Reward Manager

Are you a reward expert passionate about creating strategies that attract, keep, and motivate our critical and talented workforce? As our Reward Manager within the HR Department, you'll be instrumental in driving our transformative and evolving Reward Strategy. This role is crucial for managing our compensation, benefits, and employee recognition programmes, directly contributing to our People Plan, strategic goals, and overall success.

What's really exciting about this opportunity is that we’re not just looking to maintain the status quo. We're actively exploring flexible benefits, pay for performance initiatives, and a complete overhaul of our job evaluation and pay banding frameworks. Therefore, you’ll get to show you’re a forward-thinking Reward Manager with a deep understanding of industry best practices and the ability to deliver solutions to help us build a reward framework that powers our future success.

You’ll be a key member of our HR Leadership team, collaborating closely with other HR centres of expertise and leading an experienced Payroll team. So, if you’re ready to make a significant impact on our people plan and business success, this is the role for you!

• You’ll lead key Reward activities, such as pay reviews, incentives, and the overall management of our psychological contract and employee value proposition (EVP).
• You’ll proactively manage the application of market pay insights, continuously evaluating our Reward processes to ensure fair and competitive practices.
• You’ll be accountable for the monthly payroll cycle for both employees and pensioners, ensuring high levels of accuracy and meeting all agreed deadlines.
• You’ll lead Reward related projects to deliver agreed business outcomes, including the design and implementation of new salary structures, the rollout of a new career framework, and the creation of a comprehensive benefits and recognition platform.
• You’ll support the Pension Trustee with our Defined Benefit schemes.
• You’ll contribute to the continuous improvement of auditable governance frameworks and training tools to ensure our Reward practices are consistently implemented.
• You’ll work closely with the HR team and other stakeholders to provide a consistent and efficient service to our internal customers.
• You’ll collaborate with suppliers and providers to ensure we receive best value and strong engagement.
• You’ll lead the company’s Wellbeing agenda, building upon our existing strategy.

• Degree-level education (ideally in HR, Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or Maths).
• Very strong problem-solving and analytical capabilities.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and people management skills.
• Intellectual curiosity, tenacity, and patience.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• A keen sense of commercial awareness.
• Coaching/mentoring skills.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and relationships simultaneously.
• Up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation and compliance.
• HRIS proficiency, with the ability to analyse and interpret data to inform reward decisions.
• Experience leading Reward projects, including Compensation, Benefits, and Recognition, with a clear understanding of best practices.
• Practical expertise in job evaluation methodologies.
• Experience in managing the regular employee lifecycle reward activities.
• A proven ability to collaborate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Proven experience in managing professional, effective, and proactive relationships with senior leaders.
• Experience managing a team.
• A driving licence is required for this role.

• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) qualification.
• Previous experience working with the Workday HRIS system.
• Previous experience working with a flexible benefits scheme.

We want to be the water company people want to be supplied by and want to work for. We know the communities we serve are diverse. We recognise creativity comes from diversity not similarity. That’s why we are enthusiastic about creating inclusion across age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity. You will experience our dedication to equal opportunities and fair treatment for all: through your recruitment, employment and career progression with South East Water.

• Excellent Stakeholder pension scheme, up to 10% employer contribution.
• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays per annum, increasing to 6 weeks with length of service.
• Flexible annual leave policy to buy or sell holiday leave.
• Paid volunteering days.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Health cash plan.
• Life assurance.
• Wellbeing related benefits.

To apply for this position, please submit your CV on our career’s website. It is necessary for you to have the legal right to work in the UK when you begin employment with South East Water. Additionally, as part of the employment offer, you will need to pass background, identity, and employment referencing checks.

If this sounds like the opportunity you’ve been looking for, apply now!