Assistant Vice President – Performance & Rewards

About the Role

This role is responsible for the strategic development and operational governance of the Bank's total rewards and performance management frameworks. The role encompasses compensation design, incentive structuring, performance cycle management, and remuneration compliance, with a focus on ensuring that the Bank's people practices are competitive, equitable, and aligned with regulatory requirements. The incumbent is expected to exercise independent judgement, apply data-driven analysis, and contribute meaningfully to the department's advisory and governance agenda at both the business and board level.

What you will do:

• Co-develop and refine the Bank's total rewards strategy, contributing analytical insights and market intelligence to inform positioning on compensation philosophy, pay structures, and benefits design.
• Drive the annual salary review and discretionary bonus cycle from framework design and review guidelines through to budget modelling and distribution analysis, ensuring outcomes are equitable, defensible, and aligned with the Bank's rewards philosophy.
• Manage participation in external salary surveys (e.g. Mercer, Aon, Willis Towers Watson) and translate survey outputs into actionable benchmarking intelligence to inform compensation decisions and salary band reviews.
• Maintain and periodically review salary bands and grade structures to ensure internal consistency and external competitiveness, recommending adjustments in line with market movement and organisational changes.
• Conduct internal pay equity and external benchmarking analyses against the defined peer group, translating findings into actionable recommendations on retention risks and remuneration gaps in mission-critical roles.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing benefits programmes and propose enhancements, including vendor negotiation positions on insurance and wellness coverage, balancing employee value with cost sustainability.
• Support the communication of the Bank's total rewards philosophy to employees and people managers, particularly during annual review cycles, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with the Bank's EVP.
• Maintain the integrity of job architecture and grading structures, providing advisory support to HR Business Partners and hiring managers on role sizing, titling conventions, and internal equity considerations.
• Partner with Business Heads and Division leads to strengthen the quality and relevance of Balanced Scorecards, ensuring KPIs are well-constructed, reflect risk and ESG dimensions, and support a genuine performance culture rather than a compliance exercise.
• Design and facilitate performance calibration sessions for mid-to-senior management, bringing structure and objectivity to the process to address rating inconsistencies and build confidence in the performance system.
• Continuously improve the performance framework, proactively equipping people managers with tools and guidance that balance legal compliance with constructive, empathetic people management.
• Contribute to the design and ongoing refinement of variable pay structures — including incentives and/or discretionary bonuses, ensuring these are competitive, aligned to risk appetite, and commercially sound.
• Build and maintain scenario models to project incentive payout impact under varying business conditions, providing well-reasoned inputs for EXCO and Finance deliberations.
• Oversee the administration of deferred and share-linked instruments, including vesting schedule tracking and governance around malus and clawback triggers.
• Ensure remuneration structures for designated individuals remain compliant with regulatory guidelines and the Bank's policies and procedures, including deferral and malus/clawback requirements.
• Contribute substantively to management committees and board papers, including analysis on executive remuneration or pay gap trends, bringing depth and accuracy to materials presented at board level.
• Act as the subject matter anchor for internal and external audits on payroll and rewards and support accurate remuneration disclosures in the Bank's annual report. · Ensure the accuracy and completeness of compensation-related data within the Bank's HRIS (Darwinbox), including salary bands, grade structures, variable pay records, and MRT designations.
• Leverage people analytics to generate insights on compensation trends, pay equity, and performance distribution, supporting evidence-based decision-making at the departmental and organisational level.
• The duties and responsibilities outlined above may evolve over time without altering the overall nature or seniority of the role.
• The job holder may also be required to undertake other responsibilities as assigned by the Immediate Leader or Head of Division consistent with the role's scope and level of authority.

Skills and experience you possess:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field. Professional certification in compensation (e.g., CCP, GRP) is an advantage.
• Possess a minimum of 10 years experience in Human Resources, with at least 7 years specializing in Compensation & Benefits (C&B) and Performance Management, preferably within the banking or financial services sector.
• Sound knowledge of Malaysian labour legislation and BNM regulatory requirements on executive and risk-taker remuneration.
• Familiarity with Shariah-compliant remuneration principles and their application within an Islamic banking context is an added advantage.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (VBA/Macros is a plus).
• Experience with HRIS platforms (e.g., Workday, SuccessFactors, Darwinbox, or Oracle).
• Strong analytical and quantitative mindset with the ability to translate data into clear, well-reasoned recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters with integrity and discretion.
• Confident communicator with the credibility to engage senior stakeholders and present complex compensation and performance topics in a clear, structured manner.
• Proactive, commercially aware, and able to work with a degree of autonomy while remaining aligned to the department's broader agenda.