Senior Payroll Administrator

Our client is an expert in Facilities Management, creating environments which enable people to deliver exceptional experiences to help organisations to be more efficient, effective and sustainable. They are looking for a Senior Payroll Administrator to join their Payroll team located near Bury St Edmunds. Payroll Administrators play a pivotal role in ensuring the timely and efficient delivery of Payroll services to the business.

The client is looking for an articulate individual with outstanding communication skills. Your excellent prioritisation and organisation skills will enable you to manage 4 weekly, hourly paid payrolls. Sizes of payrolls vary across the business but on average, you could expect to be responsible for the pay cycle of c1,500 employees so experience of working at volume is essential.

The capability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment is essential to be successful in this role. You will be tasked with processing authorised amendments, collating and inputting relevant payroll data, dealing with customer queries, calculating and processing statutory allowance payments.

You will also build effective working relationships across the business to enable you to engage with various teams, including but not limited to: The HR department with regards to employee queries (new starter queries / sickness / absence etc.); our Benefits Team (targeting pay queries in relation to employee benefits such as company cars, fuel allowances, P11D's etc.); Time & Attendance (regarding employee hours).

A natural problem solver, you will display a keen sense of ownership, driving tasks through to completion. You will demonstrate outstanding attention to detail in order to be able to manually process your payroll quickly and efficiently and with a “right first time” approach.

Furthermore, the deadline driven nature of a Payroll function makes it essential for the Payroll Administrator to be able to demonstrate flexibility in their work; to have the ability to adapt and react quickly when priorities change and whose conscientious and tenacious nature will ensure that they deliver to deadlines and that any issues are raised in an appropriate and timely manner.

Our preference would be for candidates with a minimum of two years' experience in Payroll Administration who could bring a working knowledge of the function and who is fully conversant in the relevant language and legislation around a variety of Payroll related concerns, to include Statuary Allowances, Gross / Net pay calculations, AE Pensions, Tax and National Insurance Contributions, Sickness / Absence pay / Holiday pay.

Primary duties will include:

• Verifying new starter details on payroll software
• Processing leaver records in a timely manner, liaising with Operational managers and Human Resources as necessary
• Updating the system to reflect any changes to employee details in a timely manner adhering to payroll deadlines
• Ensuring the timely and accurate processing of all authorised amendments to the payroll system, including sickness, maternity, paternity and adoption payments
• Processing payments in respect of sickness, maternity, paternity and adoption in accordance with HMRC legislation
• Assist with the provision of payroll related information and guidance to the operational employees at all levels in the business
• Maintaining a monthly payroll file containing all temporary and permanent variation documents
• Preparing reports relating to payments of statutory deductions to third parties in a timely manner complying with any deadlines indicated
• Preparing ad-hoc reports for internal departments
• Working closely with Human Resources to ensure the prompt resolution of pay related grievances and Employment Tribunals
• Liaising with Benefits team with regards to Pensions Auto Enrolment and employee benefits

The successful candidate will demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• Candidate who hold a CIPP Qualification are of particular interest
• Our preference would be for a candidate who can demonstrate a minimum of 2 years' experience of working in a payroll function within a comparable role
• A passionate customer service professional – You will have proven experience of delivering in a customer-facing role frequently exceeding customer's expectations
• A tenacious, highly organised and pro-active individual – You will be process orientated and will be a driving force to ensure consistent delivery
• A highly organised individual – It goes without saying that you will possess exceptional organisational and prioritisation skills with high attention to detail. You will thrive in a fast-paced, deadline orientated environment
• A clear, confident, articulate communicator – You will have high standards of written and oral English. You will be skilled at dealing with issues in an empathetic and pragmatic fashion, employing tact and diplomacy to ensure timely and complete solutions
• An excellent relationship builder – You will be practiced at engaging with stakeholders and customers at all levels, building rapport and forging long-standing relationships
• IT Literate – You will have a good understanding of MS office packages. Intermediate to advanced level Excel is highly desirable as is experience of using Access Select software
• 4 GCSE's or equivalent at grade C and above, to include English & Maths
• Candidates who possess a Payroll qualification such as CIPP or a Customer Service related qualification such as NVQ Customer Service Level 3, or equivalent would be of particular interest