Payroll Team Leader

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 43,000; Full time

Job summary

West Sussex County Council is recruiting a Payroll Team Leader to join our HR Shared Services. The role focuses on applying payroll and HR expertise, monitoring system performance, and delivering continuous improvement as we implement Oracle.

Post go-live, you will embed the change, resolve issues, and lead day-to-day payroll processes while driving service improvements and ensuring policy and legislative compliance.

Qualifications

• Supervise and develop staff, providing direction, coaching and on‑the‑job training.
• Sound knowledge of payroll and pensions regulations and schemes in Local Government, Fire, Teachers and NHS.
• Strong IT skills including Excel and ability to analyse complex data.
• Advanced customer service and communication skills for clear reports and staff communications.
• Strong numeracy and financial calculation abilities; methodical and detail‑oriented.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and develop staff; provide direction, guidance and on‑the‑job training.
• Lead projects to improve service efficiency and customer experience within the HR Shared Services team.
• Embed change post go‑live with the Oracle system and ensure smooth day‑to‑day payroll processes.

Job description

The Opportunity

Salary: £39,862 to £42,839 per annum
Working pattern: Full time - 37 hours per week - flexible on pattern but must work in the office on a specified day which will be discussed at interview.
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Based at County Hall - Chichester, with hybrid working options.

We are currently recruiting for a Payroll Team Leader to join us at an exciting point. We are imminently about to implement our new system Oracle.

The role will require applying payroll and HR expertise in monitoring process and system performance and ensuring the development of interventions to address issues, with a strong focus on service quality and policy and legislative compliance.

Once the system is live, this role will be responsible for embedding the change, working through issues and improvements, and helping to deliver day to day payroll processes and ensuring we deliver continuous improvement post go live.

Working as part of the HR Shared Services Management team, the role will undertake projects aimed at improving service efficiency and customer experience improvements and to play an active role in the leadership of the service, to support improvement and service delivery as demand requires.

What are we looking for?

Some of the key skills, experience and knowledge required to be successful in the role include:

• You will need to be able to supervise and support others, and to provide mentoring, coaching and development for team members. You will be able to communicate complex matters in ways that others can understand.
• You will need sound knowledge of relevant payroll and pensions regulations, services, and schemes within Local Government, Fire, Teachers and NHS.
• You will have a good working knowledge of enterprise resource planning systems, sound and accurate overall IT knowledge including Excel, and be comfortable using and applying complex sets of data. Importantly, you will be inquisitive, with a commitment to continuous learning and improvement in service delivery.
• Advanced customer service skills including written and verbal communication skills to present technical information clearly, contributing to reports and complex correspondence and staff communications appropriately.
• Good numeracy and analytical skills and to make sound and accurate financial calculations, working methodically and in detail, checking accuracy and completeness of calculations for a range of benefits / payroll information and other similar work, quickly and reliably.
• Ability to supervise and develop staff, providing direction, guidance, support and on the job training to individuals and teams.
• Ability to contribute to reviewing working practices to ensure compliance, improvement in efficiency, and in response to legislative change. This includes the ability to analyse current practice, recognise where change is needed, and contribute to improving working methods, systems and the effectiveness of processes and service delivery.
• Strong problem-solving skills to analyse complex specialist information and find practical solutions with an understanding of relevant legislation and policies. Ability to resolve more unusual or complex cases and develop practical, effective approaches and solutions according to individual circumstances.
• Ability to manage complex work to timescales and to contribute to team planning and prioritisation of work over the medium term, setting timescales and organising activities in coordination with others to deliver objectives to deadlines.

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

Rewards and Benefits

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this, we want to help support your development and provide an great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

For a full list, please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

The reference number for this role is CRS01123.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.