Director of Rewards & HR Systems

Position: Director of Total Rewards & HR Systems
At Fogo de Chão, our people are at the center of an experience defined by warmth, generosity, and excellence. The Director, Total Rewards & HR Systems leads the strategy, design, governance, and continuous improvement of compensation, benefits, recognition, leave, and HR technology programs that support our Team Members and business growth globally.

This leader drives a globally relevant and competitive total rewards strategy that attracts and retains top talent. Applying design thinking and pragmatism, this leader creates an experience that meets the needs of our restaurant leaders and Team Members. As the enterprise owner of the total rewards strategy and HR systems roadmap, this leader ensures programs and platforms are globally compliant, scalable, data-informed, and easy to use.

The role partners closely with HR Operations, Finance, IT, Enterprise Data & Analytics, Legal/Compliance, brokers, consultants, and vendors.

This role owns the Total Rewards and HR Systems components of shared payroll processes and partners with Payroll and Finance on upstream data, system integrations, controls, compensation-related inputs, and issue resolution.

What You Will Own Total Rewards Strategy & Governance Develop and execute a total rewards strategy aligned with business priorities, workforce needs, financial objectives, and external market practices.

Advise executive leadership on compensation, benefits, recognition, and workforce reward trends, risks, investments, and opportunities.

Establish program governance, decision rights, policies, controls, service expectations, and measures of effectiveness across the total rewards portfolio.

Translate complex market, financial, regulatory, and workforce data into clear recommendations for senior leaders.

Compensation & Recognition Lead the design, administration, and ongoing evaluation of base pay, incentive, geographic differential, recognition, and other reward programs.

Maintain job architecture, salary structures, market-pricing practices, pay ranges, and compensation guidelines that support internal equity and external competitiveness.

Monitor minimum wage, wage-and-hour, FLSA, pay transparency, and related compensation regulatory developments globally; partner with local experts and recommend timely program and structure changes.

Partner with Finance and business leaders on compensation planning, workforce cost modeling, incentive design, and quarterly and annual bonus processes.

Lead compensation reviews, audits, and analyses throughout the Team Member lifecycle, including offers, promotions, transfers, equity adjustments, and organizational changes.

Benefits, Wellbeing & Leave Lead the strategy, design, administration, and optimization of health, welfare, retirement, wellbeing, leave, and related benefit programs globally, balancing enterprise consistency with local market and statutory requirements.

Manage broker, consultant, carrier, and vendor relationships; evaluate plan performance, service quality, utilization, cost, risk, and market competitiveness.

Direct annual renewal and enrollment activities, including plan recommendations, communications, implementation readiness, and post-enrollment review.

Provide governance and oversight for company, state, and federal leave programs, including FMLA, while partnering with operational teams and vendors on day-to-day administration.

Ensure required filings, notices, audits, and reporting are completed accurately and on time.

HR Systems, Data & Technology Own the HR technology strategy and roadmap, optimizing Workday as the current HCM platform while continuously evaluating emerging technologies, AI-enabled capabilities, and alternative solutions that can improve scalability, efficiency, insight, and the Team Member experience.

Establish intake, prioritization, governance, release planning, testing, documentation, security-role coordination, and change-control practices for HR systems.

Lead functional configuration and continuous improvement of HR technology, translating business needs into clear requirements, workflows, controls, integrations, reports, and user experiences.

Partner with IT and Enterprise Data & Analytics on architecture, integrations, security, data governance, reporting logic, data quality, automation, and the responsible adoption of AI across HR and Total Rewards.

Develop and execute an AI and automation roadmap for HR and Total Rewards that simplifies repetitive and transactional work, expands intelligent self-service, and…