Compensation Manager, Management

The role will lead the compensation strategy, design, governance, and delivery across Europe, including executive remuneration, annual and long-term incentives, job architecture and salary structures, ensuring practices are competitive, compliant, equitable, and aligned to business objectives in regulated financial services.

Accountabilities:

Regional Compensation Strategy and Design: Own the development and maintenance of regional salary structures and job architecture within the global framework, ensuring alignment with global standards while adapting to local market conditions and regulatory requirements. Drive regional benchmarking, pay modelling, and competitive analysis to support talent attraction and retention, partnering closely with global teams to execute annual cycle parameters and maintain governance consistency.

Annual Compensation Year-end Process: Lead the regional execution of the annual compensation cycle, including modelling, calibration, risk adjustment, and communication. Oversee data integrity and reporting for the region, and collaborate with global teams on system enhancements and process automation to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Executive Compensation & Governance: Implement executive pay frameworks across the region, tailoring them to local compliance and cultural nuances. Provide strategic input for Remuneration Committee and Board reporting, ensuring accurate regional disclosures and alignment with global governance standards.

Financial Management: Partner with finance to ensure that the annual compensation expense remains within plan and annual forecasting incorporates compensation planning. Work will also involve working with HR team and finance on financial regulatory reports (FINREP) and the annual financial statements, as applicable.

Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management: Partner with the Europe HR Regulatory and Risk team to manage the MRT identification process and produce and deliver complete and accurate regulatory reports and disclosures and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements. Maintain audit-ready documentation and lead responses to regulatory reviews, embedding robust governance and risk controls into all compensation processes.

Stakeholder Engagement & Advisory: Serve as the regional subject matter expert for compensation, advising HR Talent Consultants, and senior leaders on pay decisions and market trends and act as a point of contact for compensation escalations ensuring that escalations are handled in a timely and efficient manner. Influence stakeholders with clear insights on regulatory risks, competitive positioning, and pay-for-performance alignment to support strategic business objectives.

Team Leadership: Manage and develop the regional compensation team, building expertise in compensation, executive pay, regulatory compliance, and analytics. Foster a culture of continuous improvement and capability building across compensation practices.

Experience required:

• Generally, the role requires a degree or equivalent but candidates with exceptional experience without a qualification to degree level will be considered.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in compensation management, preferably within the financial services.
• Demonstrable proven success in the design, operation and management sales incentive plans.
• Practical knowledge and understanding of key European compensation legal and regulatory topics applicable to credit institutions and investment firms.
• Experience in developing, implementing, and managing risk and compliance associated with frameworks, policies, and procedures.
• Proven track record of designing communications to senior executives and broader employee communications.
• Demonstrable experience of interaction, influencing and reaching agreed upon solutions at management and executive levels.
• Proven track record of working independently on their own initiative and delivering practical outcomes to a professional standard.
• Proven to be resilient and able to handle multiple priorities, meeting deadlines whilst maintaining high work standards, with impeccable attention to detail in performance of all tasks.
• Experience in managing different stakeholders including second and third lines of defense.
• Collaborative approach with strong emphasis on delivery and execution.