Payroll Lead

Charterhouse Partnership; Sydney; On-site; AUD 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Charterhouse Partnership is seeking an experienced Payroll Team Leader to take ownership of a large, complex payroll operation in Sydney. You will lead a dedicated payroll team, ensure accurate and timely payroll delivery, and drive process improvements across the function.

In this hands-on leadership role, you will manage day-to-day operations, mentor staff, resolve advanced payroll queries, and ensure compliance with Australian legislation, awards and enterprise agreements.

Qualifications

• Experience managing payroll for 1,500+ employees.
• Experience leading payroll team.
• Strong knowledge of Australian payroll legislation and awards.
• Experience with complex, high-volume payroll systems.
• Excellent stakeholder management and issue resolution.
• Proactive in process improvement and team development.

Responsibilities

• Overseeing the accurate and timely delivery of payroll operations across a large and complex workforce.
• Leading, coaching and developing a team of payroll professionals.
• Managing complex payroll queries, escalations and stakeholder relationships.
• Ensuring compliance with payroll legislation, awards, enterprise agreements and internal controls.
• Identifying opportunities to streamline processes, improve systems and enhance payroll service delivery.
• Supporting payroll audits, governance, risk management and continuous improvement initiatives.

Skills

Payroll leadership

High-volume payroll

Stakeholder management

Australian payroll law

Team development

Process improvement

Payroll systems

Large workforce

Problem solving

Team supervision

Tools

Dayforce

Kronos

Workday

Job description

Large, complex organisation | High-volume payroll | Leadership opportunity | Approx $150,000 plus super

An excellent opportunity has arisen for an experienced Payroll Team Leader to join a large, established organisation, taking responsibility for the day-to-day delivery of a complex, high-volume payroll function.

This is a hands‑on leadership role, combining payroll operations, team management, compliance and continuous improvement. You'll be joining an established team with the opportunity to influence processes, improve service delivery and drive operational performance.

The Role

Reporting to the Payroll Manager, your responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing the accurate and timely delivery of payroll operations across a large and complex workforce.
• Leading, coaching and developing a team of payroll professionals.
• Managing complex payroll queries, escalations and stakeholder relationships.
• Ensuring compliance with payroll legislation, awards, enterprise agreements and internal controls.
• Identifying opportunities to streamline processes, improve systems and enhance payroll service delivery.
• Supporting payroll audits, governance, risk management and continuous improvement initiatives.

About You

We are looking for an experienced payroll professional who enjoys leading people while remaining close to the technical and operational side of payroll.

To be considered, you will need:

• Demonstrated experience managing payroll for a workforce of more than 1,500 employees – essential.
• Previous experience leading or supervising a payroll team.
• Strong technical knowledge of Australian payroll legislation, awards, enterprise agreements and compliance requirements.
• Experience working with complex payroll systems and high‑volume payroll environments.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the ability to resolve complex payroll issues.
• A proactive approach to process improvement, problem‑solving and team development.

Experience with systems such as Dayforce, Kronos or Workday will be highly regarded.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to take ownership of a significant payroll operation within a large organisation, working with a broad range of stakeholders and contributing to ongoing improvements across the function.

If you're an experienced Payroll Team Leader looking for your next challenge, I'd love to hear from you.