Reward Analyst, HR​/Recruitment

About The Role

We have an excellent opportunity for a highly skilled Senior Reward Analyst to join the Group Reward Team at DS Smith reporting to the EMEA Reward Manager. In this high impact role, you will partner closely with Reward colleagues and Regional HR teams to support a fair, consistent, and competitive reward offering that enables the business to attract, retain, and engage top talent.

You will apply and continue to develop your specialist reward expertise, supporting key reward processes, frameworks, and policies, while managing the full reward lifecycle for our global senior leadership cadre. This is a wide-ranging role with significant exposure across the business and the opportunity to contribute to impactful, organisation wide initiatives.

• Coordinate and evaluate analysis for the operational management of reward for the global senior leadership cadre across the full employee lifecycle (new hires, promotions, leavers).
• Work closely with the Group Reward Manager to deliver all aspects of the annual compensation review process for the senior leadership cadre.
• Provide benchmark data and analytical insight to support senior leadership package recommendations.
• Provide training and guidance to the wider HR network.
• Responsible for managing the annual reward processes including salary, bonus, and long-term incentive planning.
• Support the maintenance and evolution of reward policies, frameworks and governance processes.

• Lead job evaluation and salary benchmarking activities, using Mercer and Willis Towers Watson methodologies.
• Provide analysis and market data to support the review and development of salary frameworks across all job levels and c.30 countries.
• Coordinate the annual submission of salary survey data to external providers.
• Analyses trends and advise on changes that could maintain our competitive and fair pay positioning.

• Calculate statutory reporting requirements for the PLC (e.g., CEO-to-employee pay ratio for the Annual Report, Gender Pay Gap, DRR, etc.).
• Support the Group Reward team with analytical input into major reward projects (e.g., Workday compensation implementation, Rem Co papers).
• Produce high-quality reward analytics, reports and dashboards for stakeholders.
• Ensure data integrity within reward systems and processes.

• Act as the first line contact for HR queries on Group Reward principles, frameworks, processes, and governance.
• Partner with Regional HR teams to provide reward expertise and guidance.
• Act as trusted advisor on reward matters including job evaluation, grading, salary positioning.

• Support reward-related projects and initiatives.
• Drive continuous improvement in reward processes and systems.

We are looking for someone who is highly analytical, detail driven, and confident working with data to produce clear, meaningful insights. You’ll be organised, proactive, and able to manage multiple priorities while building strong relationships across the business. You’ll be comfortable influencing others, working independently, and collaborating across teams, with strong technical capability in Excel.

Core Competencies & Attributes

• Strong analytical skills with excellent attention to detail
• Experience using Excel, formulas and data consolidation tools
• Knowledge of statistical methods
• Confident and proactive problem-solver
• Strong planning and organisational capability
• Able to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines
• Clear communicator with strong stakeholder management skills
• Comfortable working both autonomously and collaboratively

• Experience in Reward and HR experience with a strong knowledge of reward processes.
• Experience in managing core operational reward activities, including annual pay review, short-term incentives and ideally senior-level reward packages.
• Knowledge of long-term incentive plans and share schemes
• Exposure to international reward practices and multi-country compensation
• Experience in analytics or reporting roles
• Familiarity with HR systems…