A pumped heat energy storage (PHES) system (100) including a charging circuit and a discharging circuit effective to balance or split a total heat rejection of the PHES system between the charging circuit and the discharging circuit. The charging circuit may include thermal storage vessels (102, 104) to store thermal energy generated from a first compressor (110). A first heat rejection system (128) is fluidly coupled with the thermal storage vessels to remove thermal energy from the charging circuit. The discharging circuit may include a first turbine (146) fluidly coupled with the thermal storage vessels to extract thermal energy stored in the thermal storage vessels and convert the thermal energy to mechanical energy via an expansion of a second working fluid. A second heat rejection system (156) is fluidly coupled with the thermal storage vessels and the first turbine to remove thermal energy from the discharging circuit.