Senior Payroll Manager

Are you an experienced payroll professional with strong leadership skills and a passion for improving processes, developing teams, and delivering high-quality operational services?

We are recruiting for a Senior Payroll Manager to join a large and complex organisation undergoing significant systems and operational change. This is a fantastic opportunity to step into a highly visible leadership role, overseeing payroll and pensions operations while helping drive improvements across systems, governance, and service delivery.

This role requires more than just technical payroll expertise. The successful individual will be a confident people manager, able to challenge constructively, lead through change, and build credibility with both senior stakeholders and operational teams.

The role

You will:

• Lead and develop a payroll and pensions team, ensuring high standards of service delivery and performance
• Oversee accurate and compliant monthly payroll operations across a large employee base
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex payroll and pensions queries
• Drive continuous improvement across payroll processes, controls, governance, and customer service
• Support ongoing systems and process transformation activity
• Build and improve process documentation, workflows, and operational guidance
• Work closely with HR, Finance, senior leadership, and external stakeholders
• Ensure payroll operations remain compliant with relevant legislation, audit, and governance requirements
• Use data and operational insight to support decision-making and improve service delivery
• Help create a positive, accountable, and customer-focused team culture

The role offers a strong blend of operational leadership, stakeholder engagement, and change-focused improvement work within a highly collaborative environment.

About you

We are keen to speak with candidates who combine payroll knowledge with proven leadership capability and a proactive, improvement-focused mindset.

You will ideally have:

• Experience leading payroll operations within a large or complex organisation
• Strong people management skills, including experience leading and developing teams
• The confidence to manage challenging conversations and influence stakeholders effectively
• A continuous improvement mindset and the ability to challenge existing processes constructively
• Strong communication and customer service skills
• Good analytical capability and confidence working with payroll data and systems
• A collaborative and adaptable approach within changing environments
• Strong Excel and systems skills

Previous public sector, regulatory, or complex organisational experience would be beneficial, although sector background is not considered essential.

Why apply?

• Highly visible leadership role with genuine influence
• Opportunity to shape processes and drive operational improvements
• Supportive and collaborative leadership team
• Long-term progression potential as the wider function evolves
• Flexible hybrid working environment
• Strong pension and benefits package