UK Payroll Director — Strategy, Compliance & Excellence

Fourth; Macclesfield; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holidays allowance (25 days)

Hybrid working environment

Pension and life insurance options

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Laptop and equipment provided

Career development opportunities

Annual meet ups

Job summary

Fourth Ltd. in the UK seeks a Senior Director of UK Payroll Operations to own end-to-end payroll delivery, quality and compliance across client groups. You will lead the Payroll Leadership team, shape strategy, manage escalations, and partner with cross-functional stakeholders to drive performance and risk management.

The role requires deep knowledge of UK payroll legislation, strong leadership, and the ability to transform processes at scale within a SaaS/managed payroll environment.

Qualifications

• Significant senior-level experience leading UK payroll operations.
• Deep knowledge of UK payroll legislation: PAYE, RTI, NI, auto-enrolment.
• Proven ability to design and improve payroll processes at scale.
• Experience in SaaS/managed payroll environments is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Owns end-to-end payroll: accuracy, compliance, client service, technology, and team development.
• Lead and develop the Payroll Leadership team; ensure workload distribution and SLAs.
• Maintain UK payroll compliance framework and oversee year-end activities.
• Define and improve payroll processing policies, procedures, and controls.
• Build senior client relationships and act as operational point of contact for escalations.
• Partner with Product, Technology, HR, and Finance to drive improvements.

Skills

Senior leadership

UK payroll knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business/Finance/HR

CIPP qualification

Job description

Fourth Ltd. in the UK seeks a Senior Director of UK Payroll Operations to own end-to-end payroll delivery, quality and compliance across client groups. You will lead the Payroll Leadership team, shape strategy, manage escalations, and partner with cross-functional stakeholders to drive performance and risk management.

The role requires deep knowledge of UK payroll legislation, strong leadership, and the ability to transform processes at scale within a SaaS/managed payroll environment.