Payroll Manager

Busy Bees Global; Upper Harbour; Hybrid; NZD 147,000 - 184,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

WFH 1 day/week

50% childcare discount

Flexible start times

Job summary

Busy Bees Global is seeking an experienced Payroll Manager to lead our national payroll function from our National Support Centre. This hybrid, full-time role focuses on accuracy, compliance with applicable payroll legislation, and continuous process improvements for a large workforce.

You will oversee a ~3,000-employee payroll, mentor the team, manage audits, and drive automation and system enhancements to deliver efficient payroll operations across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading a complex, high-volume payroll function.
• Hands-on and collaborative leadership style in payroll team development.
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, awards and employment conditions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the end-to-end fortnightly payroll function for ~3,000 employees.
• Mentor and develop the payroll team and build capability across the function.

Skills

Payroll leadership

Team mentoring

Payroll accuracy

Automation & integration

Tools

Payroll systems

Job description

Payroll Manager

Busy Bees is a leading global, early learning provider, offering high-quality education in nurturing, purpose-built centres where educators are supported to grow, lead and make a real difference in children’s lives, with over 130 centres across Australia and around 3,000 employees.

Bee Safe: Child safety is at the heart of everything we do and is embedded in our people, places and processes. Help us give every child the Best Start in Life.

We’re seeking an experienced and collaborative Payroll Manager to lead our national payroll function, strengthen our people and processes, and drive the continued optimisation of our payroll systems. This role is a hybrid role based at our National Support Centre in Nundah on a full-time, permanent basis.

What you’ll do

• Lead and manage the end-to-end fortnightly payroll function, ensuring accurate and timely processing for our national workforce of approximately 3,000 employees.

• Lead, mentor and develop the payroll team, providing guidance, support and accountability while building capability across the function.

• Oversee payroll compliance, including Modern Award and EBA interpretation, PAYG, Payroll Tax, Superannuation Guarantee and Workers Compensation obligations.

• Review and approve payroll payments, manage complex payroll matters and oversee quality control audits to maintain a high level of payroll accuracy.

• Manage external audit queries.

• Drive process and system improvements, manage internal and external stakeholder relationships and support the ongoing efficiency of the payroll function.

What you’ll bring

• A genuine commitment to child safety and wellbeing & alignment to our Busy Bee values.

• Significant experience leading a complex, high-volume payroll function, ideally within a large or multi-site organisation.

• Strong knowledge of Australian payroll legislation, Award interpretation, Enterprise Agreements and employment conditions.

• Experience leading, mentoring and developing a payroll team, with a hands‑on and collaborative leadership style.

• Strong systems capability, with experience across payroll technology and a passion for automation, integration and process improvement.

Why Busy Bees?

Because we offer the B.E.E.S. advantage:

Better pay. Everyday balance. Education for growth. Support you can rely on.

We live by our values of Care, Quality, Service, and Value to make a real impact on child safety and quality.

• Nundah location – conveniently located close to public transport, with street parking and shops, cafés and everyday amenities just moments away.

• Join a long-standing, experienced payroll team that values collaboration, knowledge sharing and supporting one another.

• Enjoy 1 day working from home each week, along with flexible start and finish times.

• Access 50% childcare gap-fee discounts for permanent staff, because your family should benefit too.

• Build your network across Busy Bees Australia and explore opportunities through our Global Talent Exchange Program across the UK, Canada and Asia.

• Be part of a growing global organisation with a local feel, where people, child safety, wellbeing and quality are genuinely valued.

• Work alongside approachable leaders and an inclusive team in a culture built on trust, respect and collaboration.

Employment is conditional on satisfactory, rigorous pre-employment checks (including WWCC, ID, Qualifications, Gecko Training, Work Rights & References) and child safety training, reflecting our strong commitment to safeguarding, equity, diversity and inclusion.

We are proud to be a child safe organisation, putting child safety at the heart of everything we do through our Triple Layer Child Safety Framework: trusted, trained and caring people, safe, supervised and supportive environments, and clear, consistent and transparent processes.

Why Work for Busy Bees?

If you’re passionate about early learning, Busy Bees is the place to be. Although we are part of a global organisation, our company was founded by three families looking for better, more enriching childcare. Three decades later, we still keep the same values at heart.

We know that we couldn’t do what we do without the important people in our teams. We invest in our people and work with them to build career pathways that inspire.