Specialist, Remuneration, People & Culture, Group Functions

Liberty, a prominent financial services organisation, is seeking a skilled Remuneration Specialist to join their People & Culture team in Johannesburg. This role is integral to shaping the remuneration landscape for Group Functions, ensuring competitive and effective reward strategies that align with the broader organisational objectives. The successful candidate will play a crucial advisory role, drawing on deep industry knowledge and best practices to guide business units on all remuneration-related matters.

About the role

This position focuses on providing expert advice and strategic insights to drive the remuneration proposition within Liberty's Group Functions. It involves staying abreast of the latest market trends, competitive practices, and legislative changes to ensure that the organisation's reward strategies remain relevant and impactful. The specialist will act as a key consultant on remuneration, contributing to the development and implementation of policies, frameworks, and programmes that support the overall people strategy. This requires a keen understanding of how remuneration influences employee attraction, retention, and motivation.

The role demands a proactive approach to advising business leaders and stakeholders. This includes supporting the design and ongoing refinement of remuneration frameworks, ensuring they are not only competitive but also compliant and aligned with Liberty's overarching reward philosophy. A significant aspect of the role involves providing technical expertise and guidance on remuneration recommendations, ensuring consistency and fairness across the organisation. Furthermore, the specialist will be involved in managing the development and maintenance of all People & Culture reward-related policies, ensuring they are up-to-date and effectively communicated.

Key responsibilities for the Remuneration Specialist include:

• **Strategic Advisory:** Providing credible and effective advice to support the remuneration proposition for Business Unit's People Strategy.
• **Market Research & Insights:** Conducting best-practice research and maintaining a deep understanding of competitive markets and industry remuneration practices.
• **Policy Development & Management:** Managing the creation, maintenance, amendment, and discontinuation of People & Culture reward-related policies.
• **Benchmarking & Analysis:** Utilising remuneration benchmarking outputs to inform recommendations and ensure market competitiveness for the designated areas of responsibility.
• **Compliance & Best Practice:** Applying remuneration best practices, staying updated on the latest developments, and ensuring compliance with relevant laws and statutory regulations.
• **Stakeholder Engagement:** Advising Business Heads and other key stakeholders on remuneration recommendations, policies, and frameworks.
• **Governance & Reporting:** Promoting adherence to the Reward Governance Framework, managing delegated authority levels, and ensuring consistent presentation of reward data through standardised reporting, particularly during year-end review processes.
• **Reward Strategy Support:** Providing proactive technical and expert advice to support the development, design, and implementation of fit-for-purpose remuneration strategies aligned with the Group's Reward Philosophy.

What they're looking for

To be successful in this role, candidates will need a strong foundation in remuneration principles and practices, coupled with practical experience in a financial services environment. Essential qualifications and experience include:

• A minimum of a Business Commerce or Social Science degree.
• Certification as a Global Remuneration Professional (GRP) or equivalent qualification from World at Work is highly desirable.
• A minimum of 5-7 years of experience in designing and implementing remuneration solutions and frameworks.
• Preference will be given to candidates with international remuneration experience within the financial services sector.
• Experience providing specialist consulting advice in a medium to large organisation, or direct experience working for a specialist reward consulting firm.
• Proven ability to benchmark remuneration policies and practices to ensure market competitiveness and alignment with group imperatives.
• Demonstrated ability to use benchmarking outputs to inform strategic recommendations.
• A solid understanding of, and ability to apply, remuneration best practices, emerging trends, and changes in relevant legislation.
• Familiarity with Reward Governance Frameworks and standardised reporting processes.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to effectively advise and influence business leaders.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• A practical, results-oriented approach, with strong communication and interpersonal skills.

In South Africa, a specialist remuneration role of this nature, particularly within a large financial institution, would typically command a competitive salary range, often starting from R700,000 and potentially exceeding R1,000,000 per annum, depending heavily on experience, qualifications, and the specific scope of responsibilities. Liberty, as part of the broader Standard Bank Group, offers a robust platform for career growth within human resources and talent management, with potential pathways into broader HR leadership or specialised compensation and benefits roles.

Minimum qualifications

Minimum of a Business Commerce / Social Science degree

In addition, must be a Certified Global Remuneration Professional (GRP), World at Work

Experience required

• Minimum of 5-7 years experience in designing and implementing remuneration solutions and frameworks, preferably with an international footprint in a Finance Services organisation, with experience been gained in providing specialist consulting advice in a medium or large organisation or working for a specialist reward consulting organisation.
• Prior experience with benchmarking remuneration policies and practices to ensure market competitiveness for the Business Unit, while ensuring that there is alignment to Group imperatives.
• Ability to use the outputs of benchmarking to inform recommendations made to the business to ensure market competitiveness for the area of responsibility.
• Apply remuneration best practice and latest developments, as well as changes to relevant laws and statutory regulations to ensure that reward policies, processes and procedures align and remain compliant.
• Promote the Reward Governance Framework (Remco delegated authority levels), Remco standardised reporting for the year-end review process and any other ad hoc reports to ensure that there is consistency in the manner that reward data is presented.
• Advise on remuneration recommendations to ensure that they are in-line with the relevant policies and frameworks. Manage the provision for the development, maintenance, amendment, and discontinuation of People & Culture Reward related policies.
• Provide proactive technical and expert advice to Business Heads and other key stakeholders in support of the development, design and implementation of a fit-for-purpose BU reward strategy, aligned to Reward Philosophy.