Head of Payroll

Location: London - Hybrid Working

Contract Type: 1-Year Fixed Term Contract

Work Pattern: Full Time

Salary: paying up to £100,000 plus benefits (with potentially some flexibility on salary)

About The Role

Oakleaf Partnership are partnering with a leading financial services organisation to recruit an experienced Payroll Consultant for a 1-year fixed-term contract. This is a broad and varied role, managing a small team, and combining payroll operations, transformation, governance and stakeholder management. You will take ownership of multiple UK and international payrolls within a co-sourced model, whilst also playing a key role in upskilling your team, and improving processes, systems and controls across the function. The role would suit an experienced Payroll Leader who enjoys working in a changing environment and has a genuine interest in payroll transformation and continuous improvement.

What the role is:

• Managing the end-to-end delivery of multiple UK and international payrolls, ensuring accurate, compliant and timely processing.
• Overseeing payroll inputs, outputs, reconciliations, approvals and exception reporting.
• Acting as a key escalation point for complex payroll queries and issues.
• Managing relationships with external payroll providers, ensuring strong service delivery and governance.
• Leading regular governance meetings and monitor performance against agreed SLAs and KPIs.
• Driving payroll transformation and process improvement initiatives across systems, processes and operating models.
• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, automation, controls and standardisation.
• Supporting HR and payroll system implementations, upgrades and integrations.
• Working closely with HR, Finance, Tax, Reward and wider business stakeholders.
• Managing and oversee pension administration, Auto Enrolment requirements and provider relationships.
• Maintaining robust payroll controls, processes and documentation, ensuring compliance with UK legislation and statutory requirements.
• Supporting payroll audits and ensure any recommendations are effectively implemented.
• Developing reporting and payroll analytics to improve visibility, governance and decision-making.
• Providing guidance and support to Payroll Advisors, helping to build capability and reduce key-person dependency.

Skills & Experience

We are looking for an experienced payroll professional who can combine strong technical knowledge with the ability to manage change and improve processes. You will ideally have:

• Proven experience managing multiple UK and international payrolls within the Financial Services sector.
• Experience working within a co-sourced payroll model and managing external providers.
• Strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation, HMRC requirements, pensions and Auto Enrolment.
• Experience delivering payroll transformation, systems implementation or process improvement projects.
• Strong vendor and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and a structured approach to payroll governance and controls.
• The ability to work confidently in a changing and evolving environment.
• Strong Excel skills; experience with Workday would be advantageous.
• Previous experience within financial services or another regulated environment would be beneficial.

This is an excellent opportunity for a payroll professional who enjoys being hands-on whilst also having the opportunity to influence how payroll operates, improve processes and support wider transformation. If you are an experienced Payroll Leader looking for a role where you can make a genuine impact, please apply now!