Reward & Benefits Manager in Milton Keynes

The Reward & Benefits Manager plays a key role in facilitating the organisation’s total reward strategy and supporting the design, implementation and continuous improvement of the employee benefits offering. Working in collaboration with the Head of Reward, the role supports the development and delivery of reward initiatives including pay frameworks, incentive programmes, pay equity analysis and reward governance. The role has primary responsibility for the end-to-end benefits proposition, ensuring it remains competitive, aligned to employee needs and supports the organisation’s attraction, retention and wellbeing objectives. The Reward & Benefits Manager leads the Benefits team to support the Head of Reward in driving operational excellence, employee engagement and effective stewardship of reward and benefits investment within the requirements of the F1 Cost Cap.

Key Accountabilities

• Total Reward Strategy: Act as a senior member of the Reward team, supporting the Head of Reward on the COE’s strategic agenda, including the design and roll‑out of the pay framework, long‑term incentive and retention strategy for critical technical talent, and the performance‑related pay structure. Support the delivery of annual pay equity analysis and the publication of gender and ethnicity pay gap data with named action plans, targets and timelines. Provide commercial, data‑driven analysis to the Head of Reward to support reward investment decisions and demonstrate the impact of reward initiatives on attraction, retention and organisational performance.
• Benchmarking, Insight & Cost Cap: Support and facilitate the annual total compensation benchmarking across motorsport, aerospace, engineering and global technology, using independent benchmarking to confirm and sustain upper‑quartile positioning for critical talent segments. Collate the modelling of the financial and Cost Cap implications of reward and benefits proposals, partnering closely with Finance to ensure all activity is affordable, compliant and defensible.
• Benefits Design & Delivery: Play a key role in the end‑to‑end benefits programme, supporting the redesign of the package based on real employee demand data, then identifying, scoping and rolling out new and enhanced benefits aligned to employee needs, reward strategy and wellbeing outcomes. Drive benefits utilisation, targeting strong take‑up across all core benefits so the redesigned package lands as intended.
• Reward Cycles & Governance: Support the planning and delivery of the annual salary review and reward processes, ensuring fairness, consistency, transparency and Cost Cap compliance. Ensure all reward and benefits activities comply with relevant legislation, tax requirements, pension regulations and internal governance standards.
• Communications & Employee Experience: Plan and oversee the reward and benefits communications agenda, working with the Head of Reward, Employer Brand / EVP CoE and the in‑house design capability to deliver compelling, on‑brand communications. Maintain the Reward & Benefits content on the HR intranet as a high‑quality, trusted resource.
• Leadership & Operations: Lead, develop and coach the Benefits team, creating a high‑performance culture and supporting professional development. Oversee accurate, on‑time benefits operations including payroll inputs, reconciliations, approvals and invoice / payment processing.

Essential Skills, Experience & Competencies:

• Demonstrable experience in a reward and/or benefits role, with proven ability to design and deliver benefits programmes and contribute to reward strategy.
• Strong commercial and analytical capability — confident benchmarking, cost‑modelling and presenting data‑led recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Sound, proven knowledge of UK reward, benefits, pension and taxation legislation, including HMRC requirements, P11D reporting and year‑end processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build credibility at all levels including the Exec Team and Finance.
• Methodical, organised and detail‑oriented, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and meet deadlines.

Desirable:

• People management / team leadership experience.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent reward / benefits professional certification.
• Experience operating within cost‑constrained or regulated environments (F1 Cost Cap awareness highly valued).