UK Payroll Specialist — Hybrid, Growth & Perks

Sona; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Share options

35 days annual leave

Pension contributions matched up to 5%

Comprehensive health insurance

Enhanced parental leave & pay

MacBook and home-office budget

Professional development budget

Unlimited free books

Job summary

Sona is hiring a Payroll Specialist to join our payroll bureau in London. You will own UK payroll processing for a portfolio of clients, across multiple frequencies, handling statutory payments, auto-enrolment, and HMRC filings.

You will work with the Payroll team to resolve client queries quickly and help shape our evolving payroll product as we scale. We support CIPP study through apprenticeship levy and offer hybrid work, share options, and a comprehensive benefits package including health

Qualifications

• 2+ years hands-on experience processing multiple UK payrolls independently.
• Experience within a bureau or outsourced payroll environment is a bonus.
• Good working knowledge of UK payroll and tax compliance, including tax calculations and filing and payment requirements.
• Confident managing a busy queue of support tickets, with strong organisational skills and clear written and verbal communication.
• Comfortable in Excel (VLOOKUPs, pivot tables, concatenation) and Google Suite.
• Methodical and accurate under volume, and quick to flag issues rather than let them become problems.
• Bonus: CIPP or equivalent qualification, exposure to Irish payroll (PAYE, PRSI, USC), or confidence using AI tools in your day-to-day work.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end UK payroll processing for a portfolio of Sona customers across multiple pay frequencies, covering standard and mid-complexity clients
• Manage payroll queries through our support desk, giving clients fast, proactive updates and resolving within SLA
• Process statutory payments, court orders, standard holiday pay calculations, Alabaster reviews and NMW checks for your own portfolio
• Handle workplace pension auto-enrolment, contributions, reconciliations and submissions, flagging any miscalculated contributions for investigation
• Upload, reconcile and submit payments across BACS, Faster Payments and SEPA, and manage payroll journal uploads and reconciliations
• Manage HMRC filings (FPS, EPS) and year-end processing for your portfolio, escalating disputed or mis-allocated PAYE cases to your Senior or the Payroll Manager
• Build strong working relationships with clients, including attending client meetings when needed, and flag product bugs to Engineering as you spot them
• Spot and flag process gaps or improvements within your own portfolio, and support Payroll Assistants and Senior Payroll Specialists with day-to-day queries

Skills

UK payroll processing

Multi-client payrolls

Excel

Google Workspace

Client communication

Attention to detail

CIPP (bonus)

Tools

VLOOKUP

Pivot tables

Job description

Sona is hiring a Payroll Specialist to join our payroll bureau in London. You will own UK payroll processing for a portfolio of clients, across multiple frequencies, handling statutory payments, auto-enrolment, and HMRC filings.

You will work with the Payroll team to resolve client queries quickly and help shape our evolving payroll product as we scale. We support CIPP study through apprenticeship levy and offer hybrid work, share options, and a comprehensive benefits package including health