Compensation Manager (12-month FTC)
Watford or Manchester
KPMG in the UK is part of a global network of firms that offers Audit, Legal, Tax and Advisory services. Through the talent of over 16,000 colleagues we bring our creativity, insight and experience to solve our clients’ and communities’ biggest problems. We’ve been doing this for more than 150 years.
Group Corporate Services (GCS) is the home for all internal support services that support the combined firm. Working with our Capability-led matrix and throughout the whole firm, GCS executes on our Group's strategic goals by enabling growth, protecting the firm and running operations effectively and efficiently, resulting in improved profitability. We do this using a ‘We are Group’ mindset.
The People and Resourcing domain’s purpose is to enable the Group’s business strategy through its people. We maintain our position as an employer of choice by fostering a Values-led culture, enabling our people to thrive, and delivering a positive experience through the employee lifecycle. We are a strategic HR function that leverages digitisation, automation, and data-driven insights to enhance decision-making and productivity.
Role overview
Join KPMG UK’s Compensation team and help shape how we reward around 17,000 colleagues across the firm. Reporting to the Compensation Director, you’ll partner with senior stakeholders across the business and HR to deliver the UK compensation strategy, annual pay and bonus cycles, and transformation initiatives. You’ll bring strong analytics and market insight to shape the compensation agenda, influence decisions and challenge constructively delivering fair, competitive and commercially sustainable pay outcomes that support performance, profitability and efficiency. Working within a complex environment, as part of high performing, values led Reward team.
What you’ll bring
- Proven delivery: Experience in Compensation / Reward manager level roles within a complex organisation(s).
- Collaboration: Work in partnership with HRBPs, Reward / Compensation / Centres of Excellence and business leaders, embedding yourself in teams to co-own outcomes and deliver at pace.
- Influence and challenge with data and insights: Use analytics and market intelligence to shape recommendations, challenge thinking constructively and drive evidence-based decisions.
- Value-focused: Prioritise work that improves business performance, profitability and efficiency, balancing competitiveness with cost and risk.
- Proactive and outcome-focused: Anticipate needs, interpret what the data means (not just what it says) and provide clear, practical advice leaders can act on.
- Align strategy with execution: Translate business direction into practical plans, governance and delivery across annual cycles and change initiatives.
What you’ll do
- Partner with assigned client group(s) to provide end-to-end expert proactive compensation advice, including market trends, benchmarking, salary modelling, bonus schemes and pay gap analysis.
- Design, deliver and evolve, compensation programmes and outputs such as supporting bonus and incentive arrangements in in line with firm principles and market practice, focusing on value, consistency and measurable impact.
- Build a strong understanding of the commercial context and operating model of the areas you support, anticipating needs and proactively turning insight into clear recommendations and actions.
- Build trusted relationships with HR peers and senior stakeholders, influencing with data and insight and challenging constructively to deliver fair, consistent outcomes.
- Work closely with the business, HR peers, and wider people function co-owning decisions to deliver compensation activities and projects end to end.
- Lead elements of the annual salary and bonus review cycle, including design input, project management, modelling and delivery in line with firm strategy, timelines and governance.
- Create and maintain compensation tools and provide insights that improve decision-making and increase efficiency, working with our offshore team, automating processes where appropriate.
- Conduct market analysis, using survey data to support internal equity and external competitiveness.
- Support the Compensation Director in delivering strong governance and compliance across all compensation activity, ensuring documentation exists and policies are reviewed regularly and remains fit for purpose.
- Contribute to the ongoing development of the UK compensation strategy, principles and guidance, bringing insight from delivery, stakeholder feedback and external trends.
- Act as an escalation point and provide day to day direction / guidance / coaching to the Compensation Assistant Manager(s) aligned to your client group, and / or project workstream(s).
- Coach and develop, in the flow of work, the Compensation Assistant Managers, providing in the moment feedback, and quality assurance to support consistency and governance.
- Deliver high quality ad hoc compensation projects as required, prioritising effectively and focusing on outcomes that improve performance, profitability and efficiency.
- Work proactively with a high degree of autonomy, applying sound judgement with a solution focussed mindset, and escalating appropriately where needed.
Skills and competencies
- Experience managing a salary and bonus review cycle in a large, matrixed organisation.
- Proven experience in Compensation & Benefits / Reward manager level roles within a complex, matrixed organisation(s).
- Experience using market benchmarking tools and working with HRIS data (for example Mercer, WTW or equivalent).
- Strong commercial acumen and a governance-minded approach, with awareness of UK pay and reporting considerations (e.g. equal pay, pay transparency and pay gap reporting).
- Strong stakeholder management and relationship building skills, with the ability to influence credibly at senior levels.
- In-depth knowledge and understanding of salary surveys and compensation theory and practice.
- Excellent communication, influencing and presentation skills, able to translate complex analysis into clear messages for different audiences.
- Advanced Excel skills, including building robust cost and scenario modelling tools.
- Strong logical, analytical thinking, and peer to peer problem solving; is able to work through complex problems methodically.
- Works at pace, and is a self-starter, with the ability to maintain resilience and effectiveness during sustained periods of pressure, change or uncertainty.
- Can work proactively in ambiguity and a “just in time” environment, executing according to project plans with a high level of attention to detail.
- Proactively drives continuous improvement in tools, processes and all compensation activities.
- A team player who works collaboratively but also thrives working independently with the ability to plan and prioritise own workload effectively within a very busy, fast paced environment, across multiple demands.
- Takes responsibility for their actions and decisions.
- Has a can-do attitude and positive mindset.
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