for which they are applying, as specified in the listing posted on Guardian’s jobs website (Careers at Guardian at https://www.guardianlife.com/careers). At Guardian, we do not use AI Tools to substantially assist or replace human judgment or discretionary decision making in our hiring process. All hiring decisions will be made by Guardian colleagues.
Please be aware that if you apply for a specific position with Guardian, you will have the choice of opting out of Guardian’s use of AI Tools during the job application process. If you would like to request an alternative process that does not utilize AI Tools or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, within ten business days of your position application, you must email your request to MyHR@glic.com, making sure to provide your name and job requisition identification number. Guardian will retain your applicant materials and resume and all information therefrom in accordance with Guardian’s document retention policy, a copy of which you may request via MyHR@glic.com.
Additionally, at applicable times, Guardian will make public the most recent bias audit results for such AI tools, which may be found here.
Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday.
Who we are
Guardian makes a difference in the lives of people when they need us most. With over 160 years of stability and fiscal integrity, we are a trusted resource to generations of families and business owners, inspiring well-being and helping build financial confidence.
Today, we stand behind 29 million consumers, helping them prepare and plan for a bright future for themselves and their families. We help business owners care for their employees. And we help people recover and thrive in times of unexpected loss.
As a modern mutual insurance company, we believe in driving value beyond dividends. We invest in our colleagues, are building an inclusive and innovative culture, and are helping to uplift communities through thoughtful corporate impact programs.
What we stand for
In 1860, a community of immigrants joined together to insure and protect their businesses and families. They were guided by powerful ideals that we’ve continued to stand behind and evolved throughout the years: we do the right thing, we believe people count, we courageously shape the future together, and we go above and beyond for the people we serve.
Guardian employees embrace and live by these values every day. They remind us to put people at the heart of all we do so that we can help protect what matters most to you. Want to help bring these values to life? Join us for a rewarding career and the opportunity to shape the future.
Disclosures:
Financial information concerning Guardian as of December 31, 2022, on a statutory basis: Admitted assets = $76.0 billion; liabilities = $67.2 billion (including $55.0 billion of reserves); and surplus = $8.8 billion. Dividends are not guaranteed. They are declared annually by Guardian’s Board of Directors.
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