Payroll Manager

West Sussex County Council; England; Hybrid; GBP 46,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead a dedicated team and enhance payroll services for the community. This role involves overseeing payroll processes, ensuring compliance, and implementing service improvements. With a focus on people management and operational excellence, the successful candidate will play a pivotal role in delivering high-quality services. The position offers a supportive work environment with flexible options and numerous benefits, making it an exciting opportunity for those passionate about making a difference in public service.

Benefits

Local government pension scheme

30 days holiday entitlement

Flexible working options

Maternity and paternity leave

Volunteering opportunities

Training and development opportunities

Employee Assistance Programme

Health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• CIPP qualified or equivalent with significant payroll experience.
• Expertise in large IT systems like SAP or ORACLE.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily payroll and HR administration for WSCC.
• Lead a team of 30 staff to ensure efficient payroll transactions.

Skills

Payroll Management

People Management

Decision Making

Problem Solving

Analytical Skills

Communication Skills

Education

CIPP Qualification

Tools

SAP

ORACLE

Microsoft Office

Job description

An opportunity has arisen to lead and make a meaningful impact as a Payroll Manager at West Sussex County Council -where your skills can help serve and support the community you care about.

The Opportunity

Salary: £46,731 to £49,764 per annum

Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week

Location: County Hall, Chichester and hybrid working

Interview date: w/c 02 June

As Payroll Manager, you will oversee daily payroll and HR administration for WSCC employees, managers, schools, and external partners. You will lead a team of c30 staff to deliver efficient and accurate transactions across all areas of payroll processes and HR administration.

You will be responsible for ensuring all transactions are processed efficiently, while also ensuring the team is appropriately skilled and supported to address and respond to a range of complex pay, pensions and HR questions and enquiries from WSCC managers, employees, schools, and external customers.

You will develop, design, and implement compliant, efficient services and systems, overseeing their deployment to enhance customer experience. They will monitor performance, manage outcomes, and identify opportunities for continuous service improvement.

The postholder will manage and direct day-to-day operations, managing teams to deliver a highly valued service. This will include:

• Contributing to the development of teams and its service delivery function.
• Setting targets and planning work.
• Acting as the overall professional specialist for the area of work, advising and making decisions with a full knowledge and understanding of services and regulations.

What are we looking for?

• Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) qualified, or equivalent qualification/ technical and theoretical knowledge.
• Significant experience working in payroll and pensions services, demonstrating advanced expertise in related procedures and practices.
• Expertise in the use of large IT systems for operating similar services, including specific knowledge of SAP, ORACLE or other similar equivalent system.
• People management skills including performance management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Good decision making and problem-solving skills.
• The ability to review and adapt working practices, systems, and processes especially in response to changes in the requirements of the business or legislation.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to find practical solutions to complex technical issues.
• Thorough understanding of technical issues and application to practice in payroll and pensions service provision.
• Experience of overseeing service improvement of teams and services through monitoring and management of performance and deep understanding of customer service tools and techniques.
• Experience of successfully managing projects and improvements, monitoring progress, and taking remedial action to ensure project milestones are achieved.
• IT skills for daily office duties such as using e-mail, word processing documents or creating spreadsheets or graphs to present information.

Working for us

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this, we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency, and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
• a range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans

For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is .

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Lucie West (Head of HR Shared Services) at For issues or queries regarding your application please contact .

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter. In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years' worth of references and health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

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