Pay and Reward Specialist in Stafford

Staffordshire County Council is looking for an experienced Pay & Reward professional to join our Reward Team as we prepare for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). As a Pay & Reward Specialist, you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring our reward practices remain fair, transparent, and fit for the future. You'll lead on reward projects and help develop innovative systems and approaches that support both our organisation and our employees. You’ll also lead the day-to-day job evaluation activities for a designated service area, supporting fairness and pay transparency.

This role is:

• Office based with a minimum of 2 days in Staffordshire Place 1 with the ability to home work on some days.
• Permanent - 37 hours per week Monday to Friday.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead and moderate job evaluation processes to ensure equal pay across the Council.
• Scrutinize and apply job evaluation scheme methodology, deputising at grading panels as required.
• Manage complex pay and reward projects, providing options, risks and benefits.
• Lead the development of reward policies and procedures in line with legislation and compliance.
• Develop corporate methodology for job design, including training, guidance, and toolkits.
• Analyse external pay benchmarking and legislative changes to inform pay decisions.
• Manage day-to-day reward activities including honorarium processes and pay policy compliance.
• Support and promote the development of a benefits strategy and lead relevant benefits projects.

The Ideal Candidate

You’ll require experience of leading projects within a pay and reward environment and ideally, an understanding of local government. It’s essential you have experience of undertaking job evaluation using the HAY/and or NJC methodology to support our equal pay processes. The ideal candidate will have:

• Degree-level education, CIPD or equivalent experience.
• Deep understanding of pay and reward legislation and policy.
• Comprehensive experience in undertaking job evaluation (HAY and /or NJC).
• Reward project management, and stakeholder collaboration.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and IT skills.
• Able to work independently and manage competing priorities.

Assessment process

Shortlisting will take place week commencing 14th September. Depending on the volume of applications a video interview may be added in as an additional stage in the process. Interviews will take place week commencing 28th September. This will include a face‑to‑face interview and practical assessment involving job evaluation.

Why Join Us?

This is a unique opportunity to influence reward strategy during a period of significant organisational change. You'll have the chance to help shape policies, improve processes, and help ensure fair and equitable reward practices for thousands of employees across the Council. If you're passionate about fair pay, job evaluation, and creating a rewarding employee experience, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Recruitment Process

We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please note: The minimum criteria in the ideal candidate section detailed above will be used if you are applying under one of our Interview Guarantee Schemes.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council. Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy: We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

Our benefits

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work‑life balance. In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to our rewards and benefits.

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities. As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post.