Job Description

The Colleague Experience Group (CEG)

The Colleague Experience Group (CEG)—Amex’s Human Resources function—is responsible for all colleague-related benefits and programs globally, including career growth and development, leadership and learning, total rewards and well-being, recruitment, labor relations, colleague servicing, and more. CEG’s vision is to provide the best colleague experience every day to fuel growth, and they are committed to ensuring all of Team Amex has the resources and support they need to be and deliver their best.

Payroll Specialist Role

The Payroll Specialist will report to the EMEA Payroll Manager and form part of the Colleague Servicing (CS) Team.

This is a senior, UK-focused payroll role responsible for delivering accurate, compliant and timely payroll activities, with particular emphasis on UK payroll data, statutory and tax requirements, payroll returns and Modified Payroll.

The successful candidate will bring strong technical UK payroll knowledge and be comfortable operating with a high degree of independence and accountability. You will be expected to manage your own workload, make informed decisions, identify and resolve issues, and independently review and validate your work to ensure accuracy and strong controls.

This is not a payroll generalist role. A significant part of the position involves managing, validating and analysing complex payroll data. The successful candidate will enjoy working with data, investigating discrepancies, performing detailed reconciliations and using analysis to identify issues and drive improvements.

You will work closely with internal stakeholders and external partners while taking ownership of key UK payroll activities and ensuring compliance with UK tax and employment legislation, statutory requirements and internal controls.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of key activities across the UK payroll cycle, ensuring accurate and timely delivery.
• Process, review and validate complex UK payroll data, including salary changes, variable compensation, absences, benefits and other payroll inputs.
• Independently perform detailed payroll reconciliations, validations and variance analysis, identifying and resolving discrepancies.
• Manage UK payroll returns, reporting and associated data requirements, ensuring accurate and timely submissions.
• Manage and support activities relating to Modified Payroll, applying appropriate technical knowledge and controls.
• Apply strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation, PAYE, National Insurance, statutory payments, taxation and relevant employment legislation to payroll activities and decisions.
• Analyse large and complex payroll datasets to identify anomalies, trends, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Take ownership of payroll issues through to resolution, using technical expertise and judgement to determine the appropriate course of action.
• Independently review and quality-check your work, maintaining a strong control mindset and proactively identifying potential issues.
• Coordinate and support UK tax filings, statutory reporting and year-end activities.
• Partner with internal teams, including CEG and Controllership, as well as external payroll and tax partners, to deliver seamless payroll operations.
• Manage external vendor relationships, ensuring agreed service levels, timelines and quality standards are achieved.
• Prepare payroll reports, reconciliations, metrics and analysis to support payroll governance and month-end and year-end activities.
• Maintain robust payroll controls, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and supporting documentation.
• Ensure compliance with UK legislation, internal policies, risk and control requirements, and internal and external audit standards.
• Act as a UK payroll subject matter expert and support internal and external audits as required.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen controls, simplify processes and increase standardisation and automation.
• Manage multiple priorities and deadlines independently within a fast-paced and evolving environment.
• Deliver a high standard of service when resolving colleague payroll queries, balancing colleague experience with technical accuracy and compliance.