Payroll Software Developer - Ministry of Defence - HEO in Bristol

Location: Abbey Wood North, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, South West

About the job

Defence Business Services (DBS) - Digital, Information and Technology (DIT) delivers the digital capability that underpins critical corporate services across the Ministry of Defence, including Payroll, Human Resources, Finance and Commercial services for Military Personnel, Civilian Personnel, Veterans and Arm's Length Bodies. Our digital services utilise modern cloud and enterprise technologies, including Oracle Fusion Cloud, Microsoft platforms, Cognos, automation solutions and low-code technologies. These services support some of the largest and most complex HR and payroll operations in government, delivering accurate and timely pay for tens of thousands of employees.

The DIT Payroll and Expenses team provides the digital capability that underpins one of the largest and most complex payroll environments in UK government. Supporting approximately 63,000 employees across multiple Defence organisations, the team combines payroll expertise with software development, assurance, reporting and application engineering capabilities to provide secure, resilient and compliant payroll and expenses services. Responsible for both change delivery and live service operations, the team delivers statutory and legislative changes, pay awards, business-critical fixes, service improvements and major transformation programmes, while operating the payroll engine and expenses processes for multiple pay groups. The team plays a vital role in ensuring Defence civilian personnel are paid accurately and on time.

As a Functional Payroll Software Developer, you will play a pivotal role in designing, developing, testing and supporting payroll solutions within Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud. You will work closely with business stakeholders, payroll specialists, test teams and technical colleagues to deliver enhancements, statutory changes, defect resolutions and major transformation initiatives. This role combines software development principles with functional Oracle HCM Payroll configuration and business process expertise. You will develop robust, scalable and maintainable payroll solutions that underpin the accurate and timely payment of tens of thousands of Defence personnel and employees.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop and maintain Oracle Fusion HCM Payroll solutions that meet business and user needs.
• Configure payroll elements, balances, calculations and related payroll components within Oracle Cloud.
• Develop and maintain Fast Formula, payroll configuration and supporting system functionality.
• Develop clean, secure and well-tested payroll solutions in accordance with departmental standards and best practice.
• Analyse legislative, policy and business requirements and translate them into effective payroll system solutions.
• Deliver solutions for both live service support and change programmes, including legislative updates, pay awards and business transformation initiatives.
• Investigate, troubleshoot and resolve complex payroll and system issues in test and production environments.
• Ensure all solutions are peer reviewed, appropriately tested and documented before implementation.
• Support payroll assurance activities, ensuring solutions are compliant, auditable and fit for production deployment.
• Collaborate with payroll operations, assurance, reporting and integration teams to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Support unit testing and quality assurance activities, including system, integration, user acceptance and payroll parallel run testing.
• Monitor and support the services you build, identifying opportunities to improve performance, reliability and user experience.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of development, configuration and assurance standards.
• Follow software development and configuration best practice, contributing to continuous improvement of standards and processes.
• Produce clear technical and functional documentation to support supportability and knowledge sharing.

You will be expected to have or develop understanding of some or all of the following functionality: SQL/PLSQL, HCM Extract, HCM Data Loader (HDL), FastFormula, HCM Spreadsheet Loader (HSDL/AD).

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to work on one of the UK Government's largest and most complex payroll environments. Your work will directly support the delivery of pay and HR services to Ministry of Defence employees and partners, while contributing to major digital transformation programmes that modernise how government services are delivered. You'll join a diverse, multidisciplinary team of developers, payroll specialists, application engineers and assurance professionals, working together to deliver reliable services that make a real difference to thousands of users across Defence. You'll have the opportunity to develop specialist expertise in Oracle Fusion Payroll while helping deliver secure, resilient and high-performing services that support critical Defence operations every day.

Person specification

Essential Skills and Experience

• Experience developing, configuring or supporting software solutions within an enterprise application environment.
• Understanding of Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll.
• Understanding of payroll processes and payroll legislation, or the ability to rapidly develop this knowledge.
• Ability to analyse business requirements and translate them into effective system solutions.
• Experience investigating and resolving complex functional issues.
• Knowledge of software development lifecycle practices, including documentation, testing and change control.
• Experience working within agile or structured delivery environments.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
• A commitment to producing high-quality, secure and maintainable solutions.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Configuring and developing Oracle HCM Cloud Payroll solutions.
• Developing and troubleshooting Oracle Fast Formula.
• Understanding payroll processes and payroll legislation.
• MOD payroll processes and practices.
• Working within a government shared services environment or public sector payroll environment.
• Oracle HCM Core HR, Absence Management or Compensation.
• Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC), payroll integrations and data interfaces.
• Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence (OTBI) and reporting solutions.
• End-to-end payroll delivery and operational payroll support.
• Large-scale transformation or cloud migration programmes.