Head of Pay, Reward & HR Operations

About The Job

To submit an application, please contact Cathy Walsh at Triangle Partnership - cwalsh@trianglepartners.co.uk. Applications for this post close at 5pm on 28 November 2025.

Reporting to the Director of Human Resources, and as a member of the HR Senior Leadership Team, this post is strategically responsible for leading a first class pay, reward and HR operations service across the University.

The post holder and their team will heavily influence, at a strategic level, the University’s senior leaders on reward and recognition thinking, showing how reward and recognition schemes and vehicles can have a demonstratively positive impact on employee morale.

This key leadership position is also responsible for providing exemplary administrative and first-line HR operations services such as payroll, pensions and reward processing, HR handbook / contract of employment enquiry management, job-changer and job-leaver process management, as well as people development administration management.

With experience in critical data analysis, the Head of Pay, Reward & HR Operations will provide meaningful people data, for the HR Business Partnering, HR Policy & Wellbeing teams, and all UON leaders, in such a way that it turns data into useful dashboards and meaningful management information, for these internal customers, so that they can consider and understand what this data is suggesting and, potentially, what needs to change to make UON a better place to work. A detailed, yet strategic, brain is required for this post.

The post holder will be an experienced and competent leader themselves, able to inspire and give confidence to a team whose roles can be stressful. They will create an environment where their people are supported but driven to embody service excellence and behave in a way that always embraces the University’s values and behaviours.

As a senior HR practitioner, they will be tuned into current and evolving HR practice at large.

The Head of Pay, Reward & HR Operations will agree service standards with all internal customers and deliver a service which customers say great things about, seeking feedback on the service regularly. This service will be regularly reviewed and refreshed as the University’s people and culture needs evolve, with the development of the University Strategy.

We want you to be able to carry out your work in a way that best supports UON, and our students, but also you as an individual. We understand this may vary between different areas of the university as well as from one person to another.  With Smarter Working you can work with increased flexibility, if you would like to, which can facilitate greater freedom and autonomy. Our expectation is that this person will be on Campus, with their team, a minimum of 2-3 days per week, working remotely (if that would be helpful) for the remainder of the week.

About You

The successful candidate will be someone who, first and foremost, is an excellent leader, is service-oriented and employee-centred.

We are looking for a candidate with experience overseeing an organisation’s reward strategy, including payroll, pensions, flexible benefits, salary exchange, and recognition schemes to enhance workforce morale and retention.

We need someone with experience managing a top-tier transactional and administrative HR service, setting service standards, building strategic relationships, and using internal customer feedback to drive continuous improvement.

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