People Systems and Reward Specialist (12 Month FTC)

At Woodgreen, we're passionate about helping pets and their people and we're looking for an experienced People Systems & Reward Specialist to join our People Team on a 12-month fixed-term basis, providing maternity cover for a key role at the heart of our people operations.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys combining systems, data, payroll and reward expertise to deliver an excellent colleague experience and support organisational decision-making. Reporting to the Head of People, you will lead the day-to-day management of our people systems, payroll and reward activities, ensuring our employees are paid accurately and on time while providing valuable workforce insight to support strategic decision-making.

Acting as the subject matter expert for our People systems, you will help us to maintain high-quality workforce data, optimise processes and ensure an excellent user experience for employees, volunteers and managers. You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation and will also support the development and administration of our reward and benefits offer, helping Woodgreen remain an attractive and engaging place to work and volunteer.

You will:

• Lead the delivery of Woodgreen's monthly payroll process through our outsourced payroll provider.
• Act as system owner and superuser for our People systems, ensuring data accuracy, compliance and continuous improvement.
• Produce workforce reports, dashboards and insights that support evidence-based decision making.
• Maintain and develop reward and benefits processes, ensuring colleagues receive a positive and seamless experience.
• Manage relationships with payroll, pension and benefits providers.
• Support process improvements, automation and system enhancements.
• Ensure compliance with payroll, pensions, data protection and employment-related requirements.
• Provide guidance and support to managers and colleagues on system use and people data.

Our successful candidate will be someone who can combine strong technical expertise with excellent stakeholder management skills. So if you are passionate about data, systems, payroll and reward and have:

• Significant experience managing or supporting payroll processes.
• Experience working with HR and people systems, including CIPHR or similar HRIS platforms.
• Excellent data analysis and reporting skills.
• Advanced Excel capability and confidence working with complex data.
• Strong understanding of payroll legislation and statutory requirements.
• A proactive approach to problem solving and continuous improvement.
• The ability to build positive working relationships across a wide range of stakeholders.
• A high level of accuracy, attention to detail and discretion.

We would love to hear from you! You'll be joining a supportive and ambitious People Team at an exciting point in our journey. This role offers the opportunity to make a real impact through systems, insight and continuous improvement while helping us create a great experience for our employees and volunteers.

This is a full time hybrid position working 37.5 hours per week. It is expected that the successful candidate will spend approximately 1 - 2 days per week at our Godmanchester site depending on business need.

The starting salary for this position is £29,739 - £33,043 per annum depending on experience. This is complemented by:

• 36 days annual leave per year (inclusive of bank holidays) rising by 1 day each year to a maximum of 40 days after five years
• Up to 8% employer pension contributions
• Support towards healthcare costs (cashplan)
• Employee wellbeing package to include free access to Headspace
• Life assurance (4x salary)
• Enhanced parental leave (subject to qualifying period)
• Benefits hub – exclusive discounts on popular brands
• 25% discount in our charity shops

Please note that you will need to have existing Right to Work in the UK to apply for this opportunity as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Woodgreen is committed to making our recruitment processes accessible to all and, as part of this, we are flexible in the ways we give and receive information. If you would like to apply using a different format, please contact the Recruitment Team and we will do our best to put any reasonable adjustments in place.

Early application is encouraged as this position may close sooner than the stated deadline if a suitable candidate is found. Woodgreen is committed to safeguarding children and adults at risk and protecting anyone that comes into contact with us from harm. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.