People Service Senior Adviser - Pay and Reward at The Electoral Commission in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh

Job summary

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we continue to deliver our five-year Corporate Plan, the Commission is building on a period of growth and change, expanding our workforce and modernising how we deliver our services to better support the needs of a changing democracy. As our organisation develops and adapts to meet future challenges, this post will play a vital part in supporting that progress and helping ensure we remain responsive to the democratic needs of voters, campaigners, parties and electoral administrators across the UK.

We believe people do their best work when they have the flexibility, support and recognition they need to thrive. That's why we offer flexible and hybrid working arrangements that help colleagues balance work and personal commitments, supported by a flexi-time scheme that gives greater autonomy over the working day. With generous leave allowances, a highly competitive Civil Service pension and performance-related pay, our benefits package is designed to support your wellbeing, reward your contribution and provide security for the future.

About the role

This is an opportunity to build your career in pay and reward in a role where your analysis, judgement and advice will directly influence the experience of colleagues across the Electoral Commission.

Working across People Services, you will deliver a varied portfolio covering pay reviews, promotions, retention cases, payroll assurance, statutory and contractual pay, job evaluation, benchmarking and reward. Alongside this, you will provide advice and support on contractual changes and more complex employee queries, including pensions and retirement.

You will work with colleagues and senior stakeholders to turn complex pay information into clear, practical advice and support fair, consistent and evidence-based decisions.

No two periods of the year will look exactly the same. You could be analysing pay data and identifying an issue, reviewing payroll outputs, advising on a complex pay case or contributing evidence to future reward and benefits decisions.

Job description

you will:

• deliver annual and ad hoc pay activity, providing professional advice and constructive challenge to support fair and consistent decisions
• review and validate payroll outputs, investigating discrepancies and coordinating their resolution
• calculate and advise on statutory and contractual pay entitlements, including family-related and sickness pay
• analyse pay and reward data, undertake benchmarking, job evaluation and reporting, and translate findings into clear recommendations
• contribute to the development of our reward and benefits approach by analysing uptake, cost, value and market information
• provide technical guidance and coaching to colleagues, sharing your knowledge and helping build capability across People Services
• identify practical improvements to our processes, guidance and controls, helping make our services simpler, more accurate and effective.

Person specification

We are looking for someone who combines strong analytical ability with sound professional judgement and a practical approach to solving problems.

You may already work in pay and reward, compensation, payroll or a broader HR or People Services environment. More important than your current job title is your ability to work confidently with pay information, spot discrepancies, understand their implications and turn your findings into accurate, accessible advice.

You will bring:

• Experience of working in an HR/People Services, payroll or reward environment and providing advice on pay and employee matters.
• Practical experience of pay and payroll activity, including reviewing information, identifying discrepancies and supporting their accurate and timely resolution.
• Experience of calculating or validating statutory and contractual pay entitlements, including maternity, paternity, sickness or other family-related pay.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with experience of using people, payroll or reward data to identify issues and inform recommendations.
• The ability to explain technical or complex information clearly and work constructively with a range of stakeholders.

Knowledge of broader reward practices such as pay structures, benefits, job evaluation, market benchmarking and equal pay considerations would be valuable.

We are interested in the evidence you can bring from your experience, including transferable experience gained in different sectors and working environments.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,031, The Electoral Commission contributes

£11,596 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Why work for us?

The Role:

This is an opportunity to join at an important point in the development of People Services. As part of a newly created team, you will have the space to bring your experience and ideas, learn from colleagues and contribute to how our pay and reward services develop.

The role also offers breadth that is not always available in a specialist pay position. You will gain exposure across pay, payroll assurance, statutory pay, job evaluation, benchmarking, reward and benefits rather than focusing on one narrow area.

You will be able to deepen your professional expertise while seeing the practical impact of your work across the Commission, whether that is resolving an individual pay issue, improving a process or providing analysis that informs wider pay and reward decisions.

The Office:

Our offices provide welcoming, collaborative spaces where colleagues can connect, share ideas and work together across teams. Whether based in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, or even remotely you will be part of a supportive working environment that balances the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility of hybrid working.

The Benefits:

Alongside the professional development offered by the role, you will join an organisation that recognises the importance of flexibility, wellbeing and long-term financial security.

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Flexible working and hybrid model for office-based staff, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent in the office
• Flexi-time scheme, allowing flexible hours with the option to accrue and take flexi leave
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Performance-related pay

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

Do not include:

• Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details
• Your date of birth or age
• Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers
• A photo of yourself
• Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age
• There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

Do include:

• Your employment history including employers and dates of employment
• Explanation for gaps in your history
• Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV.

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and non-disabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: 19thOctober 2026 (23:59)
• Interviews: Week commencing 26thOctober 2026 (TBC)
• Anticipated start date: 7thDecember 2026

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)

and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Further information

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