Payroll Manager

Global Sports Jobs Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Fulham Football Club is seeking a Payroll Manager to own the end-to-end payroll function across the Fulham Group. You will ensure accurate, timely delivery for players, permanent staff and casual workers, reporting to the Head of Finance and partnering with HR and wider business.

The role requires strong UK payroll expertise, multi-entity experience, and the ability to lead a small payroll team while coordinating with senior stakeholders. A proactive, compliant mindset is essential.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading end-to-end UK payroll in a complex organisation.
• Strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation (PAYE, NIC, RTI, pensions).
• Experience handling multi-population payrolls with varied contracts and hours.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to challenge data for accuracy.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end payroll for the Fulham Group, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
• Review inputs: salaries, bonuses, overtime, deductions and benefits with proper approvals.
• Oversee changes: new starters, leavers, salary changes and promotions.
• Ensure payroll compliance across PAYE, NI, RTI, pensions and auto-enrolment.
• Reconcile payroll outputs to GL, bank payments and HMRC liabilities.
• Collaborate with Finance and HR to reflect payroll costs in management accounts.
• Act as main payroll contact for the group and support senior stakeholders.
• Develop and mentor payroll team members to deliver cycle responsibilities.
• Lead year-end processes (P60s, P11Ds) and audits as needed.
• Maintain secure, confidential payroll records with GDPR compliance.

Skills

UK payroll

Payroll leadership

Excel

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Tools

Miracle Payroll

Dynamics 365 BC

Excel

Job description

About the Role

The Payroll Manager will take ownership of the payroll function across the Fulham Group, ensuring accurate, timely and compliant delivery across a diverse workforce including professional football players, permanent employees and a significant casual workforce. Reporting to the Head of Finance, the role sits within the Finance team and works closely with colleagues across Finance, HR and the wider business. The role offers the opportunity to lead payroll across an unusually varied organisation, combining elite professional sport with hospitality, events, charitable activities and other commercial operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Take overall ownership of the end-to-end payroll process across the Fulham Group, ensuring payroll is delivered accurately, efficiently and on time.
• Review, challenge and approve payroll inputs including salaries, bonuses, overtime, casual hours, deductions, benefits and contractual payments, ensuring appropriate supporting information and approvals are in place.
• Oversee all payroll changes, including new starters, leavers, salary amendments, contractual changes and promotions, maintaining strong controls around sensitive and high-value payments.
• Own payroll compliance, including PAYE, National Insurance, statutory payments, RTI submissions, pension obligations and other relevant HMRC requirements, and manage pension administration and submissions, including reconciliations and auto-enrolment compliance.
• Own payroll reconciliations, ensuring payroll outputs reconcile appropriately to the general ledger, bank payments, pension submissions and HMRC liabilities
• And work closely with Finance and HR to ensure employee information is accurately reflected within payroll and payroll costs are appropriately recorded and understood within the monthly management accounts.
• Act as the principal point of contact for payroll matters across the Group, providing a high-quality service to employees and confidently supporting senior stakeholders where required.
• Provide effective management and development of payroll support within the team, ensuring responsibilities throughout the payroll cycle are effectively delivered.
• Lead payroll year-end requirements, including P60s, P11Ds and other relevant statutory reporting, and support internal and external audit requirements.
• Maintain accurate payroll records, documentation and audit trails, and strong payroll procedures and controls, ensuring appropriate confidentiality, GDPR compliance, data security, resilience and documentation that is not reliant on individual knowledge.
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve and automate payroll processes, systems, reporting and controls across the Group, and keep up to date with changes in payroll legislation to provide payroll expertise on wider Finance and HR projects where required.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• Significant experience managing or taking senior responsibility for an end-to-end UK payroll function, ideally within a complex organisation.
• Strong technical knowledge of UK payroll legislation and requirements, including PAYE, National Insurance, statutory payments, pensions and RTI.
• Experience managing a large and complex payroll, involving different employee populations, contractual arrangements and pay structures.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, reconciliations and statutory reporting requirements.
• Excellent attention to detail and a commitment to accuracy, with the confidence to challenge information, identify anomalies and resolve issues.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and consistently deliver against fixed payroll deadlines.
• Strong systems and Microsoft Excel skills, with the ability to work confidently with significant volumes of payroll data.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to work effectively with employees and senior stakeholders across the organisation.
• High levels of discretion, integrity and professionalism when handling confidential and highly sensitive information.
• A proactive and collaborative approach, with the ability to take ownership of the payroll function and effectively manage and develop others.

Preferred Skills

• Experience working within professional football, professional sport or another complex, fast-paced organisation.
• Experience managing payroll within a multi-entity or group structure.
• Experience managing payroll for a significant casual or variable-hours workforce.
• Experience with Miracle Payroll and/or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

About the Company

Fulham Football Club is a Premier League football club. The wider Fulham Group comprises three main businesses: Fulham Football Club, incorporating the First Team and Academy, with approximately 400 permanent employees and a significant casual workforce; the Fulham Football Club Foundation, the Club’s official charity, which engages in a range of community work and has approximately 40 permanent staff and a large casual population; and Fulham Pier, a new 365-day venue on the banks of the River Thames comprising bars, restaurants, conference and events spaces, a hotel and a spa, with around 30 permanent staff.