Payroll Manager

Working Hours:

40 Hours

Reporting to:

Head of Payroll – UK & IRL

Location:

Bury Office

Department:

People

Direct Reports:

2

Company overview:

Established in 1981 with a single store in the North West of England, the JD Group is a leading global omnichannel retailer of Sports Fashion and Outdoor brands. The Group now has over 3,000 stores across 38 territories with a strong presence in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. In addition we operate over 200 JD Gyms throughout the UK.

Role overview:

As Payroll Manager, you will lead a high-performing payroll function responsible for delivering a seamless, accurate, and timely service to over 25,000 colleagues across the JD Group. Working alongside three other Payroll Managers and closely with the Team Leaders, you will ensure operational excellence, drive continuous improvement, and support strategic business initiatives. This is a pivotal leadership role where you’ll partner with the People Leadership Team to align payroll operations with broader business goals. You’ll focus on empowering and enabling the management team to develop their people, ensuring the function is not only compliant and efficient, but also future-focused and colleague-centric.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the Payroll team, ensuring accurate and timely processing of 22 payrolls (GBR, IRL, Offshore) across a diverse retail workforce including salaried, hourly paid and variable-hours colleagues.
• Own the quality and accuracy of payroll outputs across allocated business areas, acting as the final sign-off authority.
• Ensure all statutory payroll obligations and reporting requirements are completed accurately and within prescribed deadlines.
• Ensure a robust payroll governance and control framework is maintained, managing risks proactively and ensuring compliance with all statutory, financial and internal control requirements.
• Empower and support Team Leaders to lead, coach, and develop their teams effectively.
• Collaborate with the People Leadership team to support the successful implementation of strategic business initiatives, ensuring payroll operations are aligned and enabling.
• Drive the ongoing evolution of payroll services, identifying opportunities to simplify processes, enhance colleague experience and leverage technology to improve efficiency and scalability.
• Monitor and analyse payroll queries, implementing proactive solutions to reduce volume and improve resolution times, whilst facilitating a customer centric approach.
• Act as a key escalation point for complex queries and customer feedback, ensuring timely and effective resolution.
• Align team KPIs with strategic business goals, using data insights to inform coaching and development plans.
• Provide accurate payroll reporting to internal departments and external bodies, ensuring data integrity and compliance.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across the wider People function, Finance and operational business areas, ensuring payroll considerations are appropriately represented and understood.