Payroll Assistant

Scottish Water; Inverness; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

38 days holiday

5 extra days

Volunteer time off

Family-friendly policy

Balanced Hybrid working

Pension

Life assurance

Company bonus scheme

SW Splash discounts

Job summary

Scottish Water is seeking a Payroll Assistant to join the Payroll Team in Inverness. You will help process salaries for around 5,000 employees each month and ensure payments and expenses are accurate, on time and compliant with HMRC and pension rules.

Full training is provided if you lack payroll experience. Strong Excel skills, numeracy, and customer service are important, and you’ll work in a Balanced Hybrid setup with a supportive team and clear development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Desirable payroll experience, but training provided.
• Understanding of statutory payroll legislation and LGPS regulations.
• Numerical confidence with Excel; strong customer service and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Process salaries for ~5,000 employees monthly and ~13,000 overtime/expense claims annually, compliant with HMRC and pension rules.
• Investigate and resolve payroll anomalies before payments.
• Provide excellent customer service by answering employee payroll queries.

Skills

Excel

Payroll knowledge

Analytical skills

Customer service

Attention to detail

Job description

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland. How’s this for job satisfaction? At Scottish Water, we look after Scotland’s most precious natural resource. From source to tap, we’re safeguarding Scotland’s reputation for refreshingly pure water and caring for our environment at the same time. If making a positive difference to people, communities and the environment sounds like something you'd enjoy, we'd love to hear from you.

The Scottish Water Payroll team are looking to recruit a Payroll Assistant to join the team. The Payroll Team is based in Inverness.

What you'll do

• You will play a key role in ensuring that salaries for approximately 5,000 employees each month, along with around 13,000 overtime and expense claims annually, are processed accurately, on time, and in full compliance with HMRC statutory legislation, Scottish Water policies, and pension regulations.
• Working as part of the Payroll Team, you will help deliver a high-quality payroll service by adhering to strict deadlines, analysing pay variances, and identifying, investigating, and resolving payroll anomalies before payments are made.
• You will also provide excellent customer service by responding to employee queries relating to salary payments and payroll matters, ensuring issues are handled professionally and efficiently.

What you'll need

• While previous payroll experience would be beneficial, it is not essential as full training can be provided. We encourage applications from candidates who may not meet every requirement but are eager to learn and develop their skills.
• Ideally, you will have an understanding of current statutory payroll legislation and regulations, including knowledge of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) regulations.
• You will be numerically confident with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, possess strong customer service and communication skills, and have excellent analytical abilities with a keen eye for detail.
• Strong organisational and multitasking skills are essential, along with the ability to work accurately and effectively under pressure in a fast-paced environment.

Looking out for you

• 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays).
• You can even buy five more if you need a little extra time.
• You can also take paid time off to volunteer in your community.
• Family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave.
• We embrace flexible working. We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we ask people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location.
• For your future, there’s our pension (the ‘know-what-you’ll-get-when-you-retire’ kind), as well as life assurance.
• You will participate in a company bonus scheme.
• Access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

The not-so-small print

This role will be a Grade 4. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £31,640. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £36,460. We’ll be accepting applications until midnight on the 15th September 2026. The Payroll Team is based in Inverness.

Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre‑employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, licence checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.

Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out! Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best. Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We’re also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.

As part of our commitment to developing a flourishing Scotland, it’s important that all our employees are Scottish taxpayers. If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you’ll need to commit to moving here within your first three months. Candidates should be aware that a valid UK driving licence is required for driving on Scottish Water business and claiming business mileage expenses.

Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.

Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted.

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