Reward & Payroll Partner

Reward & Payroll Partner

We're looking for an experienced Reward & Payroll Partner to join our People team in Oxford, looking after reward, benefits and payroll across HydraB's operating companies. If you know UK payroll inside out, enjoy running a well-controlled salary review and take real pride in getting every employee's pay right, this one's for you.

THE CONTEXT

The UK's zero-emission transport sector is being built right now. HydraB is at the centre of it - developing the vehicles, hydrogen infrastructure, power systems and energy services that move decarbonisation from ambition to operational reality across bus, coach, fleet and energy markets. Five operating companies. One Group. A reward, benefits and payroll function that every employee depends on every single month. This role owns that.

THE ROLE

This is HydraB's operational expert for reward, benefits and payroll - a hands-on People team role covering the annual reward cycle, all benefit scheme administration and the monthly payroll process across a complex, multi-entity group.

Reporting to the Head of HR, you'll keep pay and reward data accurate, secure and audit-ready, and work closely with HR, Finance and our external providers to give employees a reliable experience and the business sound reward information.

We can offer this role on a 4 or 5 day working pattern, based fully on-site in Oxford. We'll work with the right person around the monthly payroll window and the annual reward and benefits cycles to make sure the pattern works in practice.

WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY DO

→ Own the monthly payroll process through the outsourced bureau via IRIS Staffology - preparing, validating and approving inputs across starters, leavers, contractual changes, variable pay, statutory payments and benefits
→ Run the annual salary review and bonus cycles - eligibility and pay data, review templates, budgets, validation and making sure every change lands accurately and on time
→ Administer incentive, bonus, commission and recognition payments against approved plan rules, with clear audit trails
→ Maintain grading, salary range and job evaluation data, keeping every role mapped correctly to the Group grading framework
→ Lead salary survey submissions and benchmarking, and provide pay data and market comparisons to support new hires, promotions and pay decisions
→ Manage all employee benefit schemes - pension, PMI, life assurance, income protection, critical illness, holiday purchase and car leasing - and act as day-to-day contact for providers and brokers
→ Maintain strong payroll and benefits controls - reconciliations, invoice validation, salary sacrifice, payroll journals with Finance and the annual P11D process
→ Produce reward, benefits and payroll reporting, including pay and bonus analysis and gender pay gap data
→ Keep the Group compliant with HMRC requirements, UK payroll legislation, pension auto-enrolment and GDPR
→ Spot and deliver improvements to processes, systems and controls, and advise managers and employees on pay and benefits queries with clarity and confidence

YOU'LL BE A GREAT FIT IF YOU

→ Have 5+ years' experience across reward, payroll and benefits in a UK organisation, ideally a multi-entity or group structure
→ Have run salary review and bonus cycles hands-on - data preparation, budget modelling and validating outcomes
→ Know UK payroll inside out - HMRC, RTI, statutory payments, pension auto-enrolment and year-end - and have managed an outsourced payroll provider
→ Have administered benefit schemes end-to-end - provider and broker relationships, salary sacrifice, reconciliations and P11D
→ Have advanced Excel skills and a high level of accuracy - comfortable building reward models and reconciling large data sets
→ Can spot risk in the numbers and keep records audit-ready without close supervision
→ Handle confidential pay data with absolute discretion and can explain reward and payroll matters clearly to non-specialists
→ Can manage your working pattern around payroll deadlines, the salary review cycle and benefits renewals without it becoming a problem

NICE TO HAVE

→ CIPP qualification or equivalent payroll experience
→ Experience of job evaluation, grading frameworks and salary surveys (e.g. WTW)
→ Familiarity with BambooHR, HealthBox HR or IRIS Staffology

WHAT WE OFFER

→ Pension - up to 8% employer contribution
→ Private medical & dental
→ 25 days holiday + bank holidays, with buy & sell flexibility
→ Life assurance - 4x basic salary
→ Income protection
→ Electric car salary sacrifice scheme
→ Cycle to Work scheme
→ Critical illness cover
→ Employee referral bonus
→ Employee Assistance Programme - 24/7, 365 days
→ Retail discounts & cashback via Fizz Benefits
→ Eyecare vouchers - Specsavers

HydraB is pioneering the UK's transition to net zero energy and transport - building the hydrogen and electric infrastructure that gets the sector to scale.