Payroll Assistant

Big Science Sweden; Jodrell Bank; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Big Science Sweden is seeking a Payroll Assistant based at their headquarters in Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, UK. The role involves supporting the Payroll Accountant to ensure timely and accurate employee payments while adhering to legal requirements.

No prior payroll experience is essential as training will be provided. The ideal candidate will be eager to learn, possess strong communication skills, and have attention to detail while working within a team.

Qualifications

• Strong interest in developing payroll processing skills.
• Ability to work to strict deadlines.
• Creative thinking applied to payroll setups.

Responsibilities

• Support Payroll Accountant ensuring employees are paid accurately.
• Prepare and review payroll calculations and post related journals.
• Perform balance sheet reconciliations for payroll and benefits.

Skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Teamwork

Ability to learn quickly

Job description

The Payroll Assistant will support the SKA Observatory (SKAO) Payroll Accountant to ensure that employees are paid accurately and on time, and that SKAO meets its legal and regulatory requirements pertaining to payroll. This role will be focused on the payroll in SKAO’s Headquarters country (UK) but the role has potential to offer the opportunity to gain experience of payroll in our two host countries (Australia and South Africa). The SKAO payroll in each country continues to grow; current employee numbers are approximately 220 across the three locations, with the UK payroll being the largest with approximately 170 employees. All employees are paid on a monthly salary basis.

Previous payroll experience is not essential. If required, SKAO will provide training to the successful candidate at the start of their employment, with ongoing development opportunities available thereafter. This role would therefore suit a candidate who is eager to learn and has a strong interest in developing their skills and knowledge in payroll processing.

The Role

The role will work closely with the SKAO HR and Finance teams, as well as with our outsourced payroll providers to prepare and review the payroll calculations for the UK, to post the related accounting journals and to perform balance sheet reconciliations for payroll and employee benefits. The Payroll Assistant will also be responsible for calculations relating to employee benefits, calculating, tracking and monitoring annual allowances, and acting as one of SKAO’s administrators for supplier portals for employee benefits.

SKAO’s status as an international organisation adds some interesting nuances to our payroll set up, and the ideal candidate will need to be able to think creatively as well as applying their previous or newly-learned payroll knowledge and experience. The Payroll Assistant needs to be an enthusiastic team player, be able to learn new concepts quickly, be a great communicator with strong attention to detail and the ability to work to strict deadlines.

The role is based at the SKAO Headquarters at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, UK.