I am working with a leading professional services company that is delivering a major, multi‑year programme to insource, operate and continuously improve HR & Payroll services for one of its key strategic clients.
We are looking for a Senior Payroll Functional Analyst to play a critical, hands‑on role in ensuring payroll services are operationally sound, legally compliant and deliver accurate pay outcomes. This is not a purely advisory or design role – it requires deep, practical payroll processing experience and expert knowledge of UK payroll legislation, applied within complex, high‑volume environments undergoing significant change.
What you’ll be doing
Payroll processing & legislative expertise
- Processing and overseeing end‑to‑end payroll activity in a high‑volume environment, including starters, leavers, contractual changes, allowances, overtime, absences, deductions, retros and corrections
- Applying expert knowledge of UK payroll legislation (PAYE, NI, statutory payments, pensions, salary sacrifice, benefits and expenses, overpayment recovery) to ensure full compliance
- Acting as the technical escalation point for complex payroll cases and high‑risk pay scenarios
- Supporting payroll cut‑off, pre‑ and post‑payroll validation, reconciliation and variance analysis
Payroll transition, parallel running & data integrity
- Supporting large‑scale payroll transitions to new platforms, including hands‑on involvement in multiple parallel runs
- Validating complex pay calculations across legacy and new systems and resolving discrepancies
- Identifying and resolving data integrity issues impacting payroll accuracy
- Maintaining payroll accuracy, compliance and employee confidence through cutover, go‑live and early‑life support
Documentation, testing & transition
- Creating and maintaining payroll SOPs, process maps, workflows and control documentation
- Developing and executing payroll test scenarios and scripts
- Supporting service transition planning, dress rehearsals and post‑go‑live hypercare
What we’re looking for
Essential
- Strong, hands‑on experience processing payroll end‑to‑end in a large, high‑volume HR & Payroll shared service or outsourced environment
- Expert knowledge of UK payroll legislation with the confidence to apply it in complex scenarios
- Proven experience with payroll cut‑off management, controls, retros and error resolution
- Experience supporting large‑scale payroll transitions, including parallel running and data reconciliation
- Background in public sector, highly regulated, or similarly complex environments
- Strong analytical capability, exceptional attention to detail and confidence working to payroll‑critical deadlines
- Excellent communication skills and a proactive, solutions‑focused approach
What’s in it for you?
- Salary up to £57,500 plus a comprehensive benefits package
- Annual bonus
- Home‑based
- 23 days’ holiday (rising to 27) with the option to buy additional leave
- Paid volunteering day
- Pension, life assurance, family‑friendly policies and a wide range of voluntary benefits
- Access to inclusive employee networks and wellbeing support
…