Senior Payroll Administrator

We are currently working with a prestigious education group to recruit a Senior Payroll Administrator to join their collaborative and supportive finance and HR team. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to join a values-led organisation with a strong sense of community and a commitment to best practice.

You’ll play a vital role in delivering accurate and timely payrolls for a diverse employee base of over 4,000 staff. This includes salaried and term-time only employees, across multiple sites with varying pay cycles. You will work alongside a small, dedicated payroll team and support the Payroll Manager with day-to-day operations, improvements, and reporting duties.

Key Responsibilities:

• End-to-end processing of monthly payrolls, ensuring accuracy and compliance with statutory requirements.
• Managing complex variable data inputs such as overtime, maternity, sickness absence, term-time calculations, and allowances.
• Processing starters, leavers, and changes, including backdated pay adjustments and TUPE-related calculations.
• Handling multiple pension schemes including Teachers’ Pensions, LGPS, and defined contribution schemes-ensuring correct auto-enrolment and opt-out processes are followed.
• Liaising with third-party providers for pension submissions, ensuring contributions are accurate and submitted on time.
• Preparing P45s, P60s, P11Ds, and year-end reports in line with HMRC regulations.
• Supporting with internal and external audits and resolving any discrepancies.
• Providing advice to employees on payroll and pension queries with a high level of customer service.
• Supporting process improvements and systems development, contributing ideas for increased efficiency and accuracy.

What We’re Looking For:

• Proven experience in a senior or standalone payroll position, ideally within a large or multi-site organisation.
• Strong technical knowledge of PAYE, NIC, statutory payments, and pension legislation.
• Demonstrated experience working with Teachers’ Pension Scheme or similar public-sector pension schemes is highly desirable.
• Excellent Excel skills and confidence in working with payroll systems (iTrent experience is a bonus but not essential).
• A team player with a proactive attitude and excellent communication skills.
• CIPP qualification (or working towards) is advantageous.

You’ll be joining a warm, inclusive team in a role that offers variety, technical challenge, and long-term growth potential. Hybrid working, excellent pension contributions, generous annual leave, and access to professional development make this a truly rewarding opportunity.

INDPAY