AJ Bell
Head of Reward
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Job Description
We’re looking for an experienced Reward professional to join AJ Bell as our new Head of Reward.
This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of the Reward agenda within a UK listed financial services business with ambitious growth plans. You may already be operating at Head of Reward level, or you could be an experienced Senior Reward Manager or Reward consultant looking for the opportunity to step into your first Head of Reward role.
What’s important is that you bring strong technical Reward expertise, particularly across executive remuneration and listed company reward, alongside the confidence and ambition to build relationships at the highest levels of the organisation and shape our future Reward strategy.
As Head of Reward, you will be responsible for the development, implementation and management of AJ Bell’s Reward strategy across executive and wider employee Reward. This includes base pay, incentives, benefits, share plans and executive remuneration, ensuring our approach supports our business strategy while meeting UK regulatory and corporate governance requirements.
This is a hands on leadership role offering significant exposure across the business. You’ll work closely with our Group People Officer, Executive Committee and senior leadership team, as well as supporting our Remuneration Committee and Board.
What you'll do:
- Shape our Reward strategy: Work closely with the HR Director and senior stakeholders to develop and deliver a competitive, sustainable and compliant Reward strategy that supports AJ Bell’s continued growth, talent strategy and employee engagement.
- Lead on executive remuneration: Take ownership of executive and senior management Reward, including annual bonus arrangements, LTIPs and other incentive plans. You'll support the development of recommendations and papers for the Remuneration Committee and help ensure our remuneration disclosures meet UK Corporate Governance Code and Listing Rules requirements.
- Support RemCo and Board governance: Provide high quality Reward analysis and recommendations to support senior decision-making, working with the HR Director, RemCo and Board. You'll also support engagement with shareholders, investors and proxy advisers on executive remuneration matters where required.
- Own our annual Reward activity: Lead key Reward processes including annual salary and bonus reviews, benchmarking and Reward analysis, ensuring our approach remains competitive, equitable and aligned with our business objectives.
- Develop wider employee Reward: Review and evolve our pay structures, Reward policies and broader employee proposition, using market insight and data to ensure we continue to attract, motivate and retain great people.
- Lead Reward governance and compliance: Ensure our Reward policies and practices meet relevant legislative, regulatory and governance requirements, including those applicable to a UK listed and FCA regulated business. You'll also play an active role in the preparation of the annual Directors' Remuneration Report and associated disclosures.
- Oversee employee share plans: Take responsibility for our employee share ownership arrangements, including our Share Incentive Plan (SIP), Free Shares Award plan and CSOPs.
- Shape our benefits proposition: Oversee our employee benefits offering, including pensions, healthcare and life assurance, ensuring it remains competitive, valued by our people and cost effective.
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What we're looking for:
We're open to candidates from both in-house Reward and specialist Reward consultancy backgrounds. You don't necessarily need to have been a Head of Reward for a significant period. This could be the opportunity for an accomplished Senior Reward Manager or senior Reward consultant to take the next step in their career.
You'll ideally bring:
- Strong Reward experience, with particular depth in executive remuneration and incentive design.
- Current or very recent experience of working within, or advising, a UK publicly listed organisation, with a good understanding of listed company remuneration and corporate governance requirements.
- Experience of executive incentive arrangements, including annual bonus and LTIP design and operation.
- Exposure to Remuneration Committees and/or Boards, whether through preparing papers and recommendations, presenting or directly advising senior stakeholders.
- A good understanding of Directors' Remuneration Reporting and the UK Corporate Governance Code.
- Broader Reward experience beyond executive compensation, which could include annual pay and bonus cycles, benchmarking, pay structures, employee incentives, share plans or benefits.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to turn complex Reward information into clear, commercially focused recommendations.
- The credibility and communication skills to build trusted relationships with senior executives, HR colleagues and Board level stakeholders.
- A hands on approach and willingness to move between strategic thinking and detailed delivery.
- Experience within financial services or another regulated environment would be advantageous, but isn't essential if you bring strong listed company Reward experience.
About us:
AJ Bell is one of the fastest-growing investment platform businesses in the UK offering an award-winning range of solutions that caters for everyone, from professional financial advisers to DIY investors with little to no experience. We have over 762,000 customers using our award-winning platform propositions to manage assets totalling more than £121.5 billion. Our customers trust us with their investments, and by continuously striving to make investing easier, we aim to help even more people take control of their financial futures.
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Having listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2018, AJ Bell is now a FTSE 250 company.
Headquartered in Manchester with offices in central London and Bristol, we now have over 1,500 employees and have been named one of the UK's 'Best 100 Companies to Work For’ for six consecutive years and in 2025 named a Great Place to Work®.
At AJ Bell you can expect a friendly working environment with a strong sense of teamwork, we have a great sense of pride in what we do, and this is reflected in our guiding principles.
Our perks and benefits
- Competitive salary and discretionary bonus scheme
- Starting holiday entitlement of 28 days, increasing up to 31 days with length of service plus a holiday buy and sell scheme
- A choice of pension schemes with matched contributions up to 8% (9% after 2 years)
- Death in service scheme
- Buy As You Earn (BAYE) Scheme
- Annual Free Shares Award Scheme
- PMI
- Health Cash Plan
- Free gym membership
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Enhanced maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave
- Paid time off for volunteer work
- Charitable giving opportunities through salary sacrifice
- Calendar of social events, including monthly payday drinks, annual Christmas party, summer party and much more
- Professional qualification support
- And much, much more!
Hybrid working
At AJ Bell, our people are the heart of our culture. We believe in building strong connections by working together. That's why we offer a hybrid working model, where you’ll spend a minimum of 50% of your working time per month in the office. For new team members, an initial period will be full-time in the office to help you immerse yourself in our business and build valuable relationships with your colleagues.
AJ Bell is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and all employees are empowered to bring their whole self to work.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, religion, physical and mental disability, marital status and any other characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. All decisions to hire are based on qualifications, merit and business need.
If you like the sound of the above, or just want to know more about the company and the role, we'd love to speak to you.
Business Areas: HR
Location: Manchester
Department: HR
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