Sr. Vice President, Compensation & Benefits

Highgate is a premier real estate investment and hospitality management company widely recognized as an innovator in the industry. Highgate is the dominant player in U.S. gateway markets including New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Honolulu, with a rapidly expanding presence in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Highgate's portfolio of global properties represents an aggregate asset value exceeding $20B and generates over $5B in cumulative revenues. The company provides expert guidance through all stages of the hospitality property cycle, from planning and development through recapitalization or disposition. Highgate also has the creativity and bandwidth to develop bespoke hotel brands and utilizes industry-leading proprietary revenue management tools that identify and predict evolving market dynamics to drive out performance and maximize asset value. With an executive team consisting of some of the industry's most experienced hotel management leaders, the company is a trusted partner for top ownership groups and major hotel brands. Highgate maintains corporate offices in London, New York, Dallas, and Seattle. www.highgate.com

Highgate Corporate Offices Irving, TX

Highgate is seeking an accomplished and visionary Senior Vice President of Compensation & Benefits to shape and drive enterprise-wide total rewards strategies across our global hospitality portfolio. This leader will be instrumental in advancing workforce excellence through innovative compensation, benefits, and HR technology solutions-anchored by deep expertise in Ceridian Dayforce HCM. The SVP will bring a unique blend of strategic vision and operational execution, with proven success in optimizing labor, compliance, reporting, and workforce planning within complex, service-driven environments. This role requires an executive who can balance corporate-level strategy with property-level realities, ensuring alignment between business performance, guest service culture, and employee engagement.

Strategic Leadership: Define and execute Highgate's total rewards and workforce systems strategy across all hospitality operations (hotels, resorts, restaurants, and corporate offices).
• Dayforce Ownership: Oversee enterprise-wide deployment and optimization of Dayforce HCM modules (payroll, scheduling, time and attendance, benefits, and talent management), ensuring compliance, adoption, and scalability.
• Operational Partnership: Collaborate with GMs, HR leaders, and Operations to forecast labor, manage seasonal and union/non-union workforce needs, and align staffing with guest service excellence.
• System Optimization: Lead configuration, reporting, and integrations to provide actionable workforce insights for executives and property leaders in real time.
• Compliance & Risk Mitigation: Ensure adherence to federal, state, and local labor laws-including wage/hour rules, union agreements, and hospitality-specific compliance (e.g., tip credits, meal breaks).
• Change Leadership: Guide enterprise adoption of new HR technologies, including mobile scheduling, employee self-service, and advanced analytics.
• Vendor Leadership: Act as the executive liaison with Ceridian and other HR tech partners to resolve issues, implement upgrades, and champion innovation.
• Culture & Engagement: Ensure total rewards programs reinforce Highgate's People First service culture, supporting both retention and employee experience.
• Team Development: Mentor HR, Payroll, and IT teams to scale system support, advance technical skills, and strengthen workforce analytics capability.
• Generate comprehensive payroll reports and KPIs to monitor performance, identify areas for improvement, and provide data-driven insights to leadership.
• Ensure all payroll data is properly documented for financial reporting purposes.
• Develop and manage the annual Budget, implement robust financial controls, and ensure compliance with auditing requirements.

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, Hospitality Management, Finance, Business, or related field; Master's/MBA preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive HR or Operations leadership experience in hospitality, including corporate-level exposure.
• 5+ years of direct, hands-on Dayforce HCM experience in a multi-unit hospitality setting.
• Strong understanding of hotel/resort operations, unionized and non-union labor models, and hourly/seasonal workforce dynamics.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, multi-disciplinary teams across corporate and property operations.
• Proven experience driving HRIS implementations, user adoption strategies, and workforce optimization across decentralized teams.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and influence skills, with a track record of collaborating across Finance, HR, and Operations to achieve enterprise goals.
• Dayforce certification or significant enterprise implementation experience strongly preferred.

Preferred Skills:

• Leadership of Complex, Multi-Site Teams: Track record of developing and inspiring large-scale HR, Payroll, and Benefits teams in global or enterprise-level organizations.
• Strategic Finance Partnership: Ability to serve as a key analytical partner to the CFO and Finance leadership, aligning workforce planning, labor forecasting, and total rewards strategies with financial performance goals.
• Workforce Analytics Expertise: Strong background in workforce analytics, labor modeling, and business intelligence tools to drive data-informed decisions on labor costs, turnover, and productivity.
• Union and Multi-Brand Experience: Experience in unionized hospitality environments and within multi-brand or franchise hotel structures.
• Systems Integration: Familiarity with integrating Dayforce with PMS, POS, and other hospitality technologies for seamless operations.
• Global Total Rewards Exposure: Experience shaping compensation and benefits strategies across diverse markets, with an understanding of global pay equity, compliance, and benefits competitiveness.
• Bilingual or multilingual capabilities to support Highgate's diverse workforce and guest base.
• Deep knowledge of payroll regulations, tax laws, and compliance requirements in relevant jurisdictions.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking abilities.