Strategic Pay & Benefits Leader

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA); Reading; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in Reading seeks a Head of Pay, Reward and Employee Benefits to lead an integrated pay, reward and benefits strategy. The role provides expert leadership across policy, strategy, recognition, and financial wellbeing, ensuring compliance with Civil Service pay controls.

The postholder will manage a specialised team, work with senior HR, Finance, and government bodies, and drive workforce engagement and value for money through innovative

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of the organisation's pay, reward, and employee benefits strategy.
• Provide strategic advice to senior leaders on reward, pay policy, employee value proposition, and workforce affordability.
• Ensure reward and benefits arrangements support organisational priorities, workforce plans, and people strategies.
• Ensure pay, reward, and benefits strategy support delivery of the water reform agenda, equipping the organisations and new regulator to attract, retain and deploy the capability needed through significant transformation.
• Work with cluster departments to design and implement a reward and benefits solution through the Synergy ERP project that delivers for customers, aligns with wider transformation priorities, and supports consistent, effective services.
• Shape future reward approaches using market intelligence, workforce insight, and benchmarking.
• Lead delivery of annual pay award processes and pay remit submissions across Defra and its ALBs, Natural England and the Environment Agency.
• Oversee the development of pay frameworks, grading structures and reward policies.
• Provide expert advice on pay flexibility cases, recruitment and retention measures and reward interventions across Defra Group.
• Ensure compliance with Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and Civil Service pay guidance.
• Lead pay modelling, affordability assessments, and equality impact considerations.
• Lead the strategic development and ongoing review of the employee benefits portfolio.
• Ensure benefits support wellbeing, engagement, attraction, and retention objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement in employee benefit offerings through market research, employee feedback, and data analysis.
• Oversee recognition schemes and wider employee value proposition activity.
• Build strong relationships with external suppliers and service providers, ensuring value for money and high-quality service delivery.
• Ensure robust governance arrangements across pay, reward and benefits activity.
• Provide oversight and assurance of new reward and benefits solution design and implementation, particularly the new Synergy ERP, ensuring risks, controls, dependencies, and customer impacts are identified and managed.
• Oversee a robust assurance and testing regime for pay accuracy, including clear controls, test criteria, defect management, and readiness decisions, to protect employees and maintain confidence in payroll outcomes.
• Manage organisational risks associated with pay, reward, pensions, and employee benefits.
• Ensure compliance with legislation, policies, financial controls, and audit requirements.Produce high-quality papers, submissions and recommendations for Executive Teams, Boards, and governance groups.
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across HR, Finance, operational groups, and government departments.
• Lead engagement with Trade Unions on reward-related matters.
• Represent the organisation in cross-government reward and pay networks.
• Influence strategic decision-making through evidence-based recommendations and expert advice.
• Lead, develop and inspire a high-performing specialist team.
• Create an inclusive, collaborative, and continuous improvement culture.
• Build organisational capability in reward, benefits, and pay management.
• Drive innovation and service improvements that enhance efficiency and employee experience.
• Delivery of annual pay awards and reward processes.
• Development and implementation of reward and benefits strategies.
• High-quality reward advice to senior leaders.
• Effective management of reward governance and compliance.
• Improved employee engagement with reward and benefits provision.
• Strong workforce outcomes relating to attraction, retention, and employee experience.
• Successful delivery of strategic reward projects and organisational change programmes.

Job description

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in Reading seeks a Head of Pay, Reward and Employee Benefits to lead an integrated pay, reward and benefits strategy. The role provides expert leadership across policy, strategy, recognition, and financial wellbeing, ensuring compliance with Civil Service pay controls.

The postholder will manage a specialised team, work with senior HR, Finance, and government bodies, and drive workforce engagement and value for money through innovative