Reward Manager
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 13, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 8, 2026.
About us
You've probably heard of Autotrader, but do you know what we're all about?
We're the most trusted, most visited automotive marketplace in the UK. A heritage brand and a tech innovator. We bring together vehicle buyers and sellers to give them real choices. Cars may be what we're best known for but we’re also the place for pretty much everything else on wheels, from e-bikes to caravans.
In the automotive world, change is a constant, that’s why we take our job of untangling the complex car-buying journey very seriously.
At our core, we’re all about people. We go our own way while embracing diversity and celebrating our differences. We dedicate ourselves to the idea that we work better together.
Autotrader is a beautiful, surprising and vibrant place to work. We might not be for everyone, but we could be perfect for you.
About the role
We're looking for an experienced Reward Manager to help shape and evolve our reward offering across Autotrader. Reporting to the Head of Reward, you'll play a key strategic role in shaping and delivering our reward, benefits and wellbeing strategies. You'll lead key elements of the reward agenda, taking ownership from shaping strategy and building business cases through to implementation, communication, governance and evaluation.
You'll own the delivery of core reward programmes, including salary reviews, share plans, market benchmarking, job evaluation and reward reporting. You'll maintain our salary structures and job catalogue, ensuring job grading and benchmarking data within our People system remains accurate and well-governed. Combining strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, you'll ensure our reward proposition remains competitive, equitable, commercially sustainable and aligned with our business goals and culture.
You'll partner with senior stakeholders to solve complex reward challenges, using data, insight and sound judgement to deliver practical solutions. You'll also help shape and maintain our reward governance framework, supporting Remuneration Committee papers, executive reward reporting and regulatory compliance, while ensuring reward programmes are effectively communicated and managed.
Alongside reward, you'll lead our benefits and wellbeing agenda. You'll lead benefit renewals, market reviews, tenders, and contract negotiations, using cost, utilisation, employee feedback, and market insights to assess value and recommend changes. You'll oversee relationships with external providers, optimise our benefits platform, and lead engagement activities to improve understanding, participation, and the overall employee experience. You'll also help shape and deliver our wellbeing strategy, working with colleague networks and specialist partners to develop targeted initiatives and measure their impact, while supporting the governance and ongoing management of our pension arrangements, including provider relationships, communications and compliance activity.
As a manager within the People team, you'll lead, coach, and develop our Reward Advisor and Senior Reward Advisor, building reward capability across the wider function and driving continuous improvement, automation and simplification of reward processes.
What we're looking for
- Significant reward experience, ideally as a Reward Manager, Reward Partner, or Senior Reward Specialist, ready for the next step, with broad expertise across compensation, benefits and reward.
- Broad and well-developed reward expertise, with significant experience shaping and delivering compensation, benefits and wellbeing initiatives, including salary reviews, market benchmarking, incentive and share plans, pension and healthcare provision, flexible benefits, financial wellbeing and recognition programmes. Strong job evaluation and grading experience, including the application of recognised frameworks such as Willis Towers Watson, Hay or Mercer.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to partner with and influence senior and executive stakeholders, translating complex reward analysis into clear, compelling insights and recommendations.
- Advanced Excel and analytical capability, with experience in financial modelling, scenario analysis and translating complex reward data into clear executive-level insight and recommendations.
- Demonstrated people management experience, with the ability to lead, coach and develop Reward professionals.
- Experience leading projects and delivering multiple reward initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
- A practical, solutions-focused approach, with the confidence to navigate complexity and take ownership of outcomes.
- Strong commercial judgement and a sound understanding of reward governance, compliance and tax requirements, with the ability to assess the financial, regulatory and employee impact of reward decisions and make balanced recommendations.
Benefits
We’re offering a salary of £75,000 - £85,000 plus an additional 10% of your salary awarded to you in shares each year. These awarded shares will become yours in yearly instalments over the next three years, and you can choose to either sell them or keep them as shares.
You'll have 28 days holiday per year, and that's in addition to bank holidays and half day closures on Christmas and New Year's Eve.
That’s not all. You'll be enrolled in our pension scheme, where our standard contributions are 7% and employee contributions are 5%. We also have comprehensive private medical cover, enhanced family leave provisions, a car salary sacrifice scheme, share-save options, and much more.
We always want to give you the support you need and help prioritise your wellbeing, that’s why we provide access to Bupa digital GP, as well as specialist support for assisted fertility, gender dysphoria, menopause, period care plans and lots more.
On top of all that, our hybrid model, Connected Working, combines the best of both worlds - office and home working. You'll spend a minimum of 3 days a week in the office with your team, focused on collaboration and connection.
Additionally, we have our remote-first periods at set times during summer and winter. During these periods, you can work remotely anywhere in the UK and from certain locations abroad.
Alongside a wide range of benefits, we'll help you settle in with confidence from day one. If you're successful, one of the first things you'll experience is our tailored new-starter induction programme, Great Start, designed to help you feel welcome, connected, and set up for success.