
I started my career in reward on the client side, working directly for the businesses that needed the help. I loved it - genuinely, love-at-first-sight stuff, though I didn't know enough yet to know how much I didn't know. It was too early to make it my whole career, so I went in-house, where I could be as useful as possible while I learned.
From analyst to Director, that's what I kept doing: people data, then systems and operations, then process, then development and analytics, and lately AI. I write the code myself - R, Python, SQL, Power BI - because I'd rather build the answer than commission it.
What I enjoyed most, through all of it, was working directly with businesses again. Resolve Reward is that: working with businesses, building reward solutions that actually work, so you can get back to running yours.
Most recently Director of Reward & People Information at Marston's PLC, an 11,000-employee UK pub company. Seven employers, one specialism - the ladder below carries the rest of the argument.
Before the case studies - because you should be able to place me against the alternatives before you read a single project.
| What you need | Do nothing | Hire permanently | Big consultancy | Resolve Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed to get moving | None | Months of recruiting | Weeks of scoping | Days |
| Who touches the work | Nobody | One person, once hired | A team, often junior on delivery | Me |
| Cost to start | £0, problem stays | A full salary, year-round: a UK Reward Manager averages £88,786 before employer NIC and pension | Around £555 a day is the market median for one HR consultant; a consultancy bills a team of them, for weeks | A fixed price, agreed before we start |
| Right for | Nothing urgent | Full-time, ongoing volume | A large, multi-workstream transformation | One clear problem, solved and handed back |
| After the project | Gap remains | Stays on payroll regardless | Team rotates to the next account | I step back, you keep the diagnosis |
If your reward workload is genuinely a full-time job, hire permanently. I'll tell you that on the call too, not just here.
Salary figure: Reed UK average for Reward Manager, checked August 2026. Day rate: ITJobsWatch UK median for HR Consultant, August 2026.
500 job titles, 1,200 people, 16 countries, mapped into around 350 unique roles and graded into one framework - scoped and delivered solo, up to country MDs and the executive team.
Designed and ran a hospitality group's first pay-for-performance cycle for around 800 salaried leaders.
Three HR systems stitched into one automated daily pipeline, in-house - a consultancy had quoted the same job at half a million pounds.
Vendor shortlist to live enrolment for the UK arm of a global pharma group.
Platforms built at a global pharma group and an 11,000-employee UK hospitality business; Peakon engagement rose from 7.3 to 8.0 at one.
16 legacy bonus schemes consolidated into one; annual cycles run end to end ever since.
Company-wide Power BI and R analytics, built personally; a professional body's reporting migrated six months ahead of schedule.
References and LinkedIn recommendations are available on request - real ones only, which is why this section is still filling in.
No client quotes here yet - Resolve Reward is new, and I will not write one for myself. Ask on the call and I'll walk you through a redacted grading structure and board paper from a real pay cycle - the format your own would arrive in.
The projects above are the ones I'd point to if you asked why you should trust me with yours. Book 20 minutes and bring your actual problem.