Payroll Officer

TipTopJob; Godalming; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 61,000; Full time

Job summary

Charterhouse School is seeking a highly organised Payroll Officer to join the Payroll team. The role delivers accurate payroll for school staff, ensuring compliance with legislation, pensions, and school policies.

You will work closely with HR, Finance and school leaders to support monthly payroll processing and maintain records with discretion. The post requires strong numerical and administrative skills and experience with payroll systems.

Qualifications

• Payroll experience in a school or large organisation preferred.
• Experience processing payroll for ~1,000 employees is advantageous.
• Knowledge of payroll legislation and pension regulations required.

Responsibilities

• Process monthly payroll for school employees accurately.
• Maintain remuneration records and respond to payroll queries.
• Coordinate payroll inputs with HR and finance teams.
• Ensure compliance with payroll legislation and school policies.

Skills

Numerical skills

Analytical skills

Attention to detail

Time management

Communication skills

Discretion handling confidential data

Education

GCSE English

GCSE Mathematics

Payroll qualification

Tools

Payroll software

Job description

Location: Charterhouse School, Godalming

Salary: A GBP 55,000 per annum

Vacancy Type: Permanent, Full Time

Hours : Monday to Friday from 9.00am until 5.30pm.

Charterhouse is a beautiful school in a 250:acre campus : a wonderful setting for the whole community to live and work together and a splendid backdrop for teaching and learning.

Founded in 1611, Charterhouse is one of the worlds leading coeducational independent schools, welcoming boarders and day pupils at 13+ entry and 16+ entry.

Charterhouse seeks to appoint a highly organised and detail:oriented School Payroll Officer to join our busy Payroll team.

This pivotal role is responsible for delivering an accurate and efficient payroll service for school employees, ensuring compliance with payroll legislation, pension regulations, and school policies.

The successful candidate will have excellent numerical and administrative skills, experience working with payroll systems, and the ability to manage confidential information with discretion. Working closely with HR, Finance, and school leaders, you will support monthly payroll processing, maintain employee remuneration records, and respond to payroll:related queries in a professional and timely manner.

Overall Purpose and Responsibilities

As part of a 3:strong Payroll Team, the Payroll Officer is responsible for ensuring the accurate and timely processing of payroll for approximately 1,000 employees across the School Group, comprising one senior school, three preparatory schools and two subsidiary companies.

Working as a key liaison between Payroll and Human Resources, the role is responsible for coordinating payroll inputs, validating information, producing payroll calculations, maintaining payroll records and ensuring payroll is processed accurately and efficiently. Whilst working closely with HR, responsibility for maintaining HR records remains with the HR team.

Profile of Candidate

Qualifications

Essential

• GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Mathematics
• Payroll qualification or willingness to work towards one

Desirable

• CIPP qualification or equivalent

Experience

• Significant experience of payroll processing
• Experience processing payroll within a medium or large organisation
• Experience of statutory payroll calculations
• Experience using computerised payroll systems
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills
• Experience of working collaboratively with HR teams

Desirable

• Experience within the education sector
• Experience of integrated HR and payroll systems
• Knowledge of Teachers Pension Scheme
• Experience supporting payroll audits

Knowledge

• UK payroll legislation
• HMRC regulations
• Statutory payments including SSP, SMP, SPP, SAP, ShPP and SNCP
• Payroll best practice
• Pension administration
• Data Protection and confidentiality requirements

Skills

• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong numerical and analytical skills
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Ability to manage competing priorities and meet strict deadlines
• Strong communication and influencing skills
• Confidence to challenge incomplete information professionally and appropriately
• Ability to build effective working relationships across departments
• High levels of accuracy, integrity and discretion

Closing date for applications is 9am on Friday 4 September 2026.

Interviews will be held shortly after the closing date.