Senior Payroll Manager

JGA Recruitment Group | B Corp™; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A specialist recruitment agency is looking for a Deputy Head of Payroll & Reward in Birmingham. This hybrid role involves leading a team of payroll professionals, overseeing payroll, pensions, and benefits, and implementing processes that drive accountability and transformation. The successful candidate will have a strong leadership presence and experience in managing payroll operations. Competitive salary of up to £80,000 plus a 10% bonus is on offer for the right individual.

Qualifications

• 5+ years leading payroll teams.
• Strong character to challenge and manage performance.
• Solid exposure to pension and benefits administration.

Responsibilities

• Lead payroll across multiple entities.
• Ensure governance and accountability in processes.
• Address complex payroll issues as senior escalation point.
• Oversee pensions and salary sacrifice schemes.
• Drive automation and process improvements.

Skills

Leadership of payroll professionals

Strong delegation skills

Ability to hold team accountable

Experience with pensions & benefits

Process improvement

Job description

Deputy Head of Payroll & Reward | Birmingham (Hybrid)

This is not a steady-state role.

This is a “step in, take control, and transform” opportunity for a senior payroll leader who knows how to bring structure, accountability, and credibility to a function that needs it.

If you’ve ever wanted to properly shape a payroll & reward operation, this is your moment.

The reality

• High-volume, multi-entity payroll environment
• A team of 6 that needs strong, visible leadership
• Processes that require tightening, structure, and modernisation
• A function that needs someone who can take ownership and raise standards quickly

You’ll be the right-hand to the Head of HR Ops, owning payroll, pensions and benefits while driving real change.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading payroll across multiple entities (weekly & monthly)
• Bringing control, governance, and accountability to the team
• Acting as the senior escalation point for complex payroll issues
• Overseeing pensions, benefits, and salary sacrifice schemes
• Driving automation, process improvement, and transformation
• Partnering with HR & Finance to build a best-in‑class function

What they need

• Proven leadership of 5+ payroll professionals
• Strong character able to delegate, challenge, and hold people accountable
• Solid exposure to pensions & benefits
• Someone who thrives in environments that need structure and direction

The setup

• Birmingham (2–3 days in office)
• £75,000 (flex to £80K for the right person)
• 10% bonus

Why this role stands out

You’re not inheriting a polished function, you’re building one.

This is a chance to:

• Put your stamp on a payroll & reward operation
• Develop and reshape a team
• Deliver visible, business‑critical change

If you are interested - drop me a message to [e-mail]

JGA are dedicated to delivering the best possible candidate experience. Due to the high volume of applications, we regret that we are not always able to respond to every individual applicant. If your application is shortlisted, a member of our team will be in touch. Thank you for your understanding.

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 and HR recruitment agency and recruitment business as defined in the Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (our business). These statements together with your 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.