Head of Reward – 12 month contract – North London (hybrid)
Overview
Oliver James has partnered with a leading organisation to appoint a Head of Reward into a key strategic leadership role.
This position is responsible for shaping and delivering the organisation’s reward strategy across a large, diverse workforce – spanning frontline employees through to senior leadership. You’ll play a critical role in ensuring compensation and benefits frameworks are competitive, equitable, and aligned to business objectives, while also driving modernisation through HR technology, particularly SAP SuccessFactors.
This is a high-impact role with significant exposure to senior stakeholders and will suit an experienced reward leader comfortable operating in complex, unionised environments.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Design
- Develop and implement a comprehensive total reward strategy aligned to business objectives
- Design and manage job family frameworks and grading structures within SuccessFactors
- Establish salary bands and compensation frameworks that promote fairness and transparency
- Develop reward policies covering promotions, allowances, and pay structures
Compensation & Benefits
- Lead annual salary and bonus review processes
- Partner with finance on budgeting and forecasting for reward cycles
- Ensure consistency of global frameworks alongside local market relevance
- Review and enhance benefits offerings and associated employee communications
- Ensure compliance with all relevant legislation (e.g. gender pay gap, equal pay)
HR Systems & Data (SuccessFactors)
- Act as SME for reward-related SuccessFactors modules (Compensation, Variable Pay, Employee Central)
- Utilise system data for modelling, reporting, and strategic decision-making
- Lead configuration and optimisation of SuccessFactors as part of wider HR transformation
Payroll
- Oversee payroll operations, ensuring accuracy and timeliness
- Work closely with finance to reconcile payroll data and budgets
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Lead and develop payroll/reward team members
- Act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on reward strategy
- Collaborate with HR, finance, and business leaders to deliver reward initiatives
- Engage with trade unions and support collective negotiations where required
Essential Skills & Experience
- Proven experience in a senior reward leadership role
- Strong expertise in SAP SuccessFactors, particularly Compensation and Job Profile Builder
- Experience operating within complex, unionised environments
- Strong analytical capability with experience managing complex compensation structures
- Solid understanding of payroll processes and relevant legislation
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
Desirable Skills
- Experience within transport, logistics, or similarly complex operational environments
- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to link reward strategy to business performance
- Experience leading reward transformation or HR system implementations
