Payroll Team Leader

Oup Uk - Oxford; Oxford; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

35-hour working week

Salary Finance savings schemes

Discretionary annual bonus

Job summary

OUP UK - Oxford is seeking an experienced UK Payroll Team Leader to join Group HR and deliver accurate, compliant payroll for around 2,000 UK employees. You will lead a small payroll team, oversee monthly and annual cycles, and work with HR, Finance, suppliers and external bodies to drive improvements and service excellence.

This role requires strong payroll technical expertise, people leadership and the ability to build strong stakeholder relationships.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a payroll team or HR operations.
• Strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation and processes.
• Experience working with payroll systems and monthly/annual cycles.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the payroll team for accurate, on-time UK payroll.
• Manage end-to-end monthly payroll for ~2,000 employees.
• Oversee annual year-end processes and payroll scheduling.
• Escalation point for complex payroll queries and issues.
• Partner with Finance, HR, suppliers and HMRC for reporting and compliance.
• Drive continuous improvement of payroll processes and controls.

Skills

Payroll leadership

UK payroll legislation

Stakeholder management

Excel

People development

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree

CIPD qualification (or equivalent)

Tools

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll

Payroll systems

Job description

We're looking for an experienced UK Payroll Team Leader to join our Group HR function and take responsibility for delivering an accurate, compliant, and high-quality payroll service for approximately 2,000 UK employees. As a key member of the People Services team, you'll lead and develop a small payroll team, oversee monthly and annual payroll activities, manage stakeholder relationships, and drive continuous improvement across payroll processes. This is an excellent opportunity for a payroll professional who combines strong technical expertise with people leadership and a passion for service excellence. You'll have the chance to influence payroll operations, deliver meaningful improvements, and work closely with stakeholders across HR, Finance, suppliers and external bodies.

Key responsibilities:

• Ensuring all UK payroll activities are delivered accurately, on time, and in line with legislation and company policies.
• Leading, coaching and developing the payroll team.
• Managing the end-to-end monthly payroll process for approximately 2,000 UK employees.
• Overseeing annual payroll activities, including tax year-end processes and payroll scheduling.
• Acting as the escalation point for complex payroll queries and issues.
• Managing relationships with HMRC, payroll suppliers and key internal stakeholders.
• Supporting audits and ensuring payroll controls and compliance requirements are met.
• Partnering with Finance to provide payroll reporting, costing information and statutory returns.
• Maintaining and improving payroll processes, standard operating procedures and business continuity plans.
• Leading payroll-related projects and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensuring accurate processing of deductions, third‑party payments, family leave, sick pay and other payroll-related activities.
• You'll bring both payroll expertise and leadership experience, with the ability to build strong relationships across HR, Finance and external partners.

Essential

• Experience managing a payroll team or a closely related HR operational team.
• Strong understanding of UK payroll legislation and payroll best practice.
• Experience working with payroll systems.
• Excellent knowledge of monthly and annual payroll cycles.
• Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Experience reviewing and improving operational processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong Microsoft Excel and wider Microsoft Office skills.

Desirable

• Experience with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll.
• Knowledge of payroll business continuity planning.
• Understanding of payrolled Benefits in Kind.

We care about work/life balance here at OUP. With this in mind we offer 25 days' holiday that rises with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3 days) and a 35-hour working week. We are open to discussing flexibility in respect to working patterns, dependent on role. We also have a great variety of active employee networks and societies.

We help make your money go further by contributing to your pension up to 12%, offering loans and savings schemes through our partnership with Salary Finance, in addition to travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts. This role comes with the added benefit of a discretionary annual payment.