Payroll Specialist

Hunter Adams; Staines-upon-Thames; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Hunter Adams is recruiting an experienced Workday Payroll Specialist to own UK payroll across a multi-site organisation, ensuring accurate, compliant delivery and a focus on process improvement.

You will partner with HR Operations, Finance and external payroll providers to optimise Workday, consolidate payrolls and reduce manual work, while maintaining payroll controls and data accuracy. The role also covers year-end processes, reconciliations and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Strong end-to-end UK payroll experience (3–5 years).
• Excellent knowledge of UK payroll legislation and statutory requirements.
• Hands-on Workday payroll experience.
• Experience with payroll reconciliations and audits.
• Analytical with attention to detail and proactive improvement mindset.

Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end UK payroll processing.
• Validate outputs and complete reconciliations.
• Ensure HMRC, PAYE, NIC and pension compliance.
• Oversee year-end processes, P60s and P11Ds.
• Maintain Workday data and payroll workflows.
• Support transition to consolidated payroll service.
• Manage relationships with external providers.
• Resolve complex payroll queries and discrepancies.
• Identify opportunities to improve accuracy and automation.

Skills

UK Payroll

Workday

Payroll Reconciliations

Regulatory Compliance

Stakeholder Collaboration

Tools

Workday Payroll module

MS Excel

Job description

Hunter Adams are delighted to be supporting our client with recruiting an experienced Workday Payroll Specialist to take ownership of accurate, compliant and efficient UK payroll delivery across a multi-site organisation. Acting as the payroll subject matter expert, you’ll manage the end-to-end payroll process while helping to optimise Workday, consolidate payrolls and reduce manual processes. You’ll work closely with HR Operations, Finance and external payroll providers to deliver an excellent employee experience.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Managing end-to-end UK payroll processing
• Validating payroll outputs and completing reconciliations
• Ensuring compliance with HMRC, PAYE, NIC and pension requirements
• Managing year-end processes, including P60s and P11Ds
• Maintaining accurate payroll data and workflows within Workday
• Supporting the transition to a consolidated managed payroll service
• Managing relationships with external payroll providers
• Resolving complex payroll queries and discrepancies
• Identifying opportunities to improve accuracy, efficiency and automation
• Supporting wider payroll and HR transformation initiatives

About you:

• Strong end-to-end UK payroll experience, ideally gained over three to five years
• Excellent knowledge of UK payroll legislation and statutory requirements
• Hands-on experience using Workday for payroll or payroll-related HR data
• Experience of payroll reconciliations, controls and audit requirements
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail
• Confidence working with HR, Finance and third-party providers
• A proactive, process-driven and continuous-improvement mindset

Experience of outsourced payroll, multi-site organisations, payroll consolidation or M&A environments would be particularly valuable. A CIPP qualification, or progress towards one, would also be advantageous.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced payroll professional who enjoys combining operational delivery with systems optimisation and process improvement.