Payroll Manager: AI-Driven Bureau Lead

Sona; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary £70,000 - £80,000

Hybrid working - 2+ days/week in our-?

Share options

35 days annual leave (25 days standard

10 flexible public holiday days

Pension contributions matched up to 5%

Comprehensive health insurance

Enhanced parental leave & pay

Salary sacrifice childcare scheme (Nur

Annual all expenses paid team retreats

Macbook and home office budget

Professional development budget

Unlimited free books

Job summary

Sona is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead a team of Payroll Specialists, driving accuracy, compliance and client experience across a diverse portfolio. You will coach and develop the team, own escalations, and stay hands-on with payroll when it matters.

You’ll be a driving force behind automation and continuous improvement, using AI to reduce manual work and building auditable payroll flows as you go.

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on payroll management experience, including bureau/outsourced environments.
• Strong track record coaching and developing a payroll team with technical know-how and leadership.
• Comfortable managing multiple payrolls across industries within a bureau.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of Payroll Specialists and Assistants, signing off outputs.
• Act as senior point of contact for client payrolls, onboarding and escalations.
• Advise clients on legislative changes and maintain compliance with gap analyses.
• Own the team's support queue and drive improvements against KPIs and SLAs.
• Lead incident resolution and root-cause analysis, escalating major issues to Head of Payroll Bureau.
• Identify and implement AI and automation opportunities, coaching the team to build their own.

Skills

Payroll management

People management

Compliance

Audit

Education

CIPP qualification (or working towards one)

Tools

Payroll systems

GL structures

Job description

Sona is seeking a Payroll Manager to lead a team of Payroll Specialists, driving accuracy, compliance and client experience across a diverse portfolio. You will coach and develop the team, own escalations, and stay hands-on with payroll when it matters.

You’ll be a driving force behind automation and continuous improvement, using AI to reduce manual work and building auditable payroll flows as you go.