Total Reward Principal (Public Sector), London

About Us

Korn Ferry is a global consulting firm that powers performance. We unlock the potential in your people and unleash transformation across your business – synchronizing strategy, operations, and talent to accelerate performance, fuel growth, and inspire a legacy of change. That’s why the world’s most forward‑thinking companies across every major industry turn to us – for a shared commitment to lasting impact and the bold ambition to Be More Than. Headquartered in Los Angeles, we have over 9,000 colleagues globally serving clients in more than 50 countries. We offer five core capabilities that span the full talent lifecycle:

• Organizational Strategy
• Assessment and Succession
• Talent Acquisition
• Leadership Development
• Rewards and Benefits

Job Description

Total Reward

We all know that great work deserves great compensation. But rewarding deserving professionals is becoming increasingly complex. The workforce is more demanding. There is a focus on transparency, not just at executive level but at the workforce level too. New jobs, with no pay precedent, are emerging all the time. And flatter structures and contingent work forces mean career paths are no longer clear. We understand the differing dynamics of compensation markets around the globe and in all sectors. We know current trends, how to create engaging employee value propositions, and have the right rewards and benefits strategy to accelerate sales. We develop flexible and competitive compensation strategies that align employees and senior executives with the business strategy. And we build thoughtful employee engagement programs that attract and engage a diverse workforce and reinforce company culture and goals.

Purpose of the Position

To provide tailor made Total Reward solutions in line with the client’s organizational strategy (e.g. salary structures, salary increase systems, bonus schemes, benefit policies). This role will focus on supporting public sector clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Principal Consultants will work on project teams to deliver Total Reward solutions that meet and exceed client expectations.
• You will be creating reward strategies and principles for the client, designing pay structures and incentive plans and rolling out governance models to support the implementation of effective reward initiatives.
• You will already have worked in the Total Reward space and developed an understanding of one or more of the following – Job evaluation, salary benchmarking, career architecture, pay transparency including pay equity and gender pay gap reporting, performance management and Executive pay.
• At this level, business development and client relationship management feature as an important focus of the role in addition to delivery.
• Individuals may major on either delivery or business development, or indeed have more of a mixed portfolio.
• Regardless of major, individuals will contribute to bids, and manage/lead relationships and/or projects of considerable complexity.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead/assist the lead on the delivery of complex projects ensuring client satisfaction, effective project management, good communication and collaboration between KF colleagues.
• Support more senior colleagues/partners on larger, more complex projects, leading the client facing aspects of the project in an area of expertise.
• Facilitate project teams by defining scope, objectives and project management structure ensuring a constant focus on outcomes.
• Assess the needs of large/complex clients, designing and delivering solutions to meet their needs.
• Support less experienced consultants through mentoring and project-based development and coaching.
• Contribute to winning profitable business by identifying and shaping opportunities, writing proposals, pricing, pitch preparation and opportunity spotting in current clients.
• Contribute to thought leadership and/or lead research, analysis and interpretation on client/sector business issues, performance, client competitor performance etc. with a view to identifying possible opportunities.
• Look for ways to build new client relationships e.g. active networking, asking for referrals, partnering across KF lines of business.
• Leverage insights to define, recommend and/or co‑create strategic solutions for the clients.
• Leverage the expertise of internal industry or practice experts across the KF business.
• Speak at local or national events in own area of expertise to enhance the KF brand.
• Develop relationships with industry and thought leaders externally to increase awareness and prestige of KF.
• Develop deeper expertise in at least one expertise area and become conversant in all KF Consulting offerings in order to draw on appropriate practice expertise to provide business solutions, including those that may require inter‑service line approaches.
• Continue to deepen and broaden own consulting skills, business or sector understanding and expertise.
• Extend a strong internal brand and network of KF consultants.
• Work with KF industry leaders to develop and customize offerings within a service line and targeted at a particular industry.

Experience And Professional Qualifications

• Degree – ideally Business Admin, Business Engineering, Law, Mathematics or similar.
• Experience in consulting or professional service in Total Reward/Compensation and Benefits, Mobility, HR.
• Knowledge of the design of reward systems.
• Competent use of Microsoft office programmes.
• Competent to advanced use of Excel and other data tools (Power BI etc).
• Good communicator, combined with problem solving competence, analytical skills and team orientation.
• Client focus and confident, positive attitude and high engagement.
• Results and solution focussed while managing complex situations.

Skills and Competencies

• Good stakeholder management skills and the ability to build and maintain professional relationships.
• A high degree of customer focus and attention to detail.
• Proven expertise in working within the public sector / with public sector clients to understand the challenges and complexities involved.
• Ability to work in partnership with trade unions / regulatory bodies.
• Strong drive for results and a commitment to producing a high level of work efficiently and often within tight timeframes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Ability to adapt to new processes and effectively deal with change and ambiguity.

Additional Information

Korn Ferry may use AI as part of its recruitment process, but all hiring decisions are made by humans.

Internal Mobility at Korn Ferry: If you currently work for Korn Ferry or one of our affiliates, you must be eligible to apply for a different position within Korn Ferry to use the Careers Site. If you accept such a position, your benefits programs and Human Resources policies may change. Please consult with your HR contact for the new position concerning application eligibility, including any immigration/visa needs, benefit programmes, and HR policies applicable to that position.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.