Head of Reward Market Leader B2B2C

Executive Search

Head of Reward

Market Leader B2B2C

UK

Business

Our client employs thousands of people across hundreds of UK sites. It is a long established and highly respected name in its market and is making impressive progress towards renewed and enhanced operations, culture and performance. Its considerable value to customers is in its ability to run their supply chains with reliability, rapidity and robustness.

The recently appointed Chief Executive is resetting the direction of the whole business to be more aligned with its customers, colleagues and suppliers. Its new PE owners will be investing significant sums in the business over the coming months and years to maximise its performance and market position in a sharply rising but very demanding sector. Revenues have been steadily growing and are now approaching £2 billion.

With locations in every town and city of the UK, the decentralised workforce is entrusted with delivering superlative service to customers, and must be incentivised and rewarded accordingly.

The executive team is stronger now than it has been for some time, and is placing even more emphasis on the business offering: excellent specialist knowledge; being easy to do business with; confidence that the price is right; and making sure promises made to customers are kept. They too require commensurate incentivisation and reward.

Role

Reporting to the HR Director, the Head of Reward will be a senior and influential member of the Human Resources team. As such, the Head of Reward will have direct responsibility for the day-to-day management of a small Reward team, and for the formulation, implementation and maintenance of appropriate reward and remuneration strategies and structures throughout the business including pay, bonusing, benefits, pensions, cars and the long- and short-term incentive plans. In addition to designing the compensation for them, the Head of Reward will also be expected to interact regularly with the CEO, Board, Senior Executives, RemCo Chair, Company Secretary, and the PE Investors.

Given its decentralised structure and as a customer-responsive and fast-paced working environment, variations and divergences in reward mechanisms have evolved over time, which will need to be analysed and realigned around updated and meaningful metrics. This will be a challenging and large-scale undertaking that will require determination and diplomacy as well as innovative thinking, commercial acumen and attention to detail.

Above all, the Head of Reward will require pragmatism, problem-solving and the ability to introduce new ideas that can be enacted robustly but considerately to add demonstrable value to the business. They will need to establish themselves quickly, instil confidence in those around them and develop strong working relationships and a deep understanding of the roles and motivations of people throughout the business – their colleagues on the front-line, up to and including those at the very top.

Candidate

• First-class intellect
• Gravitas and credibility
• Degree in a numerate discipline
• A relevant professional qualification, financial / accounting preferred, or CIPD
• Large corporate experience, ideally as Director or Head of Reward
• Demonstrable career success in Compensation & Benefits / Reward & Recognition
• Familiar with PLCs / large Private Equity backed corporate environments
• Comfortable interacting with C-Suite, RemCo, PE/Shareholders and Professional Advisers
• Experienced in corporate governance and regulatory matters
• Analytical and highly numerate, coupled with imagination and creativity
• Engaging, inspires confidence, with first-class communication and presentation skills
• Adaptable and responsive, effective under pressure
• Effective working alone, or as a team leader, or as a team member
• Relationship builder and developer
• Has and demands high standards
• Owns issues and delivers results
• Resilient and robust
• Constantly looking for better solutions
• Engages fully with problems, maintaining focus until resolved
• Unflappable with considered judgement and unemotional decision-making
• Approachable, with time for, and real interest in, the people with whom they work

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