Reward Specialist 9 month FTC in Cheshire, Warrington

Contract: 9-months fixed term

Salary: £50K - £55K

Hours: Mon-Fri, 37.5 p/w

Location: Norwich, Cheshire (2 days onsite, 3 days working from home)

Are you passionate about creating fair, transparent, and market-aligned reward practices that positively impact employees across regions? Do you thrive in a collaborative environment where your analytical expertise drives meaningful change? If so, this is the opportunity for you.

A leading global organisation is seeking a Reward Specialist to join their team on a 9-month fixed-term contract, based in Northwich with flexible hybrid working arrangements. This role offers the chance to work at the heart of global reward operations, shaping pay structures, benefits administration, and bonus plans while ensuring compliance and transparency across multiple regions.

Why Join them?

• Competitive Salary: £50K-£55K per annum.
• Flexible Hybrid Working: Balance office collaboration with home-based productivity.
• Global Impact: Play a pivotal role in designing and delivering reward programmes that align with business goals and enhance employee wellbeing.
• Supportive Culture: Work alongside HR, Finance, and other key stakeholders in an inclusive environment that values your contributions.
• Professional Growth: Gain exposure to international reward practices while developing your skills in HR analytics, market benchmarking, and compliance.

Your Role: Key Responsibilities

As a Reward Specialist, you'll be instrumental in delivering seamless annual reward cycles and supporting ongoing projects. Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Core Reward Operations: Manage salary reviews, bonus schemes, benefits administration, system uploads, modelling, and post-cycle reporting. Maintain job architecture frameworks by administering job evaluation outputs and grading documentation for consistency and audit readiness. Oversee salary structures and pay ranges by conducting governance checks and recommending updates based on market trends and internal equity.
• Data Analysis & Insights: Produce detailed market benchmarking analyses using tools like Willis Towers Watson or Mercer alongside internal data to inform pay decisions. Generate dashboards covering pay distributions, bonus accruals, benefits uptake, and pay gap inputs; translate findings into actionable insights for HR and Finance teams.
• Compliance & Governance: Support European and North American pay transparency requirements by preparing inputs, maintaining controls, and meeting external reporting deadlines. Administer variable pay governance by performing eligibility checks, calculations, communications content creation, and ensuring plan rules are consistently applied.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Partner with HR Business Partners and Finance teams to assess reward costs through scenario modelling and reconciliations within agreed controls. Provide front-line guidance on reward matters for HR colleagues while maintaining confidentiality and data integrity across all systems.

What You Bring: Skills & Experience

To excel in this role, you'll need:

• Proven experience in compensation analysis or HR analytics within multinational or complex organisations.
• Hands-on involvement in annual reward cycles (salary reviews, bonus planning, benefits administration).
• Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups) for accurate data modelling and analysis.
• Familiarity with market survey providers like Willis Towers Watson or Mercer for benchmarking activities.
• Strong written communication skills to produce clear reports tailored for non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge of employment law related to personal data protection and cross-border provisions.
• Exposure to job evaluation methodologies and experience maintaining grade structures.
• Understanding of UK reward reporting requirements (e.g., gender pay gap analysis) and pay transparency practices.

Qualifications:

Degree-level education or equivalent qualification relevant to Human Resources or related fields. CIPD qualification (full or part-qualified) is highly desirable.