SEO HR Pay, Reward and Project Lead

Job summary

Could your passion for HR, alongside an inquisitive and innovative nature, make you the ideal candidate to strengthen our approach to pay and reward?

This is an exciting opportunity for an HR professional with strong analytical skills to step into a high‑impact role at the centre of a large and complex organisation. As a Pay and Reward SEO in the Department for Education, you will help shape how pay, reward and job evaluation support more than 7,000 employees to deliver outcomes that matter nationwide.

You will join a small, expert team responsible for turning data, insight and policy into practical reward solutions. The role offers real breadth, from supporting delivery of the annual pay review and advising on complex cases, to leading strategic projects that align reward with workforce priorities and organisational change. Your work will help ensure pay decisions are evidence based, fair and transparent, while supporting long‑term workforce sustainability.

This role is well suited to an HR professional who enjoys working with data and complexity. You will analyse information from multiple sources, build models and options, and use your professional judgement to draw clear conclusions. Just as importantly, you will translate that analysis into compelling advice for senior leaders, influencing decisions at pace and with confidence.

You will work collaboratively across HR and the wider department, building strong relationships and helping stakeholders understand how pay and reward can be a powerful lever for performance, engagement and retention. Looking ahead, the team is focused on developing a more future‑focused approach to reward, ensuring it keeps pace with evolving roles, skills and labour market pressures.

If you are motivated by problem‑solving, insight‑driven decision making and shaping outcomes that affect thousands of people, this role offers both challenge and purpose.

Job description

This role offers a varied and high‑impact portfolio. Responsibilities will be shaped around departmental priorities and your strengths, but you will typically:

• Deliver annual pay reviews by supporting the full end‑to‑end implementation of the DfE pay award. This includes strategic planning, option modelling, departmental trade union engagement, programme management and providing assurance on complex pay calculations that support audit compliance.
• Lead significant pay and reward projects across both delegated grades and the Senior Civil Service. You will take work from initial scoping through to delivery, particularly where there are strategic workforce implications or significant operational impact.
• Manage complex pay casework by assessing and advising on non‑standard pay business cases, resolving challenging or sensitive issues, and improving policies, processes and guidance to strengthen consistency, efficiency and transparency.
• Produce high‑quality briefings and submissions for senior leaders, including the Permanent Secretary and Ministers. You will translate complex information into clear, timely advice aligned to departmental priorities.
• Lead job evaluation activity across the department, carrying out evaluations and providing oversight to ensure quality, consistency and robust governance.
• Build strong stakeholder relationships across DfE, working collaboratively with HR colleagues, senior leaders and delivery partners to influence outcomes and deliver effective pay and reward solutions.
• Work in partnership across government, sharing expertise, identifying best practice and contributing to cross‑government pay and reward activity to support continuous improvement.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Ability to provide technical/expert advice on pay and reward, including applying (or quickly building) knowledge of Civil Service pay frameworks and guidance.
• Experience of leading HR projects through to delivery, including working with multiple stakeholders and managing competing priorities.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to produce clear advice and briefings for senior audiences.
• Strong problem-solving skills, using evidence to develop options and make recommendations.

Desirable Criteria:

Experience

• Experience of leading Pay and reward related projects that involve working with multiple stakeholders.

Technical

• Job evaluation expertise or experience, and/or willingness to undertake additional role-specific training in this field.

Desirable criteria will only be assessed at interview, in the event of a tie break situation, to make an informed decision.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Demonstrable technical knowledge of HR, ideally supported by a relevant professional qualification (e.g. CIPD Level 5 or above) or a commitment to work towards one
• Strong analytical skills, including confidence working with large datasets (e.g. pay, workforce, recruitment/retention) to develop options, quantify impacts and provide clear recommendations that align with Civil Service pay frameworks and guidance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,806, Department for Education contributes £12,400 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Application

Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)

When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. Achieving the minimum pass mark does not guarantee progression to Stage 4, the written application.

Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)

When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage. Achieving the minimum pass mark does not guarantee progression to Stage 4, the written application.

Stage 3: Test score evaluation

At this stage, candidates who score below the 36th percentile in the verbal test and below the 38th percentile in the numerical test will be withdrawn from the process. The only exceptions are candidates applying under the DCS, RIS, and VET schemes.

Please note: The tests will close two working days before the advert closing date. Tests will need to be completed before the test deadline to proceed to stage 4.

Stage 4 - Written Application

Step 1: CV, Personal Statement and Technical Question

At this stage, applications will be assessed against the Experience and Technical elements of the role.

Candidates will be required to submit:

• a CV
• a personal statement of no more than 750 words, explaining how their experience meets the essential criteria outlined in the person specification.
• In addition, candidates must respond to a technical criteria question. This response should be no more than 250 words and should provide an example of a time when you applied analytical skills to draw evidence‑based conclusions for an HR related project.

If there is a large volume of applications, the sift may be restricted to the first essential criteria and technical skill only.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

More guidance on personal statements can be found here – completing your application.

Step 2: Interview

If successful at sift, candidates will be assessed via interview.

This will assess the Experience and Technical skill elements of Success Profiles, through a presentation and interview questions. You will receive the presentation topic in advance of the interview.

For more information on the selection process, including guidance on how to write a personal statement, answer behaviour and strength-based interview questions, and the STAR approach click here: Top tips for acing the application.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Important Information

If you fail to complete the tests before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are untimed, administered via Civil Service Jobs, and applicant guidance is available during the test and online on GOV.UK Online Tests guidance.

Applicants must complete the test on their own, without help, and Departments reserve the right to retest applicants under supervised conditions at later stages of the selection process. Doing this can provide reassurance to recruiters who are concerned about the authenticity of one or more test results.

Please ensure you allow yourself sufficient time to complete both assessments and submit your application before the advertised deadline.

Reasonable adjustments & test accessibility:

See our reasonable adjustments guide for candidates (online tests), or some example case studies, to act as a guide. You can use these to help you decide whether to ask for help or take the test without help.

More information about online tests can be found here: Preparing for the Civil Service Verbal and Numerical tests - GOV.UK. You will also find practice tests on this page if you would find them helpful prior to completing the live test.

Other Information

Interviews may be via Microsoft teams or face to face; the vacancy manager will confirm prior to the Interview.

In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

• name/title

• educational institutions

• age

• gender

• email address

• postal address

• phone number

• nationality/immigration status

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs

Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Please refer to the attached ‘Reasonable Adjustments Guide 05_2025 – accessible version’ at the bottom of the advert, for further information.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil 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.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Tom McGregor
• Email : Tom.McGregor@education.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk

Further information

The Department for Education’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via CentralRecruitment.Operations@education.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages

Attachments

DFE Terms & Conditions - accessible version (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 215kB)Reasonable Adjustments guide 05_2025 - accessible version (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 723kB)