Senior Payroll Manager

Main Responsibilities

• Ensure all payrolls are processed accurately, on time, and in full compliance with UK and ROI legislation, including
• Manage payroll operations for over 700 employees, ensuring robust controls, audit readiness, and consistent service quality.
• Oversee complex payroll matters including manual calculations, cross border tax considerations, and multi frequency payrolls.
• Ensure accurate production and distribution of payroll documentation
• Maintain payroll data integrity, ensuring all starters, leavers, transfers, and contractual changes are processed correctly across UK and ROI jurisdictions.

Governance, Compliance & Controls

• Maintain expert knowledge of UK and ROI payroll legislation, taxation, employment law, and pension requirements, ensuring timely implementation of regulatory changes.
• Lead on compliance activities, ensuring robust internal controls, documentation, and risk management.
• Partner with Finance to support reconciliations, budgeting, accounting, and cross functional governance.

Pensions & Benefits Administration

• Manage the transactions, contribution uploads, and reporting for five pension schemes
• Oversee enrolment, re enrolment, contribution uploads, scheme reporting, and liaison with pension providers where necessary, with HR support
• Ensure accurate pension deductions, employer contributions, and statutory communications.

Systems, Technology & Continuous Improvement

• Act as payroll systems lead, supporting enhancements, optimisation, and deployment of new functionality
• Identify opportunities to improve payroll processes, automation, reporting, and operational efficiency.
• Leverage data and analytics to inform decision making and drive process improvements.

Stakeholder Engagement & Customer Experience

• Serve as the senior point of contact for payroll queries across UK and ROI, providing expert guidance to employees and senior stakeholders.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, educating colleagues on payroll processes and promoting transparency.
• Liasing with Group Payroll team for support, ensuring changes and processes are aligned

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop payroll team members, fostering a collaborative, high performance culture.
• Support onboarding and development of new team members, sharing technical expertise and best practice.

Skills and Qualifications required

• Significant experience managing end to end UK and ROI payroll operations in a complex, high volume environment.
• Deep technical knowledge of UK and ROI payroll legislation, PAYE, NI, PRSI, USC, BIK, statutory payments, workplace pensions, and automatic enrolment.
• Experience managing multi frequency payrolls and large employee populations (650+).
• Strong understanding of pension scheme administration and reporting.
• Experience with integrated HR & payroll systems and advanced Excel capability.
• Strong analytical, problem solving, and organisational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Proven ability to manage competing demands, deliver under pressure, and maintain high accuracy.
• Experience leading or mentoring payroll teams