Senior Payroll Administrator

JGA Recruitment Group | B Corp™; Stockport; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

JGA Recruitment Group Ltd is seeking a Senior Payroll Administrator to own a portfolio of clients and provide technical support across the payroll team. The role blends hands-on payroll processing, client management, and guidance on complex queries to help the team deliver accurate, compliant payrolls.

You will be responsible for ensuring correct PAYE/NI calculations, addressing complex payroll questions, and supporting workload planning to hit SLAs and KPIs.

Qualifications

• At least 3 years’ payroll experience.
• Strong end-to-end payroll knowledge with the ability to resolve complex queries.
• Umbrella payroll experience would be beneficial.
• Strong understanding of PAYE, National Insurance and UK payroll legislation.
• Experience managing multiple clients or payrolls within deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy under pressure.
• Confident dealing directly with clients and providing high levels of service.
• Able to support colleagues and act as escalation point within a payroll team.
• Proactive, organised and solutions-focused approach.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of clients and deliver accurate payrolls within tight deadlines.
• Process complex payrolls in line with client and agency requirements.
• Ensure PAYE, NI and other payroll calculations are correct.
• Complete weekly payroll and payment reconciliations with the Finance team.
• Handle complex payroll queries and escalate when necessary.
• Carry out quality assurance checks to maintain payroll accuracy.
• Support team workloads and ensure SLAs and KPIs are met.
• Monitor payroll advances and overpayments within controls.
• Build relationships with clients to understand payroll needs and deadlines.
• Support payroll projects and drive improvements within the team.
• Stay up-to-date with payroll legislation and ensure compliance.

Skills

Payroll processing

Client management

Complex payroll queries

Quality assurance

Attention to detail

Customer service

Escalation point

Proactive

Education

CIPP qualification

Job description

An excellent opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to step into a Senior Payroll Administrator position, taking ownership of a portfolio of clients while also providing technical support and guidance across the wider payroll team.

The role combines hands-on payroll processing, client management, technical payroll queries and team support, making it ideal for someone looking to progress beyond a standard Payroll Administrator position.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of clients and deliver accurate payrolls within strict daily and weekly deadlines.
• Process complex payrolls in line with individual client and agency requirements.
• Ensure PAYE, National Insurance and other payroll calculations are processed correctly.
• Complete weekly payroll and payment reconciliations alongside the Finance team.
• Handle complex payroll queries and act as an escalation point for colleagues and clients.
• Carry out quality assurance checks to maintain high levels of payroll accuracy.
• Support the organisation of team workloads and ensure SLAs and KPIs are consistently achieved.
• Monitor areas such as payroll advances, overpayments and other financial controls.
• Build strong relationships with clients, understanding their payroll requirements and key deadlines.
• Support ongoing payroll projects and improvements within the team.
• Keep up to date with payroll legislation and ensure processes remain compliant.

Ideal Candidate

• At least 3 years’ payroll experience.
• Strong end-to-end payroll knowledge with the confidence to resolve more complex payroll queries.
• Umbrella payroll experience would be beneficial
• Strong understanding of PAYE, National Insurance and UK payroll legislation.
• Experience managing multiple clients or payrolls within a deadline-driven environment.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to maintain accuracy under pressure.
• Confident dealing directly with clients and providing a high level of customer service.
• Comfortable supporting colleagues and acting as an escalation point within a payroll team.
• CIPP qualified or working towards a payroll qualification would be advantageous.
• Proactive, organised and solutions-focused approach.

JGA Recruitment Group Ltd ("We") are committed to equality of opportunity for all applications regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. We strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply. We are also committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We are a specialist payroll, HR & Reward recruitment agency and recruitment business as defined in the Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (our business). These statements together with our privacy notices set out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.