Head of Payroll

About the job

Permanent position based in Solihull (Hybrid working 3 days in the office / 2 days at home). We are looking for a Head of Payroll to join our friendly and dynamic team here at Waterstones in Solihull. Leading a team of four, you will be responsible for providing a professional and efficient payroll service for 4,000 employees across our retail, head office and warehouse locations. Our retail payroll covers over 300 locations across the UK, ROI, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

What you will be doing:

• Operational control and responsibility of 5 periodic payrolls and 1 additional seasonal payroll for Christmas temps processed by the payroll team to ensure all employees are paid accurately and on time.
• Daily management support and guidance of 4 direct reports to include training, development and coaching on any statutory and technical changes as required.
• End to end processing of the Main Waterstones UK payroll on SDWorx, to include inspection of output reports, completion of Payroll control sheet and preparation of Gross to Net report for review and sign off by Financial Controller.
• To ensure company policy, procedures and audit controls are always adhered to.
• Periodic reporting of payroll output to include long term sickness, pensions, third party reporting submission and authorisation of third payment payments.
• To ensure Waterstones is NMW compliant across the different countries as required, including periodic payroll reporting, compliance checking and settlement of any underpayment within the relevant period.
• Regularly review and develop all payroll systems, processes and procedures to ensure they are effective and efficient.
• Planning, testing and implementation of Payroll system upgrades and departmental projects.
• To provide the business with support and guidance on any technical issues and statutory updates as required.
• Maintain working relationship and escalation route with key stakeholders to include HR Business Partners, Shop Operations, Senior Managers and Management Executive.
• Member of the Waterstones Group Pension Governance Committee.

What we need from you:

The ideal candidate will have the following skills, attributes, and experience:

• Essential skills and experience include:
• Payroll Management or Payroll Team leader experience.
• Technical knowledge of UK and Irish tax regimes.
• Strong Excel and reporting skills including formulae, pivot tables and V-lookup.
• Strong systems knowledge and experience.
• Pensions Auto Enrolment legislation knowledge.
• CIPP qualified or have a minimum of 5 years payroll experience in a similar environment/level.
• Desirable skills and experience include:
• Retail sector experience.
• Sarbanes Oxley knowledge.
• Technical knowledge of Jersey, Isle of Man and Irish Payrolls.
• Confident in manual calculations.

Person Profile:

• Organised and efficient.
• Excellent communication skills – both verbal and written.
• Comfortable working autonomously.
• Confident problem solver.
• Ability to deal with stakeholders at all levels.

Why work for Waterstones:

Waterstones is the cornerstone of bookselling across the UK and Ireland. Joining Waterstones means being an active part in a success story that began in 1982, and books are as popular now as the day we started. Trading across the UK, Ireland and Europe, we are present in over 300 shopping locations, where Waterstones continues to thrive, each year actively pursuing a programme of new bookshop openings.

If you have the relevant essential experience and you are interested, we would love to hear from you.

Waterstones is committed to encouraging equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and is dedicated toward eliminating unlawful discrimination. Our aim is to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel fully respected and to be able to give their best.

Diversity Statement:

At Waterstones, we are committed to creating a workplace that is fair and inclusive to people from all backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, and we strive to promote an inclusive work culture. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment processes are free from bias, and our aim is to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel fully respected and able to give their best.

Reasonable Adjustments:

We understand that some disabled applicants may, due to the nature of their disability, find some parts of the recruitment process challenging. If you need any reasonable adjustments during any part of the interview process, please make these known either to your interviewer or the person you liaise with when setting up your interview.