Benefits and Payroll Specialist at Metrea in London, England, GB

Company Overview

Metrea delivers effects-as-a-service to national security partners across five domains and more than a dozen mission areas. These include airborne ISR, electronic warfare, secure communications, aerial refueling, special air missions, aerial firefighting, and advanced simulation. We own the whole stack: designing, building, and operating turnkey capabilities that give our partners decisive, asymmetric advantage against rapidly evolving threats.

Our operating model is built around three interlocking pillars. The Support Groups provide a global shared-service – spanning people, finance, platform, operations, legal, and engagement. This frees up our Core Groups, who develop and own mission capabilities end-to-end, to focus entirely on delivery. The Market Groups apply a regional lens, ensuring that our agile and adaptable capabilities remain aligned to the wicked problems that matter most to our partners across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

At the heart of our model is a simple but powerful idea: be a true partner with skin in the game. Our partners need effects, not just equipment. By owning the full stack – from the lab to the field – we are able to drive a continuous cycle of innovation that keeps our partners ahead. It's a fast-moving, intellectually demanding environment where talented people are given real responsibility, work on problems that matter, and contribute to an enterprise that is growing quickly and deliberately.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, with facilities across the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as Continental Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Position Summary

You'll be joining Metrea at a moment of real growth, headcount is increasing, legal entities are multiplying across Europe, and our benefits landscape is expanding with them. Working closely with our Head of Total Rewards, you'll be the person who keeps benefits administration running accurately and compliantly across five-plus European entities, while also helping to build the frameworks, documentation, and processes that don't yet exist. Alongside this, you'll work with our Payroll Manager to run payroll operations across the region bringing the same rigour to pay as you do to benefits. This is a fast-moving environment that rewards people who are systematic by nature but flexible enough to operate without a complete playbook. If you have genuine benefits experience, are comfortable running payroll, and want to build something properly rather than maintain something finished, this is the role for you

What You'll Do

• Administer employee benefits programmes across multiple European legal entities; health, insurance, retirement, and statutory plans, managing renewals, eligibility, vendor relationships, and day-to-day issue resolution
• Serve as the first point of contact for teammates across the region on all things benefits, onboarding new joiners onto programmes and supporting existing employees with queries, changes, and escalations
• Maintain accurate benefits data, documentation, and governance materials across all jurisdictions, ensuring audit readiness and regulatory compliance
• Support the implementation of new benefit platforms and programmes in partnership with the Head of Total Rewards
• Run payroll operations across European entities in partnership with the Payroll Manager including; calculations, validations, and timely processing — ensuring compliance with local legislation and accurate record-keeping
• Act as a key point of contact for payroll queries, escalating to the Payroll Manager where needed
• Partner closely with People Partners, finance, and the Head of Total Rewards to deliver joined-up people programmes, and continuously look for ways to improve the efficiency and employee experience of both benefits and payroll operations

What You Bring

• A degree in HR, Business, or a related field — or equivalent experience
• 3–5 years in a benefits, total rewards, or HR operations role, with hands-on experience administering employee benefits programmes; UK benefits experience is essential and EMEA exposure — particularly across markets such as Sweden, Poland, Greece, or France — is a significant advantage
• A solid working knowledge of employee benefits — statutory and supplemental — and the appetite to expand that knowledge across new jurisdictions as Metrea grows
• Experience running payroll, ideally across multiple entities or geographies, with a strong grasp of compliance and data accuracy
• Comfortable working with data — able to prepare, interrogate, and present benefits and vendor information accurately and independently
• Proven ability to manage vendor relationships and hold partners to service standards
• Strong attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture — you can operate in the weeds and still ask whether the process is right
• Able to work with ambiguity — you don't need everything defined before you start, and you can build structure where there isn't any yet

Benefits

• Private Medical Insurance
• Subsided gym membership / plans through Wellhub
• Electric Car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrificed pension scheme
• Free lunch on office days
• Enhanced Parental Leave
• 30 days annual PTO plus b/h
• Bonus Scheme
• Personal development opportunities

Work Authorization / Security Clearance

The employee will have the legal right to work in the  UK and will be able to produce right to work documentation.   

AAP/EEO Statement

Metrea Management Limited (MAM) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or other characteristics protected by law

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position with typical working hours of Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Hours and work shifts may change in accordance with department and business needs.

Work Environment

London Office (located in Hammersmith).

Travel

Travel to European offices at least once a quarter.

Our Firmware

At Metrea, our single core value is Rooted in Humility, and our four cornerstone attributes are Entrepreneurial, Systematic, Discerning, and Over-Deliver. These form what we call our Teammate Firmware. Just like technical firmware connects software and hardware, our Firmware is the constant interface between our mission and our people. It defines how we show up, how we work together, and how we solve complex problems.

Our team Firmware creates a web-like, hyper-collaborative, dynamically hierarchical way of working that helps us adapt quickly, communicate openly, and distribute decision-making to where expertise actually lives. It enables groups to self-organize around hard problems, shift fluidly as priorities evolve, and operate with the trust, curiosity, and discipline required in a complex mission space. This foundation allows us to deliver elegant, effective solutions and uphold our purpose: protecting our precious inheritance.