Payroll Manager

Oakleaf Partnership; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 77,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

Oakleaf Partnership is partnering with a reputable real estate client to recruit a Payroll Manager for a 12‑month FTC in London. You will lead UK payroll for 3000+ staff across seven pay groups, oversee a team of five, and drive efficiency, accuracy, and compliance within SAP Payroll and Workday platforms.

The role is hybrid with three days in the Central London office. The ideal candidate will have significant payroll leadership experience, strong technical knowledge of payroll systems, and the

Qualifications

• Significant payroll leadership experience in a medium to large corporate environment.
• Experience managing end-to-end payroll operations in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Strong understanding of payroll legislation, taxation, pensions, benefits administration, and compliance.

Responsibilities

• Manage UK monthly payroll for 3000+ employees across 7 pay groups, ensuring timely and accurate payments.
• Oversee reconciliation, pension reports, and validation to reduce manual intervention.
• Lead payroll system usage (SAP and Workday) and implement process improvements.
• Respond to employee, manager, HMRC and third-party inquiries and drive stakeholder satisfaction.

Skills

Payroll leadership

End-to-end payroll

Staff leadership

Taxation & pensions

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Tools

SAP Payroll

HR Workday

Job description

Payroll Manager - 12 month FTC - Hybrid in London - up to £85,000 per annum

Oakleaf Partnership have partnered with a reputable real estate firm, which are seeking a Payroll Manager, on a 12 month FTC basis. This role will manage the local delivery and payroll activities for the 7 UK pay groups, whilst managing a team of 5 direct reports. You will be responsible to drive quality customer experiences, economic benefits, and performance measurement, while leading a high-performing team. This position is on a hybrid basis, consisting of 3 days per week, based in their Central London office.

Payroll Manager will be assisting/overseeing such duties as:

• Full responsibility for the UK monthly payroll which consists of 3000 plus employees within 7 pay groups, ensuring employees are paid on time and correctly and that the payroll system is fully compliant.
• Monthly processing and full reconciliation of the payroll, review error and exceptions report, net pay variance review, staff numbers review, gross to net reconciliation, creation of BACS files for review with UK group Controller.
• Regularly review and improve payroll processing and validation to reduce manual intervention
• Reconcile and produce monthly pension contribution reports for our third party, pension and secretariat and finance.
• Deal with queries from employees, managers, HMRC, the bank and third parties as required
• Act as the business lead for payroll, ensuring effective utilisation of SAPandWorkday platforms.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance payroll accuracy, efficiency, automation, and reporting.

Key Skills:

• Significant payroll leadership experience within a medium to large corporate environment.
• Proven experience managing end-to-end payroll operations in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Strong practical experience with SAP Payroll andHR Workday, or equivalent enterprise HR and payroll systems.
• Demonstrated experience leading payroll transformation, process improvement, or systems implementation projects.
• Strong understanding of payroll legislation, taxation, pensions, benefits administration, and compliance requirements.
• Strong written and oral communication skills