Payroll Manager – Multi-site workforce

Location: Home based with occasional UK wide travel
Contract: Full-time
Salary: £35-42,000 + benefits

HPR are delighted to be working with a fast-growing and dynamic business that is growing at an extraordinary rate, this growth is through both organic growth and acquisitions. With rapid growth comes challenges, with challenges comes opportunities, and with opportunities comes reward. With employees based across the country, this role is fully remote, requiring the need to occasionally travel to company sites; the vast majority of the working hours are home based.

The opportunity

The Payroll Manager will take end-to-end ownership of the payroll operation, ensuring colleagues are paid accurately, securely and on time while maintaining rigorous statutory compliance, financial control and data integrity. With a mixture of monthly and weekly paid employees, along with interim and permanent colleagues.

This is a hands-on management role in a national, operationally complex business. The Payroll Manager will control the full payroll cycle, manage payroll inputs and validation, work closely with HR and Finance, resolve employee and manager queries, maintain strong audit trails and ensure Moorepay is used effectively as the core payroll platform.

The role requires someone who combines deep UK payroll knowledge with strong systems capability and disciplined operational execution. The workforce is geographically spread and may include multiple pay groups, variable hours, overtime, allowances, expenses and other operational pay inputs; accuracy, cut-off discipline and robust controls are therefore critical.

Key responsibilities

• Own the complete payroll cycle from data collection and input through validation, approval, payment and post-payroll reconciliation.
• Establish and manage a clear payroll calendar, cut-off timetable and control framework, ensuring all stakeholders understand deadlines and responsibilities.
• Process and validate starters, leavers, contractual changes, salary changes, overtime, bonuses, allowances, deductions, absence-related pay and other variable payroll inputs.
• Ensure tax codes, National Insurance, student loans, attachment orders, statutory payments and other deductions are applied correctly.
• Review payroll outputs in detail before approval, investigating anomalies, unusual movements, duplicate or missing payments and material period-on-period variances.
• Coordinate final payroll sign-off with authorised stakeholders and ensure payment files and supporting documentation are completed accurately and securely.
• Manage corrections, advances and off-cycle payments under controlled and appropriately authorised processes.
• Ensure year-end activity is delivered accurately and to timetable, including P60s and other required payroll outputs.
• Act as the internal subject-matter expert and primary operational owner for Moorepay.
• Use Moorepay reporting, validation and audit functionality to identify exceptions before payroll is finalised.
• Work with Moorepay support and relevant internal stakeholders to resolve system issues, implement updates and improve configuration.
• Maintain expert working knowledge of UK payroll legislation and ensure payroll processes remain compliant with current requirements.
• Ensure accurate and timely HMRC submissions, including Full Payment Submissions (FPS) and Employer Payment Summaries (EPS), and resolve exceptions promptly.
• Manage PAYE, National Insurance and other statutory payroll obligations in accordance with required deadlines.
• Ensure statutory payments including SSP, SMP, SPP and other family-related pay are calculated and administered correctly.
• Oversee auto-enrolment payroll activity and pension deductions, working with pension providers and internal stakeholders as required.
• Support P11D/Class 1A and benefits-related payroll processes where applicable.
• Maintain comprehensive payroll records, audit trails, approvals and evidence to support internal/external audit and statutory review.
• Ensure payroll data is managed in line with UK GDPR, information-security requirements and policies.
• Work closely with HR on joiners, movers, leavers, family leave, sickness, contractual changes and other employee lifecycle events affecting pay.
• Produce accurate payroll MI for HR, Finance and senior leadership, including payroll cost, headcount, overtime, allowances, deductions and other relevant trends.