Compensation & Benefits Specialist in Farnborough

Saab UK is growing rapidly with over 500 colleagues across eight sites. We bring together Swedish heritage and British expertise to drive innovation in areas such as software engineering, underwater robotics, radars, AI and armed forces training. Joining Saab in the UK means contributing to the security and resilience of society while building a career with real scope for personal and professional growth.

Saab is a leading defence and security company with an enduring mission to help nations keep their people and society safe. Empowered by its 26,000 talented people, Saab constantly pushes the boundaries of technology to create a safer and more sustainable world. Saab designs, manufactures and maintains advanced systems in aeronautics, weapons, command and control, sensors and underwater systems.

Role Purpose

The Compensation & Benefits Specialist is responsible for supporting the design, implementation, administration and ongoing management of the organisation's compensation and benefits programmes in the UK. The role ensures reward practices are competitive, compliant with UK legislation aligned with business objectives and supports the successful delivery of key HR initiatives including the payroll transformation project.

Key Responsibilities

• Compensation
  • Support the development, implementation and maintenance of salary structures, grading frameworks and job evaluation processes.
  • Conduct market benchmarking using salary surveys to ensure competitive and equitable pay practices.
  • Provide analytical support for annual pay review, bonus and incentive processes including modelling and cost analysis.
  • Partner with HR Business Partners and hiring managers to provide guidance on pay decisions, offers, promotions and internal moves.
  • Ensure pay practices comply with UK employment law and internal governance requirements.
• Benefits
  • Manage the day-to-day administration of UK benefits programmes which may include pensions, private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, wellbeing benefits and flexible benefits schemes.
  • Act as the key point of contact for benefit providers and brokers supporting renewals, negotiations and service reviews.
  • Support the implementation and ongoing administration of benefit policies including discretionary benefits and allowances.
  • Provide guidance to employees and managers on benefit offerings and eligibility.
• Payroll Transformation Support
  • Support the payroll transformation project working closely with Payroll, HR, Finance and external vendors.
  • Support data cleansing, parallel payroll runs and user acceptance testing to ensure accurate reward and benefits outcomes.
  • Assist in the development of payroll-related policies, processes and documentation following system changes.
• Compliance and Governance
  • Ensure all compensation and benefits practices are compliant with UK legislation including HMRC requirements, auto-enrolment pension regulations and employment law.
  • Maintain accurate documentation, policies and procedures related to reward programmes.
  • Support internal and external audits relating to compensation and benefits.
• Data Reporting and Analysis
  • Maintain accurate reward data within HR and payroll systems.
  • Produce regular and ad hoc reports on compensation and benefits metrics for HR leadership and senior stakeholders.
  • Analyse trends and provide insights to support data-driven decision-making.
• Projects and Continuous Improvement
  • Support reward-related projects including system implementations, benefit redesigns and policy changes.
  • Identify opportunities to improve reward processes, employee experience and operational efficiency.
  • Stay up to date with UK reward trends, legislation and best practice.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Proven experience in a Compensation & Benefits, Reward or HR role with a strong focus on UK reward practices.
• Good understanding of UK employment law, HMRC requirements and pension auto-enrolment.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills with the ability to interpret and present data clearly.
• Experience working with HR systems and payroll data.
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.

Desirable:

• Experience supporting pay reviews, bonus schemes or job evaluation processes.
• Experience working with benefits brokers and external providers.
• Knowledge of gender pay gap and equal pay reporting.
• Experience in a matrix or global organisation.

Qualifications

• CIPD qualification (Level 5 or above) or equivalent experience desirable.
• Degree in HR, Business, Finance or a related field desirable.

Personal Attributes

• Professional and discreet with the ability to handle sensitive and confidential information.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Collaborative, proactive and solution-focused.
• Commercially aware with a continuous improvement mindset.