Mr. Smith is a leading adviser on pay, particularly in the public sector. He has conducted national sector reviews and provided consulting support at board level for 25 years. He has led pay system change in over 30 universities founded on job families and job evaluation, advised on performance and pay arrangements for professors in 12 institutions and reviewed academic and not academic career pathways in multiple institutions.

He has provided advice on remuneration policy and practice to a number of agencies and major public bodies, led and participated in a number of national Review Body studies in the UK, and more.

Mr. Smith provides quality assurance of Korn Ferry's reward and executive pay work in the public sector in the UK and internationally.

He has contributed to books on reward management and job evaluation; published articles on public service reform, performance management, team performance and pay in public services; and contributed evidence to inquiries by the Public Affairs Select Committee into pay for senior roles in the public sector in 2009 and 2011, to the Hutton Review of Fair Pay from 2010-11, to the Winsor Review of pay, terms and conditions in policing in 2011, and to the Welsh Assembly inquiry into public sector pay in 2014.

He is a contributor to the Health Service Journal, Municipal Journal and other sector and specialist journals, and writes comment for the Guardian on pay-related topics.

Mr. Smith has a BA in modern history from the University of Oxford.