Senior HR & Payroll Administrator — UK Payroll, Benefits & Compliance in Oxford

Join us at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), where we're on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real-world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators, and innovators to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you'll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs.

Your Role: We are seeking a highly organised and detail-oriented Senior HR and Payroll Administrator to manage payroll and benefits administration while supporting core HR functions. This role combines technical payroll expertise with HR operational support, ensuring compliance, accuracy, and exceptional service to employees. The ideal candidate will have experience in both in-house and outsourced payroll processing, strong HR knowledge, a solid understanding of UK visa and immigration processes, and the ability to handle confidential information with integrity.

Your Responsibilities:

• Maintain accurate employee records, including contracts, sickness, and changes
• Support HR team with onboarding, offboarding, and recruitment processes
• Assist with HR reporting and data analysis
• Manage HR systems and ensure data integrity
• Provide general HR support, including responding to employee queries and assisting with policy implementation
• Deliver strong administrative support across all benefits processes, ensuring accurate documentation, timely updates, and efficient coordination of benefit-related tasks
• Administer employee benefits, liaising with providers and brokers to ensure timely enrolment and renewals
• Maintain and update payroll and benefits records for new hires, terminations, and pay changes, ensuring all amendments are accurately tracked and processed on time
• Act as first point of contact for payroll and benefits queries
• Generate payroll reports for HR, Finance, and management
• Accurately process monthly payroll, including salaries, bonuses, statutory payments, and deductions
• Maintain relationships with third-party payroll providers and support transition to in-house payroll systems (Oracle Fusion)
• Ensure compliance with UK tax, pension, and employment regulations
• Stay updated on payroll legislation and best practices

Requirements:

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:

• Understanding of HR principles, policies, and UK employment law is key
• Proven experience in payroll processing (2+ years), including in-house and outsourced systems
• Strong numerical and analytical skills with exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent organisational and time-management abilities
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• High level of integrity and confidentiality
• Proficiency in HR and payroll software (Oracle Fusion, ATS)

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• CIPD Level 3 or above preferred but not essential
• UK Visa & Immigration: A strong understanding and hands-on experience with UK visa categories, right-to-work processes, and immigration compliance requirements would be highly desirable
• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business Administration, or equivalent experience
• Payroll certification (e.g., CPP, Payroll Technician Certificate) desirable

Our Benefits:

• Competitive salary + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Working Together - What It Involves:

You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).