Head of Group Distribution Economics

Head of Distribution Economics

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.

You will

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.

You have

•A Bachelors degree in finance, economics, business, or a related field is required. MBA or advanced degree in a related field highly desirable.
•Minimum 10 years progressively responsible experience in distribution economics, financial planning and analysis, corporate strategy, portfolio or investment management, or sales and distribution compensation, including experience with external broker, general agency, and partner fee structures.
•Enterprise investment strategy and portfolio management experience, including making and defending trade-off, reallocation, and sunset recommendations.
•Strong financial acumen and economic modeling skills, including ROI, profitability, persistency, pricing, and scenario modeling.
•Proven executive governance and decision leadership, including designing decision rights, intake and approval processes, scorecards, and review cadences that hold investments accountable.
•Demonstrated cross-functional enterprise influence in a large, matrixed company, with the ability to influence senior leaders without direct authority.
•Ability to turn data, analytics, and multiple data sources into strategic insights and clear executive recommendations.
•Strong knowledge of compensation practices, commission and override structures, and supplemental compensation programs, with experience leading or overseeing compensation operations, administration, and payment integrity.
•Group Benefits or insurance industry experience strongly preferred.
•Strong communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex economic concepts in simple terms to various audiences.
•Strong project management and planning skills, including the ability to lead, plan, organize, and resource complex assignments.
•Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, with strong PowerPoint skills and the ability to build audience-specific, decision-ready presentations.
•The judgment and courage to recommend redesigning, reallocating, or sunsetting spend when the economics do not hold.
•Ability to deal with ambiguity and develop a course of action.

Work Arrangement & Travel Requirements:

•This role is preferably based in Boston, MA or New York, NY, though qualified candidates within a commutable distance to other Guardian office locations will be considered.

•The work arrangement will be "hybrid" out of a local Guardian office

•Up to 20% travel

Salary Range:

$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.

Our Promise

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.

Inspire Well-Being

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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.

Accommodations

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 [email protected]. 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.

Visa Sponsorship

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.

Notice Regarding Guardian’s Use of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

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 [email protected], 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 [email protected].

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.