EMEA Benefits and Leave Specialist

Get to know The Pokémon Company International. The Pokémon Company International manages the Pokémon property outside of Asia and is responsible for brand management, licensing and marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the animated TV series, home entertainment, and the official Pokémon website. Pokémon was launched in Japan in 1996 and today is one of the most popular children’s entertainment properties in the world.

Get to know the role.

Job Summary: We are looking for an EMEA Benefits and Leave Specialist to join our Global Benefits team, based in our London office and partnering closely with the wider EMEA People Team. This role supports, implements and manages defined programmes, supporting the administration and delivery of employee benefits, leave, and wellbeing across our London and Dublin offices. You will serve as a key, reliable point of contact for employees, ensuring programmes are delivered in line with local legislation and company policy. The role will support employees, delivering consistent, compliant, and employee-focused outputs that enable team outcomes and employee experience standards. You will collaborate closely with the People Team, Payroll, Legal, Tax, and external vendors to ensure policies and processes are applied accurately, empathetically and timely.

What you’ll do:

• Benefits & Employee Support: Act as the primary point of contact for all benefits-related queries for employees in London and Dublin, including independently managing the benefit inbox EMEA inquiries. Manage day-to-day benefits operations, including processing employee benefit changes and owning tasks through completion to ensure accurate records and a high standard of service. Maintain eligibility tracking for full-time, part-time, and variable-hours employees, ensuring consistent plan application and data accuracy. Support the annual benefits renewal process and other benefit related projects, delivering assigned workstreams reliably on schedule. Assist with benefits and policy communications to ensure employees understand and engage with their benefits offering.
• Leave of Absence: Manage all leave of absence processes including maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, sickness absence and other statutory or company leave programs. Ensure timely compliance with UK and Irish legislation, coordinating closely with Payroll to ensure accurate pay and benefit outcomes. Act as a trusted point of contact for employees during periods of leave, handling cases with consistency, empathy and discretion.
• Reasonable Adjustments: Administer the reasonable adjustments process, managing assigned cases independently within established guidelines and processes for employees. Manage assessments, coordinate agreed adjustments and ensure appropriate documentation is in place. Provide clear guidance and support to employees and managers, ensuring outcomes are recorded accurately and confidentially.
• Workplace Flexibility & Mobility: Own and administer the flexible working process, guiding employees and managers through requests and outcomes. Ensure all decisions and documentation are handled fairly, consistently and in line with legislation, raising questions or risks to benefits team leadership where input is required. Manage work from abroad applications end-to-end, including eligibility checks, approvals, documentation and coordination with Legal and Tax teams. Ensure policies are applied consistently and in line with compliance requirements, flagging exceptions or constraints proactively.
• Compliance, Data & Process Improvement: Maintain up-to-date knowledge of UK and Irish employment legislation relating to benefits, leave, wellbeing and flexible working. Maintain accurate employee data in HR systems, ensuring confidentiality and data protection standards are met. Track, analyse, and report on data relating to reasonable adjustments, flexible working, and leave of absence (LOA), producing regular insights to support decision-making, compliance monitoring, and continuous improvement. Identify opportunities to improve processes, employee experience, and operational efficiency within role scope, proposing practical improvements. Support wider People Team initiatives and projects as required, collaborating with peers across teams to support coordination.

What you’ll bring:

• Three (3) to five (5)+ years’ experience in benefits administration or benefits-focused HR role supporting UK and Irish employees.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field or a demonstrated equivalent level of applicable experience.
• Experience working in a high volume workforce environment.
• Good understanding of UK and Irish employment legislation relating to leave, flexible working, and reasonable adjustments.
• Experience supporting employees and managers with people-related queries in a professional, empathetic, and solutions-focused way.
• Strong organisational skills with excellent attention to detail, and the ability to manage work through to completion.
• Confident communicator with an employee-focused approach and the ability to manage sensitive matters with discretion.
• Comfortable working with HR systems and employee data; experience with Workday is desirable.
• Proactive and solutions-focused, with a continuous improvement mindset and willingness to take ownership within defined scope of work.

Base Salary Range: For this role, new hires generally start between £42,000.00 - £55,000.00 per year. The full range is £42,000.00 - £73,400.00 per year. This range is applicable for the labour market where the role is intended to be hired. The final base salary is directly related to the candidate’s qualifications and professional experience uniquely.

How you’ll be successful:

• Passion for Pokémon: Develops an understanding of the Pokémon brand, the impact it has on our people, culture, business, fans, and communities, and applying that knowledge and passion to everything you do.
• Challenging the Expected: Approaches challenges with curiosity and creativity, embracing the possibility of failure as an opportunity to learn something new, develop innovative ideas, solve complex problems and identify unique opportunities.
• Integrity and Respect: Demonstrates integrity and respect by leading with empathy, listening to others, seeking out different perspectives, and taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and results.
• Dedicated to Quality: Takes ownership to maintain and promote high standards, looks for new ways to learn and improve, and embraces a growth mindset to seek and apply feedback from others in an effort to continuously improve.
• Building Relationships: Develops and strengthens relationships, adopting a “team first” mentality and working collaboratively to solve problems and meet shared goals.
• Delighting Customers: Listens and understands the interests and needs of our customers and stakeholders, making them feel heard and important, and embracing these learnings to continue delivering a unique Pokémon experience.

What to expect:

• An innovative culture driven by impact, delivering meaningful outcomes.
• Company events that celebrate the spirit of Pokémon.
• Competitive cash-based compensation programs.
• 100% employer-paid healthcare premiums for you.
• Generous paid family leave.
• Employer-paid life insurance.
• Employer-paid long and short-term income protection insurance.
• US Employees: 401k Employer Matching.
• UK/IRE/MX Employees: Pension Employer Contributions.
• Fitness reimbursement.
• Commuter benefit.
• LinkedIn learning.
• Comprehensive relocation package for certain roles.
• Hybrid work environment.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this role. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required. Employees may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed. For roles in the United Kingdom, candidates will need the right to work. In some cases, and for some roles, the Company may be able to arrange a visa. For roles in Ireland, this role requires candidates to have the right to live and work in the Republic of Ireland. However, we welcome applications from all nationalities and may consider supporting an employment permit application, in appropriate and suitable cases. The Pokémon Company International is committed to the inclusion of all qualified applicants for consideration in our job application process. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, pre‑employment testing, or a job interview, or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact the Talent Acquisition team at accommodationrequest_ta@pokemon.com.