Payroll & Benefits Team Leader UK

The Payroll & Benefits Team Leader UK will lead a team of 3 Payroll & Benefits Specialists and will be accountable for the operational delivery, quality, compliance, controls, and continuous improvement of UK Payroll & Benefits activities.

This is a hands-on leadership role, combining people leadership, UK payroll expertise, operational ownership, vendor/service management, and transformation support.

We’ll count on you to:

Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 3 Payroll & Benefits Specialists.
• Establish clear roles, accountabilities, priorities, and performance expectations.
• Manage workload and ensure appropriate coverage across payroll cycles.
• Build team capability through coaching, cross-training, and knowledge sharing.
• Ensure appropriate backup arrangements and business continuity.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development discussions.
• Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Payroll & Benefits Service Delivery

• Own end-to-end operational Payroll & Benefits delivery for the UK.
• Ensure payroll is processed accurately, compliantly, and on time.
• Manage payroll calendars, cut-offs, input readiness, validation, and approvals.
• Oversee payroll reconciliations, controls, payroll accounting, and post-payroll activities.
• Ensure statutory reporting and year-end activities are completed accurately and on time.
• Oversee Benefits-related payroll inputs and processes.
• Ensure payroll exceptions and employee-impacting issues are resolved promptly.
• Maintain complete and current SOPs, work instructions, and process documentation.

Compliance, Controls & Risk

• Ensure compliance with UK payroll legislation, tax requirements, company policies, and internal controls.
• Ensure payroll controls are consistently executed and supported by appropriate evidence.
• Identify payroll risks proactively and implement mitigation actions.
• Support internal and external audits and ensure remediation actions are completed.
• Ensure appropriate User Access Management and segregation-of-duties controls.
• Support compliance requirements arising from collective agreements and local employment practices.

Issue & Root-Cause Management

• Take ownership of operational issues through resolution.
• Lead root-cause analysis for material or recurring payroll errors.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented and tracked to closure.
• Identify recurring trends and eliminate root causes rather than repeatedly correcting symptoms.
• Ensure the team escalates issues with a clear problem, impact, root cause, recommendation, and decision required.

Vendor & Service Management

• Manage the day-to-day relationship with Payroll, Time, Benefits, and other relevant providers.
• Monitor vendor performance against SLAs and KPIs.
• Challenge service-quality issues and ensure providers take accountability for errors.
• Monitor ticket volumes, aging, recurring issues, and resolution quality.
• Support monthly service reviews and performance reporting.
• Escalate material vendor issues to the Regional Payroll Lead with clear recommendations.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate Payroll & Benefits processes.
• Reduce manual activities, reconciliations, and unnecessary handoffs.
• Improve controls, documentation, and operational ways of working.
• Coordinate improvement opportunities with Global Payroll Experts, HRIT, and providers.
• Ensure lessons learned from payroll issues result in sustainable process improvements.

Payroll & Time Transformation

• Represent UK Payroll within Payroll & Time initiatives.
• Provide UK business, statutory, CBA, and operational requirements.
• Support future-state process and solution design.
• Participate in testing, parallel payroll, reconciliation, cutover, and hypercare.
• Support implementation of the future Time-to-Payroll solution.
• Ensure local requirements are appropriately incorporated without unnecessary customization.
• Support transition to the future Payroll Operating Model.

You Will Bring

• 5+ years of UK payroll experience, preferably within a complex organization.
• Strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation, taxation, statutory requirements, and year-end processes.
• Experience leading, coordinating, or coaching payroll professionals.
• Experience working with outsourced payroll providers.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, reconciliations, and payroll accounting.
• Experience supporting hourly/manufacturing populations and complex Time-to-Payroll processes is preferred.
• Experience working within a union/CBA environment is advantageous.
• Strong analytical and root-cause problem-solving capability.
• Ability to take ownership of issues through resolution.
• Strong stakeholder and vendor-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities within a payroll-critical environment.

Must-Have Skills

• UK payroll expertise
• Payroll operations and statutory compliance
• People leadership and coaching
• Payroll controls and reconciliation
• Vendor/service management
• Root-cause analysis
• SOP and process documentation
• Continuous improvement
• Strong stakeholder management
• Fluent English

Nice-to-Have Skills

• SAP Payroll/SAP SuccessFactors
• Time Management / Time-to-Payroll experience
• Manufacturing payroll
• Payroll transformation or implementation experience
• CIPP qualification or equivalent

You will get:

• The UK-based annual base salary reasonably expected to be paid for this new hire is £51,440 to £64,000. Actual compensation will be determined based on factors such as skills, experience, qualification and internal equity and can ultimately be more or less than the posted salary range.
• Benefits package
• 16, or more, weeks of maternity/paternity and co-parenting leave, according to local regulations
• Training platform for all employees
• Free well-being sessions (physical and psychological)

Additional information:

• Location: Wrexham, UK
• Working model: Hybrid working model possible (2/3 days per week)