EMEA Senior Reward Manager

Who We Are:

At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.

Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, offering deep insights in communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work.

Who were looking for:

We are looking for a Senior Reward Manager to work within our EMEA People team. Reporting to the EMEA Total Rewards Director, you will focus on strategic projects and partnering the business, alongside cyclical compensation activities. You will be an experienced Senior Reward Manager who is comfortable working in a fluid environment where some structures are not yet in place.

What youll be doing:

Project & Advisory

• Act as a strategic advisor & partner to CPOs, HRBPs and CFOs across the region, advising and guiding the business on all areas of reward strategy, to enable us to attract and retain the best talent.
• Utilising available external & internal salary data, provide salary benchmarks and package recommendations to the Talent Acquisition team for senior hires.
• Work with the Total Reward Director on new bonus & commission models.
• Partner with Reward colleagues globally & within WPP on VML and WPP-wide projects, in particular the EU Pay Transparency project.
• Work with acquired businesses throughout their earn-out period to ensure smooth transition to WT ways of working at appropriate time.
• Review our benefits offering across the region to ensure alignment with WT Global People Strategy and work with local markets/WPP to maximise available benefits and fill gaps.
• Advise business on all mobility matters including remote working requests, permanent transfers and distributed working cases.
• Work with Finance on the Reward implications of new operating procedures.
• Work with markets to improve availability and use of benchmark data.

Cyclical & Regular Reward Activities

• Support the Total Rewards Director in the management of the short-term incentive plan; eligibility, targets, communication, pay-out calculation, payroll processing.
• Support the Total Rewards Director in the management of stock based long term incentive plans.
• Work with the Total Rewards Director & Reward Partner to manage the bi-annual salary increase process, review country submissions against policies & principles, partner finance on budget allocations, track implementation of approved increases.
• Provide data modelling, analysis, and insight to support reward & more general people processes and decisions, for example to support gender and ethnicity pay calculations, salary review and bonus recommendations.
• Manage approval processes for senior hires, counter-offers and other out of cycle increases.
• Where necessary assist the Reward Partner in day-to-day activities such as monthly new hire & promote to vacancy process, Career Architecture queries, benchmarking and compensation survey submissions.

What youll need:

• Senior stakeholder management
• Ability to quickly build and maintain trusted partnerships
• Cultural sensitivity, able to adapt to working with people from a range of countries
• Experience managing all annual reward cycles across multiple countries
• Experience with Mmdelling bonus outcomes
• Experience with manipulating large volumes of data and utilising reward & other people related data to generate new insights & recommendations
• Experience using one or more of the leading salary surveys e.g., Mercer, Radford, WTW
• Understanding of the job levelling/evaluation methodology
• Experience with benefits management across multiple countries
• Experience with Workday or a similar HRIS
• Experience in the technology sector would be advantageous
• Advanced excel skills, with great attention to detail

We believe the best work happens when were together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. Thats why weve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.