At AVK, we are on an exciting journey of growth. Three years ago, our revenue was £66m, and we were a team of 140. Last year, our revenue grew fivefold to £325m, and we now have a headcount of over 375 people alongside vacancies across our teams to meet our growing and evolving projects.
As we scale across new geographies, we’re also shaping a future where growth is sustainable, inclusive and responsible. From cleaner power systems to educational outreach, we’re committed to leaving a positive environmental and social footprint.
Role Summary
To support this next phase of growth, we are creating a new Reward Manager role to build a robust and sustainable compensation and benefits infrastructure, allowing for us to retain and attract the talent which are critical to our success. A particular focus for this role will be job evaluation, market benchmarking, a benefits review and establishing a competitive total reward approach in all the markets where we operate.
What you’ll do
Reward infrastructure, processes and market benchmarking:
- Establish a consistent and relevant job architecture, ensuring alignment across multiple job families including Engineering, Sales, Project Delivery, Operations and Corporate Functions.
- Lead the design and implementation of compensation and benefits frameworks, including salary structures, pay bands and grading methodologies aligned to market conditions, geography and industry sector.
- Develop and maintain a job evaluation methodology that supports organisational growth, workforce planning and internal equity.
- Build and manage partnerships with external reward providers and benchmarking partners to ensure access to accurate and sustainable market intelligence.
- Conduct regular market benchmarking reviews and provide recommendations to ensure our reward offering remains competitive and commercially appropriate.
- Use reward data and analytics to inform decision-making, identify emerging trends and support workforce planning initiatives.
Operational Reward Excellence:
- Own and continuously improve core reward processes including annual pay reviews, bonus cycles, salary benchmarking and promotions.
- Ensure reward practices are fair, compliant and aligned with relevant legislation, governance requirements and company policies across all operating markets.
- Develop clear reward policies, frameworks and guidance to support managers in making consistent and equitable pay decisions.
- Partner closely with People Partners, Talent Acquisition and Finance teams to deliver a seamless and data-driven approach to reward management.
- Lead the review, redesign and ongoing management of employee benefits programmes, ensuring they meet employee needs whilst delivering value for the business.
- Monitor reward effectiveness through metrics, reporting and employee insights, identifying opportunities to enhance engagement, retention and overall employee experience.
- Maintain reward data integrity within HR systems and establish robust governance around compensation processes.
- Support the preparation of reward-related reporting for senior leaders, providing insights and recommendations that inform strategic decision-making.
Strategic Reward Partnering:
- Act as the organisation's subject matter expert for compensation, benefits and reward strategy.
- Partner with senior leaders to develop reward solutions that support business objectives, organisational growth and talent priorities.
- Contribute to the development of a compelling Employee Value Proposition through the design of a competitive and differentiated total reward offering.
- Drive continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to modernise reward practices, increase efficiency and enhance the employee experience.
Requirements
What you’ll bring
- Experience partnering in data centre, construction or engineering settings, bringing sector awareness and a strategic approach to enabling growth.
- Significant HR partnering experience in fast-paced, scaling, or international environments.
- Strong understanding of UK employment law with working knowledge of EU jurisdictions.
- Comfortable with ambiguity and change, able to prioritise and adapt quickly.
- Collaborative, pragmatic, and resilient, building trust and relationships through transparency and credibility.
- CIPD Level 7 or equivalent industry experience
- A commercial mindset; connecting People initiatives to business outcomes.
Why join us?
- Be part of an exciting team that’s growing fast and collaborating to figure things out.
- Shape the next phase of AVK’s growth journey across the UK and Europe.
- Partner closely with the Executive team, senior leaders and the People team to deliver impactful, integrated People solutions.
- Be part of a high-performing business where your expertise will make a visible difference.
Benefits
Base salary: £65,000 - £75,000
Eligible for travel allowance of £4944
Also eligible for participation in company bonus scheme - 10%