Manager, Total Rewards

Company Description

McDonald’s has run its business in the UK since 1974 and currently operates over 1500 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, serving almost four million customers each day. McDonald’s is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers, employing over 170,000 people.

Hybrid Working

This role is based in our East Finchley office working 3 days in the office and 2 days remotely.

Salary: Competitive + Bonus + Benefits

Location: East Finchley (Hybrid working)

What you’ll be doing

As Manager, Total Rewards, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the reward experience for our UK & Ireland business. You’ll lead the design, governance, and ongoing development of our compensation, benefits, pension, and broader reward programmes directly influencing the employee experience for our 850 corporate employees and supporting our wider community of 170,000 McOpCo and Franchisee employees.

• Leading the annual reward cycle across salary review, bonus planning, and long‑term incentives, ensuring a smooth and insightful process for senior leaders and the wider business.
• Acting as an internal consultant partnering with People teams, senior leaders, and Franchisees to provide expert reward guidance and ensure policies are applied consistently.
• Generating insights through market benchmarking, reward surveys, and internal analytics to shape competitive and equitable recommendations.
• Overseeing compensation governance and supporting recruitment, promotions, internal mobility, minimum wage review, restaurant management bonus programmes, and equal pay analysis.
• Leading the benefits and pension programmes, including vendor management, annual enrolments, and continuous evaluation of offerings.
• Playing a critical role in the deployment of our new global HR system, helping embed new ways of working.
• Collaborating with global Total Rewards teams to evolve compensation, benefits, and pension initiatives supporting change and communication across the UK&I market.
• Building, developing, and inspiring a high‑performing Total Rewards team, creating a culture built on clarity, capability, and collaboration.

Qualifications

You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Have significant senior-level experience in total rewards, spanning compensation, benefits, and wider reward strategy.
• Bring a highly analytical mindset, with the ability to interpret complex data and turn insights into clear, commercial recommendations.
• Demonstrate a refined consultative approach, engaging stakeholders collaboratively and tailoring communication for a variety of audiences.
• Are comfortable operating at both strategic and tactical levels shaping long-term reward direction while ensuring excellent day‑to‑day execution.
• Excel at building relationships and influencing senior stakeholders within a complex, matrixed organisation.
• Have experience leading, developing, and inspiring high‑performing teams.
• Enjoy working at pace and championing solutions that balance consistency, equity, and innovation.

What you’ll get

• Industry-leading training, development and career opportunities.
• A collaborative and inclusive culture where your expertise will be valued and your ideas welcomed.
• Competitive salary, plus a comprehensive benefits package including bonus, cash allowance, free parking, lunch, and on‑site gym access.
• Hybrid working that balances time in our East Finchley office with remote flexibility.

Additional Information

Company Vision and Culture… Our Global vision is to build a better McDonald’s and in the UK and Ireland we are working hard to be the UK & Irelands best-loved restaurant company. McDonald’s is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all. Our values drive our culture and shape our beliefs, our priorities and our actions. They influence the decisions we make, how we treat one another and how we show up as a brand to the world.

• Serve: We put our customers and our people first
• Inclusion: We open our doors to everyone
• Integrity: We do the right thing
• Community: We are good neighbours
• Family: We get better together

At McDonald’s we are People from all Walks of Life... People are at the heart of everything we do, and they make the McDonald’s experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers gives us strength. We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind. These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play. We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald’s or elsewhere.