Length of employment: Job Summary: DWP is looking to fill one role within the Strategic Reward Team, People and Capability Directorate. The Strategic Reward Pay Lead plays a pivotal role in shaping and delivering DWP's future Reward Strategy. This role is responsible for leading implementation of reward projects, ensuring business readiness, ensuring alignment with policy and system requirements, and leading cross-functional collaboration across HR, and wider stakeholders. Key responsibilities include overseeing project implementation, managing data-driven evaluations to inform strategic decisions, ensuring compliance with equality and data protection standards. The role also involves close collaboration with Pay Lead colleagues, and wider comms and Planning colleagues to ensure seamless delivery, whilst contributing to a high-performing, inclusive team culture. As a member of the Strategic Reward management team, the postholder provides leadership, shares expertise, and supports the delivery of high-impact reward initiatives across the Department. Job Description: Leading and driving forward implementation of reward projects, in support of shaping of the future Reward Strategy for DWP. Responsible for business readiness in advance of implementation activities set up in accordance with policies and systems during live running of projects, maintaining engagement with business leads, ensuring projects running to design, and leading any working groups. Ensure robust and relevant data collected across the implementation lifetime and driving evaluation of relevant data to support future strategic decisions. Own process for any changes to current systems for implementation activity and act as team point of contact to wider HR colleagues. Responsible for completion and maintenance of Equality Impact Assessments. Responsible for TU engagement on implementation activity. Collaborating closely with wider Reward Pay leads. Working with planning colleagues to create implementation plans, and ensure these are regularly updated, risks mitigated, data protection impact assessments completed and change load considered. Tracking funding and spending. Ability to support across other strands of activity as and when required in the small and busy team. As part of the management team for Strategic Reward Team, sharing of knowledge and providing leadership to ensure the team is focused on priority activity, actively contributing to the positive and inclusive team culture. DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours. Generous annual leave - at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. Essential criteria: Outcome Orientated: Demonstrable experience of taking HR design into delivery - through successful implementation of a HR project at pace within a large and complex organisation (LEAD CRITERIA). Proven experience of successfully managing risks / issues / priorities and budgets and taking through governance routeways to support successful delivery, overcoming delivery issues and setting out clear processes and managing performance at all levels. Strong experience of stakeholder management. Able to engage both internally and externally, to your immediate business area in service of successful project delivery, successfully influencing, gaining buy in and taking stakeholders on a journey. Excellent communication skills, able to demonstrate experience of presenting complex arguments in a clear and accessible way that has changed the mind or influenced the view of key decision-makers. Able to demonstrate strong inter-personal skills and the ability to understand and take account of different opinions in developing your approach. Ability to build positive connections across teams at working and senior levels, and to manage and resolve blockers to support delivery. Strong ability to work through ambiguity, demonstrating flexibility in response to changing circumstance, whilst maintaining performance, momentum and morale. Able to evidence robust consideration of diversity and inclusion within delivery activity, understanding and taking action to mitigate any potential adverse impacts. Proactive and able to deliver timely quality outcomes independently and through effective collaboration with others. Desirable criteria: Ideally experienced within the pay / reward discipline and an understanding of pay systems. Knowledge and experience of working in complex, multi layered stakeholder landscape, transformation projects and programmes. You must have achieved CIPD Chartered membership or be willing to work towards this upon commencement of your role. Written Sift: As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. The CV is an on-line tool accessed through the Civil Service Jobsite and there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility but is not scored so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement. A personal statement (maximum 1250 words), explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role against the key criteria in the person specification, with particular reference to the essential criteria. If we receive a large number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criteria: \"Outcome Orientated: Demonstrable experience of taking HR design into delivery - through successful implementation of a HR project at pace within a large and complex organisation''. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. Interview: Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an online interview lasting up to 60 minutes. The interview panel will be a minimum of three people. The interview will assess Behaviours and Strengths. The interview aims to be more of a conversation exploring the candidate's capability for the role. During the first 5 minutes of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a presentation. Please note that visual aids will not be permitted. To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions and presentation topic 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up probing questions. If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read the DWP AI Candidate Guide to understand how you can make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective. Sift and Interview Dates Sift: w/c 7th July (to be confirmed) Interview: w/c 28th July (to be confirmed) Further Information Find out more about Working for DWP A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. Any move to DWPfrom another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website. If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing stating the job reference number in the subject heading. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. Feedback