Senior Specialist – Compensation & Benefits

Job Purpose: The Senior Specialist – Compensation & Benefits is a professional, hands-on role responsible for the day-to-day delivery, administration and analysis of Independent Food Company's compensation and benefits programmes, including salary structures, job grading, incentive schemes, employee benefits and payroll governance across corporate and restaurant operations. The role ensures that reward practices are accurate, compliant, market-competitive and internally equitable, providing reliable data, analysis and recommendations that enable leadership to make informed reward decisions while maintaining pay transparency and cost efficiency. Acting as the organisation's subject-matter expert on compensation and benefits, the role supports business growth, new restaurant openings and talent attraction and retention across all brands and geographies, working closely with HR Business Partners, Operations and Finance. While the role is primarily operational and analytical, the successful incumbent is expected to contribute specialist insight to the development of reward policies, frameworks and the annual rewards plan, and to continuously improve the accuracy, efficiency and controls of compensation and benefits processes. Key Responsibilities 1. Compensation Management & Salary Structures Implement the organisation's total rewards philosophy and annual rewards plan, ensuring compensation practices support the attraction, retention and motivation of talent across corporate and operational roles. Maintain salary structures and pay ranges for all job families and levels, covering restaurant, corporate and leadership roles, and recommend adjustments based on market movement and internal equity. Coordinate the annual salary review process, including merit and increment modelling, eligibility checks, application of guidelines, approval tracking and accurate implementation of outcomes. Monitor pay equity across brands, roles and geographies, flagging anomalies and proposing corrective actions that balance market competitiveness with cost efficiency. Prepare salary recommendations for new hires, promotions, transfers and critical roles, ensuring offers are positioned correctly within approved ranges. 2. Job Evaluation & Grading Conduct job evaluations for new and changed roles using the approved methodologyensuring correct grading and internal alignment. Maintain the organisation's job architecture, grading structure and job evaluation records, ensuring documentation is accurate and up to date. Ensure consistent application of grading methodologies across head office and restaurant roles, highlighting inconsistencies for review and resolution. Support the maintenance of career ladders and role progression frameworks in coordination with Talent Management. Advise HR Business Partners and line managers on grading outcomes and their pay implications. 3. Incentive & Variable Pay Administer incentive and bonus schemes for restaurant operations, including incentives, sales and KPI-based commissions and team performance bonuses. Calculate, validate and reconcile incentive payouts against approved business KPIs such as sales, profitability, labour cost and customer experience, ensuring accurate and timely payment. Analyse incentive scheme effectiveness and behavioural impact, recommending enhancements that improve performance outcomes and value for money. Partner with Operations and Finance to model scheme costs and ensure incentive plans remain financially sustainable. Prepare clear scheme documentation, eligibility rules and communication materials for managers and employees. 4. Benefits Administration & Vendor Management Administer employee benefits programmes, including medical insurance, life insurance, leave entitlements and statutory benefits, ensuring accurate enrolments, changes and claims support. Coordinate annual benefits renewals with providers and brokers, preparing utilisation data, cost analysis and comparisons of quotations. Support the evaluation and negotiation of benefits providers to ensure cost-effectiveness and employee value, and manage day-to-day vendor relationships. Benchmark benefits against the UAE F&B, retail and hospitality market to ensure the offering remains competitive. Track benefits utilisation, costs and employee satisfaction, recommending improvements to the benefits offering. 5. Payroll Governance, Policy & Compliance Review and validate monthly payroll inputs related to salaries, allowances, incentives and benefits, ensuring payroll is accurate, timely and compliant with UAE Labour Law and internal policies. Work closely with Finance and HR Operations on payroll reconciliations, controls and audits, supporting the timely closure of audit observations. Ensure compliance with the Wage Protection System (WPS) where applicable and regional regulations, and prepare statutory reporting related to compensation and benefits. Draft and update total rewards policies and procedures, ensuring governance and consistency in reward decisions. Process compensation exceptions in line with the approved approval framework and Delegation of Authority, maintaining complete documentation for internal audit purposes. 6. Reward Analytics, Budgeting & Stakeholder Support Participate in compensation and benefits surveys and conduct regular benchmarking against relevant F&B, retail and hospitality markets, analysing market trends and pay competitiveness. Develop and maintain dashboards and reports on total rewards metrics, including pay competitiveness ratio (PCR), compensation cost as a percentage of revenue, incentive payout efficiency, benefits utilisation rate and salary positioning by grade. Prepare the annual compensation and benefits budget in partnership with Finance, forecasting salary increases, bonus pools and benefits costs, and monitor monthly spend against budget. Provide insights on pay competitiveness, attrition risks, cost implications and opportunities to improve labour cost efficiency. Act as the first point of contact for compensation and benefits matters, advising HR Business Partners, Operations and line managers, and supporting new restaurant openings and new markets with appropriate compensation frameworks. Qualifications & Experience Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business Administration, Economics or a related field. Professional certifications such as CIPD, GRP or equivalent are preferred. 5–7 years of experience in Compensation & Benefits / Total Rewards, preferably within retail, hospitality, F&B or multi-site operational businesses. Hands-on experience in job evaluation methodologies (Hay, Mercer or equivalent), salary benchmarking and the administration of both corporate and high-volume operational pay structures. Proven exposure to incentive calculation and administration for frontline workforces, benefits administration and payroll governance, with sound knowledge of UAE Labour Law and WPS requirements. Strong analytical and numerical skills with advanced Excel and experience of HRIS/payroll systems, combined with high attention to detail, discretion with confidential information and the ability to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels. Show more Show less