She will hold the role for 12 months.
Her previous job was reward technical partner at Coutts.
Richards has held a number of reward and compensation roles since 2000, including senior reward manager at BDO, senior reward specialist at Accenture, and reward and policy specialist at Cable and Wireless.
She will take part in the Careers Clinic at Employee Benefits Live, where delegates can get advice from leading industry experts. The clinics are sponsored by JWS Resources.