Head of Reward – Whitbread PLC
Location: Dunstable (3 days working in the office, 2 days from home or alternative location)
Function: People Team
Package: £130,000 - £140,000 + up to 50% bonus + Private Healthcare + bens
Reporting to: Reward, Pensions & Insight Director
Lead Reward Strategy at Scale. Shape the Future of Hospitality.
At Whitbread, we're proud to be one of the UK's leading hospitality businesses, with a heritage that goes back nearly 300 years Whitbread is home to Premier Inn, Bar+Block, Beefeater and more. With a significant multi-million pound investment in reward every year, we're looking for a strategic and commercially astute Head of Reward to lead our UK-wide reward, pay, incentive, benefits and recognition strategy.
This is a rare opportunity to influence how we attract, retain and engage our 35,000+ team, from our team members and managers in our hotels and restaurants to our support centres in Dunstable and London.
What You'll Be Responsible For
* Designing and delivering a future-focused reward architecture across pay, incentives, benefits and recognition.
* Managing the annual pay and incentive cycles for both hourly-paid and salaried populations.
* Partnering with ExCo, Operations Leadership, HR and Finance to align Reward with business strategy.
* Driving a recognition culture that celebrates performance, loyalty, and service.
* Ensuring compliance, governance, and financial control across all reward activities.
* Leading a high-performing team of Reward professionals.
What Makes This Role Unique
* Scale & Breadth: Influence the full spectrum of reward strategy across a large multi-sited, hourly-paid workforce and corporate teams.
* Strategic Impact: Shape frameworks that support attraction, retention and progression.
* Visibility & Influence: Work closely with senior leaders and your external Reward networks.
* Innovation & Challenge: Navigate a complex labour market and evolving reward landscape.
What We're Looking For
* Proven experience managing reward for a multi-site, hourly-paid workforce.
* Deep expertise in pay, incentives, benefits and recognition strategy.
* Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at the highest levels and ability to continue developing team (3 x direct reports, wider team of 6)
* Commercially savvy, data-driven and passionate about creating equitable and engaging reward solutions.
* A natural networker who thrives on external benchmarking and thought leadership.
Ready to Make an Impact?
Join Whitbread and help shape a reward strategy that supports our people, drives performance, and reflects our values. If you're a strategic thinker with a passion for people and performance—we want to hear from you.