Payroll Manager

JGA Recruitment; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

JGA Recruitment Group Ltd in Liverpool is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead a busy payroll team within a professional services setting. The role combines leadership with hands-on payroll delivery.

You will direct a team of payroll professionals across multiple client portfolios, ensure accurate, compliant payroll processing, and drive process improvements. Hybrid working negotiable, with 2–3 days in the office.

Qualifications

• Experience leading payroll teams in a bureau or professional services.
• Excellent knowledge of UK payroll legislation, RTI and workplace pensions.
• Experience managing multiple client payrolls or high-volume payroll operations.
• Strong Excel and analytical skills for payroll data interpretation.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• CIPP qualification and manual payroll calculation capabilities would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop the payroll team to high performance.
• Oversee accurate, compliant payroll, HR and pension administration for clients.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex payroll queries.
• Manage workloads, KPIs and service standards to meet deadlines.
• Drive payroll process and system improvements across clients.
• Build relationships with clients and internal stakeholders as a payroll expert.
• Support growth by contributing to strategic initiatives and financial performance.
• Ensure compliance with UK payroll legislation, RTI, and pensions.

Skills

Payroll management

Team leadership

UK payroll legislation

RTI & pensions knowledge

Client payroll management

Excel

Analytical skills

Communication & stakeholder management

Payroll calculations (manual)

CIPP qualification

Job description

Payroll Manager

Salary: £41,000-£54,000

Location: Liverpool (Hybrid - 2-3 days in the office)

Contract: Full-Time, Permanent

The Opportunity

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Payroll Manager to lead a successful payroll team within a growing professional services environment. This is a leadership role where you'll oversee a team of Payroll Team Leaders, Seniors and Payroll Executives, taking responsibility for the delivery, profitability and performance of a diverse client portfolio.

Working closely with senior leadership, you'll play a key role in driving operational excellence, developing people, improving processes and ensuring clients receive a consistently high-quality payroll service.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a payroll team, creating a positive, high-performing and collaborative culture.
• Oversee the accurate and compliant delivery of payroll, HR and pension administration services across a portfolio of clients.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex payroll, technical and client-related queries.
• Manage team workloads, performance and KPIs to ensure deadlines and service standards are consistently achieved.
• Drive continuous improvement across payroll processes, systems and client service delivery.
• Build strong relationships with clients and internal stakeholders, acting as a trusted payroll expert.
• Support business growth by contributing to strategic initiatives, operational improvements and financial performance.
• Ensure compliance with UK payroll legislation, RTI, workplace pensions and statutory requirements.

What They're Looking For

• Strong payroll management experience, ideally within a bureau, outsourced payroll or professional services environment.
• Proven experience leading, mentoring and developing payroll teams.
• Excellent knowledge of UK payroll legislation, statutory payments, RTI and workplace pensions.
• Experience managing multiple client payrolls or high-volume, multi-frequency payroll operations.
• Strong Excel and analytical skills with the ability to interpret payroll data and identify improvements.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with a collaborative leadership style.
• Ability to manage complex payroll issues while maintaining exceptional levels of accuracy and client service.
• CIPP qualification and the ability to perform manual payroll calculations would be advantageous.

JGA Recruitment Group Ltd ("We") are committed to equality of opportunity for all applications regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. We strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply. We are also committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.