Payroll Manager/Project Specialist (12 Month Fixed-Term)

Charles Parsons & Co.; Sydney; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles Parsons & Co Pty Ltd is seeking an experienced Payroll Manager/Projects Specialist for a 12-month fixed-term role to manage end-to-end payroll across Australia and New Zealand. You will lead payroll projects, system changes, and process improvements while ensuring accuracy and compliance.

This position suits a payroll professional who thrives in both operational payroll management and project work, supporting the HR team through a period of payroll review and transformation.

Qualifications

• Experience managing end-to-end payroll across AU and NZ.
• Knowledge of payroll legislation, taxation, and compliance.
• Experience leading payroll transformation projects.

Responsibilities

• Process accurate and timely payroll for Australia and NZ.
• Ensure compliance with awards, contracts, and NZ/Australian standards.
• Prepare statutory reporting and deductions and returns.
• Maintain employee payroll records and respond to enquiries.
• Lead payroll-related projects and system testing/UAT.
• Coordinate system upgrades and data validation.

Skills

Payroll processing

Project management

Attention to detail

Excel

Communication

Process improvement

Tools

Chris21

Job description

Payroll Manager/Project Specialist (12 Month Fixed-Term)

Charles Parsons & Co Pty Ltd is aprivately owned family business established in 1915with a proud heritage and diverseexpertise in Textiles, Soft Furnishings, Schoolwear and Outdoor gear.Visit our website for more information on our various businesses and brandswww.charlesparsons.com.

The Role

We are currently seeking an experienced Payroll Manager/Projects Specialist to join our HR team on a 12-month fixed-term basis. This role will be responsible for end-to-end management of payroll and statutory obligations across Australia and New Zealand, ensuring payroll accuracy, compliance and exceptional employee service.

This role is ideal for a payroll professional who enjoys both operational payroll management and project work. As our organisation prepares a review of our existing payroll function, you will play a key role in payroll projects, any system changes, process improvements and testing.

Key Responsibilities

Process accurate and timely payroll for Australia and New Zealand within required deadlines.

Ensure compliance with relevant Awards, Employment Contracts, New Zealand employment legislation, and Australian National Employment Standards

Prepare and submit statutory payroll reporting, including PAYG/PAYE tax, superannuation, workers' compensation, deductions, and associated returns.

Maintain accurate employee payroll and HR records.

Respond to payroll enquiries in a professional, confidential, and timely manner.

Liaise with the Finance Department to support Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) reporting requirements.

Manage all Australian and New Zealand month end and end-of-financial-year payroll obligations.

Lead and participate in payroll-related projects, including any review of our payroll process, function and software.

Coordinate any related system upgrades, system testing, data validation, process mapping, and user acceptance testing (UAT).

Identify and implement process improvements to increase payroll efficiency, accuracy, and compliance.

Provide general administrative support to Head Office as required.

To be successful in this role, you will have:

Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end payroll processing across Australia, ideally with exposure to New Zealand payroll.

Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, taxation, superannuation, employment standards, and compliance requirements.

Experience in payroll process improvement or payroll transformation projects.

Experience with Chris21

Exceptional attention to detail and a high level of accuracy.

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and reconciliation skills.

Excellent communication skills and the ability to build effective relationships across all levels of the business.

The ability to work autonomously and manage competing priorities in a standalone payroll environment.

Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills.

What We Offer

Opportunity to lead a critical business function.

Exposure to an exciting payroll process improvement project.

Supportive and collaborative team environment.

A varied role combining operational payroll management with strategic project involvement.

If you are a payroll professional looking to combine hands-on payroll management with the opportunity to drive meaningful system and process improvements, we would love to hear from you.