Payroll and Benefits Specialist in London

At Hermès GB, people sit at the heart of everything we do. Our culture is human, relationship‑led and grounded in trust, craftsmanship and care. Behind every client experience, every product and every store, is an ecosystem of brilliant people, and this role plays a quiet but essential part in supporting that experience.

We are entering an exciting new chapter for Hermès with our new Maison store opening and HR stepping into a phase of transformation. We are thoughtfully reimagining how we work, streamlining our processes, embedding best practices and innovating while staying deeply human & uniquely Hermès.

This role is for a true owner; a proactive, values‑led go‑getter who is excited to take the reins of our outsourced payroll (via ADP) for our UK retail and HQ colleagues. Someone with a high work ethic and proven discretion, consistency and curiosity. Someone proud of doing things properly, thoroughly and with integrity. This is a role with space: to own, to shape, to improve, and to make a real difference.

While you’ll be an analyst at heart, someone who genuinely enjoys spreadsheets, data and accuracy, you’ll also be a collaborator who enjoys being part of a human, relationship‑driven HR team.

The Payroll and Benefits Specialist is responsible for delivering accurate, compliant and on‑time payroll and benefits for our UK and Ireland employees, while continuously improving how we do things.

You’ll manage payroll end‑to‑end with our outsourced provider, support benefits administration, partner closely with Finance and HR colleagues, and provide thoughtful reporting and insights to our leaders. Just as importantly, you’ll bring curiosity, integrity and a desire to do things better, gently challenging processes, refining ways of working and helping us build something even stronger for the future.

At Hermès we value in‑person bonds and connection. As a result, this role is primarily on‑site 5 days/week at our beautiful Mayfair Head Offices, with up to 20 days maximum working from home per year.

What you’ll own:

• Owning the full monthly payroll cycle for UK and Ireland via ADP, with care, accuracy and calm.
• Preparing, checking and submitting payroll inputs; starters, leavers, salary changes, bonuses, overtime, time & attendance and statutory payments.
• Processing off‑cycle payroll runs when needed.
• Calculating collective store bonus payments (commission‑style), and sharing clear accruals with Finance.
• Ensuring statutory deductions (PAYE, NI, student loans, court orders and others) are handled correctly.
• Reconciling payroll outputs, spotting discrepancies and resolving them thoughtfully.
• Maintaining strong audit trails and payroll records.
• Acting as our primary contact with HMRC and managing the company’s HMRC account.
• Preparing P11Ds, gathering PSA data and supporting annual PSA submissions.
• Supporting Group level initiatives like Gender Pay Gap reporting and future pay transparency projects.
• Running regular data checks between HRIS (MyClickH) and ADP to protect data integrity.
• Producing monthly and year‑end payroll reporting for Finance.
• Keeping payroll guides and checklists up to date — and improving them as you go.
• Continuously looking for ways to simplify, streamline and strengthen payroll processes.
• Administering UK benefits including pensions, life assurance, private medical, wellbeing and other schemes.
• Managing pension enrolments, opt‑outs, contribution changes and statutory re‑enrolment.
• Processing benefit updates accurately with providers and payroll.
• Tracking wellbeing claims and ensuring appropriate payroll treatment.
• Creating clear, warm and helpful benefits communications for our employees.
• Acting as a key contact for benefit providers and brokers and supporting annual renewals.
• Staying curious about market trends and supporting exploration of new benefits.
• Sharing payroll and benefits knowledge during new starter inductions.

Data, reporting & insight:

• Producing payroll and reward reporting for HR leadership and executive teams.
• Using Excel confidently; pivot tables, complex formulas, and large data sets, to spot trends and tell meaningful stories through data.
• Turning numbers into insights and thoughtful recommendations.
• Supporting annual compensation reviews and ad‑hoc benchmarking.
• Assisting with headcount forecast and budgeting.
• Advising Talent Acquisition on role bandings and compensation.

Wider HR contribution:

• Confident working with key stakeholders both internal and external.
• Supporting global and group HR projects (including pay transparency initiatives).
• Assisting with expat processes and employee share plans.
• Supporting onboarding and offboarding including presenting benefits to new starters.
• Acting as a trusted first point of contact for payroll and benefits queries.
• Partnering closely with Finance on reconciliations, audits and purchase orders.

About you:

• Ability & passion to work on‑site 5 days/week in a close‑knit relationship orientated team.
• Experience owning and executing UK payroll and benefits (Ireland experience a plus).
• Comfortable with payroll legislation, pensions and statutory requirements.
• A natural problem‑solver with a love for accuracy and detail.
• An advanced Excel user and enthusiast, with a genuine love of large data sets.
• Analytical mindset able to identify trends and provide thoughtful recommendations.
• Confident working independently, while enjoying being part of a close‑knit team.
• Calm, organised and reliable, even when the details are complex.
• Proactive, curious, improvement‑minded and solutions orientated.
• At home in a human, relationship‑led organisation.
• A high level of discretion and integrity, with the ability to handle sensitive data and information with absolute care and trust.
• Experienced with ADP, Oracle, Workday or SAP (or excited to learn).

Why this role, why now:

This is a rare opportunity to step into a role with real ownership, genuine trust and room to shape, at a time of growth, transformation and possibility. If you’re an autonomous, thoughtful go‑getter who cares deeply about doing things well, and about people, we would love to meet you.