Country Payroll Lead - UK

Johnson Matthey; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading sustainability technology firm is looking for a Country Payroll Lead in the UK to oversee payroll operations across entities. The role involves ensuring efficient payroll delivery, managing vendor performance, and providing leadership to payroll analysts. Candidates should possess solid experience in UK payroll operations, strong communication skills, and proficiency in Excel. The firm offers a range of benefits, including retirement savings and medical plans, as part of their commitment to a world-changing career.

Benefits

Retirement savings

Share plans

Life and disability insurance

Medical plans

Fitness discounts

Qualifications

• Solid experience in UK payroll operations, ideally combined with exposure across multiple jurisdictions.
• People leadership experience, coaching and developing team members.
• Strong ability to prioritize workload and manage deadlines effectively.

Responsibilities

• Ensure efficient Payroll Service delivery across all entities in UK.
• Act as the subject matter expert (SME) for UK payroll delivery.
• Manage vendor performance and oversee daily operations.

Skills

Leadership

Payroll operations

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Microsoft Excel

Collaboration

Tools

HR systems (Workday)

Payroll platforms (CloudPay)

Job description

Overview

As a Country Payroll Lead for UK, you will help drive our goals by:

Responsibilities

• Ensuring efficient and effective Payroll Service delivery across all entities in UK.
• Playing a role in actual payroll run: data validation, controls, sign off's.
• Acting as the subject matter expert (SME) for UK payroll delivery and compliance requirements.
• Leading and coaching payroll analysts, providing training and guidance to improve performance and capability.
• Building strong partnerships with HR, Finance, Compliance, and Country/Site Managers.
• Managing vendor performance in relation to UK service delivery; overseeing daily operations, resolving performance issues, and ensuring adherence to SLAs.
• Handling complex payroll cases and escalations, conducting root cause analysis, and implementing corrective actions.
• Ensuring compliance with global standards, SOPs, and audit requirements, maintaining accurate documentation and controls.
• Supporting continuous improvement initiatives, identifying opportunities for process optimisation, and contributing to regional projects and knowledge sharing.

Benefits

• Retirement savings
• Share plans
• Saving accounts
• Life and disability insurance
• Medical plans / health assessments
• Fitness discounts

Qualifications

• Solid experience in UK payroll operations, ideally combined with exposure to payroll processing across multiple countries or jurisdictions.
• People leadership experience, including coaching and developing team members to achieve objectives.
• Strong ability to prioritise workload and manage deadlines to ensure timely and accurate delivery.
• Familiarity with HR systems (ideally Workday) and payroll platforms (ideally CloudPay) would be an advantage.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a global team, demonstrating collaboration and adaptability.
• High attention to detail and a proactive approach, including initiating action, planning, and organising to deliver results efficiently.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to respond clearly to customers and stakeholders and build collaborative relationships.
• A good standard of business English, written and verbal, and fluency in English to enable global collaboration.

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World-changing careers, enabled by Johnson Matthey. With more than 200 years history, join us and help accelerate the transition to net‑zero! As a Country Payroll Lead, you'll contribute to JM's mission as a world leader in sustainable technology, transforming energy and reducing carbon emissions for a cleaner, brighter future.