People Systems & Payroll Manager in London

Searchlight Ventures is the group company for The Light Cinemas, Light Entertainment and All Star Lanes. We operate a growing network of cinema, entertainment and hospitality venues across the UK, bringing together film, leisure activities, food and drink to create memorable experiences for our guests. As our business continues to expand this is an important stage for our business development so we are looking for a People Systems & Payroll Manager to join the People Team in our Central London Head Office.

The People Systems & Payroll Manager will be an admin to the Fourth Hospitality system and manage fortnightly and monthly payroll across the business. The role keeps the platforms, processes and people data joined up - administering and configuring the systems, maintaining data integrity, and leading improvements and integrations. On benefits, the role brings market insight, benchmarking and data to help the Head of HR shape a competitive, well-valued offer, mindful of cost; final decisions sit with the People Director and Finance Director.

What you will be doing:

• Manage end-to-end fortnightly and monthly payroll across all sites, including the Fourth bureau relationship and issue resolution with HR and Finance.
• Process starters, leavers, pay changes, contracts, and pension administration, ensuring compliance.
• Act as system administrator for Fourth Hospitality, managing administration, configuration, user access, and data integrity.
• Lead system improvements, integrations, reporting, and user support.
• Manage benefits administration and analyse market benchmarking, takeup, cost, and value.
• Manage apprenticeship levy administration and support gender pay gap reporting.
• Ensure compliance, support payroll reconciliations, month-end activities, and audits.
• Drive process improvements across payroll, benefits, and systems.
• Support employee queries and provide wider People administration support as required.

About You:

• You’ll have previous records of driving continuous improvement across payroll, benefits, and systems to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and user experience.
• Able to deliver responsive support to employee queries and contribute to broader People team activities as needed.
• Have experience administering and optimising HR/payroll systems, including reporting, integrations, and implementations (Fourth Hospitality).
• Possess strong benefits experience, combining hands-on delivery with market benchmarking, data analysis, and insight generation.
• You are numerate and commercially aware, with knowledge of apprenticeship levy and gender pay gap reporting.
• Have working knowledge of pensions; experience with travel platforms (e.g. Roomex) is beneficial.
• Confident managing provider relationships and presenting clear, actionable insights to senior stakeholders, with a detail-focused, organised, and solutions-driven approach across HR and Finance.

In return we offer:

• Competitive salary.
• Employee perks, social events and discounts across venues.
• Private medical insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Wagestream – access to your earned £££ whenever you need.
• Up to 33 days holidays.
• Flexible working.
• The opportunity to be part of an exciting business venture.
• Employee assistance programme.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity.
• Career development opportunities in a growing company.

If you're someone who enjoys improving how things work, has a keen eye for detail, and creates a positive employee experience, we'd love to hear from you. Our dedicated Recruitment Team will review every application and get in touch to arrange a chat with suitable candidates. If we don't feel like you are the right match for now, we will make sure to let you know; however, detailed feedback won't be provided at this stage.