Head of Pay & Reward

About the role

Shape the reward strategy behind exceptional care. Joining us means becoming part of a forward-looking care organisation with a strong, long-term commitment to the success of every home. Supported by substantial, planned investment, we provide the resources and stability needed to deliver high-quality, sustainable care while nurturing thriving communities.

This is a full-time, office-based role based at our Support Office in Darlington, working 40 hours per week and offering the opportunity to work closely with colleagues across the organisation to support homes nationwide. Residents, families and colleagues are at the heart of everything we do. We believe in building trusted relationships, continuously improving the way we work, and creating environments where people feel supported to grow and succeed.

As Head of Pay and Reward, you'll lead a critical function that combines operational excellence with strategic leadership. You'll oversee payroll for thousands of colleagues across a large, multi-site care organisation while developing a reward strategy that helps attract, retain and recognise the people who deliver exceptional care every day. Reporting to the Chief Transformation & Finance Officer, you'll lead the payroll and reward function, ensuring payroll is delivered accurately, compliantly and on time while maintaining robust financial controls and governance.

You'll oversee the end-to-end payroll operation, statutory compliance, pension governance and payroll reporting, ensuring payroll data supports accurate financial reporting and meets internal control requirements. Alongside leading payroll operations, you'll develop and deliver a modern total reward strategy that strengthens colleague attraction, engagement and retention across a diverse workforce. Working closely with senior leaders, you'll lead annual pay reviews, salary benchmarking, reward modelling and market analysis, providing strategic insight that supports informed decision-making and long-term workforce planning.

You'll also play a key role in shaping pay structures, employee benefits and recognition programmes, ensuring the organisation remains competitive in a challenging labour market while balancing commercial sustainability with an outstanding colleague experience. As an experienced leader, you'll develop and support your team, driving continuous improvement across payroll systems, processes and reward practices.

About you

You'll be an experienced payroll and reward leader with a strong understanding of both operational delivery and strategic reward design. Comfortable working in a large, complex organisation, you'll combine technical expertise with commercial awareness, using data and market insight to influence decision-making at senior level. You'll have excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships across Finance, People and operational teams. Organised, analytical and solutions-focused, you'll thrive in an environment where accuracy, compliance and continuous improvement are essential. We're looking for someone who is passionate about creating a reward offering that supports colleagues throughout their careers while ensuring payroll is delivered with the highest levels of integrity, governance and service.

What you'll bring

• Essential
• Significant senior payroll leadership experience within a large, multi-site organisation.
• Expert knowledge of UK payroll legislation, including PAYE, National Insurance, statutory payments, pension auto-enrolment, RTI and year-end processes.
• Proven experience developing and implementing reward strategies that support attraction, retention and colleague engagement.
• Experience leading annual pay reviews, salary benchmarking, pay modelling and reward analysis.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex workforce and payroll data to support strategic decisions.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to influence senior leaders and work with external partners.
• Experience operating within a robust financial control and governance framework.
• Desirable
• CIPP Diploma, CIPD qualification or another relevant payroll or reward qualification.
• Experience within health, social care, hospitality or another large, operationally focused workforce.
• Knowledge of NHS Agenda for Change pay structures and wider workforce benchmarking.
• Experience using payroll and reward data to support regulated financial reporting and investor governance.

Additional information

This role is based at our Central Support Office in Darlington, with regular office attendance and occasional travel to care homes and regional offices. An Enhanced DBS check and DVLA licence check are required for this role. As with all colleagues, you'll be expected to comply with our policies relating to health and safety, infection prevention and control, safeguarding and all relevant regulatory requirements. From time to time, you may be asked to undertake other duties appropriate to the role, and the responsibilities outlined above may be reasonably reviewed and updated following consultation to reflect business needs.

Application closing date: 12noon, Monday 3rd August 2026