People & Payroll Specialist (Bicester)

Who Are Absolute Taste and What Do We Do? We are an innovative culinary and customer service provider, dedicated to delivering inspirational food and experiences that redefine customer satisfaction. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for pushing boundaries, we continue to grow from strength to strength. As a small, dynamic team of event professionals, we specialize in creating exciting, well‑managed, and sustainable events, while fostering strong working relationships. We're looking for individuals who share our fun, resilient, and hardworking values to join our supportive, high‑performing team. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a highly regarded organisation dedicated to success and a positive, empowering culture.

About The Role: As a HR & Payroll Administrator, you’ll play a key role in keeping our people processes running smoothly across the Group. Split roughly 50:50 between HR administration and payroll support, this Bicester‑based role is ideal for someone who enjoys variety, accuracy and working at pace. You’ll support the full employee lifecycle from onboarding and contracts to employment changes and leavers, ensuring our HR records and processes are accurate, timely and compliant. Alongside this, you’ll help maintain and prepare payroll data, support monthly payroll processing, and assist with payroll queries to ensure colleagues are paid correctly and on time. This is a hands‑on, busy role within a supportive team, offering a great opportunity to build and develop your career across both HR and Payroll.

Your Key Responsibilities as a HR & Payroll Administrator will be:

• Payroll: Collate and prepare payroll inputs, including starters, leavers, contractual changes, overtime, absences, holiday, and additional payments. Ensure payroll data is accurate, complete, and submitted in line with payroll deadlines. Liaise with the outsourced payroll provider to support payroll processing and resolve data queries. Assist with payroll checks to ensure payroll outputs align with HR records. Support employee payroll queries, escalating more complex issues where appropriate.
• HR Administration: Day‑to‑day administrative support across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, induction, issuing contracts, and contract amendments. Support leaver processes, ensuring all documentation is completed and systems are updated accurately and on time. Assist with absence administration, including recording absences and processing return‑to‑work information in line with company procedures. Respond to basic HR queries and support the HR team with general administrative tasks and letter preparation. Maintain accurate, up‑to‑date employee records within HR systems, ensuring data accuracy.
• Other: Identify and suggest opportunities to improve processes and efficiency. Build effective working relationships with colleagues, managers, and external providers. Provide a professional, friendly, and approachable service to employees and managers across the business. Help ensure internal HR policies and toolkits are up to date and remain compliant.

What We Are Looking For:

• Some experience in an administrative role, ideally within HR, Payroll, Finance, or a similar people‑focused function.
• Strong IT and data handling skills, with confidence using spreadsheets (Excel) and HR/payroll system experience an advantage.
• Experience working with accurate data, deadlines, and detailed processes.
• An understanding of the importance of confidentiality, data protection, and handling sensitive information.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with a professional and approachable manner.
• Previous HR or payroll administration experience, including employee lifecycle processes (onboarding, changes, leavers).
• Experience supporting or assisting with payroll processing, timesheets, or variable hours/overtime data.
• Knowledge of HR systems (e.g. HRIS) or payroll software (experience with Moorepay is a plus, but not essential).
• Working knowledge of UK employment practices or basic payroll principles.
• Studying towards, or interest in studying, a CIPD qualification or payroll qualification (e.g. CIPP).

Why Join Us at Absolute Taste? Join a fast‑growing and innovative company that is redefining customer experiences in the culinary and event space. We offer an empowering team culture, the opportunity to work on exciting, well‑managed events, and a supportive, resilient team environment. We are committed to supporting your career growth with thorough training and ongoing development.

Benefits: 25 Days holiday + Bank Holiday Life Assurance. We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer.