IAG Loyalty
Payroll Specialist
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Who we are 🌍
We’re IAG Loyalty - one organisation with two ambitious, growing divisions across Loyalty and Holidays. Each has its own goals, strategy and team, but together we’re united by a shared vision to create a more rewarding world of travel and experiences.
Our Loyalty division is home to Avios, the global loyalty currency, enabling millions of members to collect and spend rewards across travel, retail and financial services.
Our Holidays division, including British Airways Holidays and Iberia Vacaciones, brings together trusted brands, connecting customers to thousands of destinations worldwide through seamless, end-to-end travel experiences.
We’re on an exciting journey of growth and transformation - we’re going places.
The opportunity ✨
We’re looking for a highly experienced Payroll Specialist with deep, hands-on UK payroll knowledge to take ownership of our end-to-end payroll delivery and ensure our colleagues receive an accurate, timely and dependable payroll experience.
This is a role for someone who really knows payroll. You’ll be comfortable across the fundamentals of UK payroll and experienced in handling the different scenarios, calculations, statutory requirements and deadlines that come with running a busy payroll operation.
Sitting within our People & Communications team, you’ll take a leading role in the day-to-day delivery of payroll, from our regular payroll cycles through to statutory, quarterly and year-end activities. You’ll combine strong technical knowledge with excellent attention to detail and the judgement to resolve complex issues, manage risk and maintain robust controls.
You’ll also be a key point of expertise for the wider payroll team. This isn’t a people management role, but we’re looking for someone who can provide technical leadership - someone colleagues can turn to for guidance, who can help set the standard for great payroll delivery and support the team in working through more complex queries and scenarios.
Alongside the day-to-day, you’ll play an important role in how we evolve our payroll service. Working closely with our Workday experts, People and Finance teams, you’ll identify opportunities to improve processes, make better use of our systems and reduce unnecessary manual activity - without losing the accuracy and control that great payroll depends on.
What you’ll be doing 🚀
- Take ownership of end-to-end UK payroll delivery, ensuring payroll is accurate, compliant and delivered on time.
- Play a hands-on role across the full payroll cycle, confidently working through calculations, changes, deductions, statutory payments, reconciliations and payroll queries.
- Lead regular payroll cycles alongside quarterly, annual and year-end activities, ensuring statutory requirements and internal controls are met.
- Act as a technical point of expertise for the payroll team, providing day-to-day guidance, sharing knowledge and supporting colleagues with more complex payroll queries and scenarios.
- Maintain robust payroll controls, reconciliations, reporting and audit requirements, identifying and managing risks and escalating significant issues where appropriate.
- Investigate payroll discrepancies and issues, getting into the detail to understand root causes and taking practical action to resolve them.
- Apply your knowledge of UK payroll legislation and statutory requirements confidently in day-to-day payroll delivery.
- Work closely with Workday experts to translate payroll requirements into effective system and process solutions.
- Partner with People & Communications and Finance colleagues to deliver a joined-up and dependable payroll service.
- Identify recurring issues and opportunities to simplify processes, strengthen controls and reduce unnecessary manual activity.
- Produce accurate payroll reporting and provide clear information and insight to relevant stakeholders.
- Build capability across the payroll team through coaching, guidance and knowledge-sharing.
- Work with auditors, payroll providers, HMRC and other third parties where required to support payroll delivery and compliance.
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What we need from you ⚡
- Significant, recent hands-on experience delivering end-to-end UK payroll within a medium to large organisation.
- Strong technical knowledge across the core elements of UK payroll, with the ability to confidently work through payroll calculations, statutory payments, deductions, reconciliations, payroll changes and year-end activities.
- A strong and up-to-date understanding of UK payroll legislation, HMRC requirements and statutory obligations, and experience applying this knowledge in practice.
- Experience owning or playing a lead role in payroll cycles, with the ability to spot issues, investigate discrepancies and take action to resolve them.
- The technical depth to act as a go-to payroll expert within a team, providing guidance and helping others work through more complex payroll scenarios.
- Strong experience of payroll controls, reconciliations, reporting and audit requirements.
- Experience using Workday Payroll would be highly beneficial. We’re also open to strong experience with another large payroll/HR system where you can demonstrate excellent end-to-end payroll knowledge.
- Excellent attention to detail and a naturally inquisitive approach - you’ll want to understand why something doesn’t look right rather than simply process what’s in front of you.
- Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to get into the detail while also identifying root causes and opportunities to improve how we work.
- An organised and dependable approach, with experience managing competing priorities and time-critical payroll deadlines.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain payroll matters clearly and constructively challenge where needed.
- A continuous improvement mindset, with an interest in using systems and technology to simplify processes and reduce unnecessary manual work.
Get help with your application
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We might not be right for you if:
- You’re looking to move away from hands-on payroll delivery - technical payroll expertise and getting into the detail are a big part of this role.
- Your payroll experience has been more focused on overseeing a provider or managing a process than personally working across the end-to-end UK payroll cycle.
- You’re looking for a traditional people management role - you’ll provide technical leadership and guidance to the team, but you won’t have formal line management responsibility.
- You only want to focus on your own to-do list; we’re a small, high-performing team and we help each other to succeed.
- You value perfection over fast iteration and progress; IAG Loyalty moves fast, we learn and iterate as we go and our environment isn’t right for everyone.
If you think you have what it takes but don't meet every single point above, please do still apply. We'd love to chat and see if you could be a great fit.
The Blend đź“Ť
This role will work as part of our Loyalty Division and is based out of our London office. We call our approach to hybrid working The Blend - it’s about giving you the flexibility to choose where you do your best work, while staying connected with your team and the wider business.
This means you will be required to spend at least two days per week in the office, with the rest of the time working from home. You may also be required to work from one of our other office or partner locations, based on your role and 'to do' list.
Diversity and Inclusion
Our vision is to create a more rewarding world of travel and experiences. Delivering that requires diverse thinking and inclusive leadership.
We are committed to building a workplace where people feel they belong and are valued for their perspective. Inclusion drives better decisions, stronger performance and more innovative outcomes.
We actively encourage applications from people with different experiences and backgrounds, and are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is fair, inclusive and accessible.
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