Mode Search is partnering with a globally recognised beauty and luxury brand to appoint a Compensation & Benefits Manager for its UK & Ireland headquarters in London.
This is a pivotal opportunity to shape and elevate the reward and benefits strategy for a dynamic organisation of approximately 400 employees across both Retail and Corporate functions. The role sits at the heart of the HR leadership team and plays a critical part in ensuring a competitive, compliant and employee-focused reward framework.
We are seeking a highly analytical and commercially minded reward specialist with strong expertise in compensation, benefits and payroll operations. The successful candidate will combine technical excellence with strategic thinking, ensuring robust governance while enhancing the overall employee experience.
This role offers the opportunity to directly influence how the organisation attracts, retains and rewards talent, while partnering closely with HR, Finance and external providers to deliver best-in-class reward programmes.
The Role
- Oversee payroll operations across Retail and Corporate populations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and full compliance
- Design, implement and evolve compensation frameworks, including bonus schemes, incentives and salary structures
- Lead the management of employee benefits programmes, including pensions, healthcare and life assurance
- Manage annual salary review and bonus cycles, including modelling, budgeting and reporting
- Conduct benchmarking, job evaluation and market analysis to ensure internal equity and external competitiveness
- Analyse compensation, turnover and workforce data to identify trends, risks and opportunities
- Ensure full compliance with UK employment law, HMRC requirements and equal pay reporting obligations
- Partner with Finance, HR and external providers to optimise reward strategy and governance
- Produce dashboards and insights to support strategic decision-making at leadership level
Requirements
- Proven experience in Compensation & Benefits, Reward or Total Rewards roles within a complex organisation
- Strong expertise in payroll management and benefits administration
- Experience using benchmarking tools such as Mercer or Willis Towers Watson
- Advanced Excel skills and strong HRIS systems knowledge
- Solid understanding of UK employment law, HMRC regulations and compliance frameworks
- Experience designing and managing reward structures (bonus schemes, LTIPs, pensions, incentives)
- Strong analytical capability with the ability to translate data into insight and recommendations
- Confident stakeholder manager, comfortable working with HR, Finance and senior leadership
- Strong commercial acumen with a detail-oriented and governance-driven mindset
- Passion for creating competitive, fair and engaging reward strategies