Payroll Operations Manager
Southwark Council
The role
Are you a dynamic leader with a passion for payroll operations? Southwark Council is looking for an experienced Payroll Operations Manager to lead, inspire, and make an impact within a fast-paced, professional payroll team.
In this role, you’ll be an integral part of ensuring our payroll processes run smoothly and efficiently, managing a team of Payroll Officers who handle payroll transactions with precision, ensuring the seamless collection and validation of data. Your expertise will help resolve a wide range of payroll-related issues for managers, staff, pensioners, and external third parties.
Key responsibilities:
- Team Management: Take the reins and manage a dedicated payroll team, ensuring high-quality, efficient service.
- Lead with Purpose: Lead, inspire, and develop your team to deliver a pro-active, fast-paced payroll service that adds value.
- Operational Excellence: Ensure accurate and timely monthly payroll processes, including reconciliations, finance postings, and full payment submissions (FPS).
- Customer Service: Provide high-quality responses to queries from employees, managers, and stakeholders, enhancing customer satisfaction.
- System Implementation: Be a crucial part of the team driving the deployment of the Council’s new payroll/HR and finance system.
- Manage Payroll Transactions: Ensure accurate data collection and validation for staff, pensioners, and other payrolls including generating payslips, P45s, and P60s.
How will you make an impact as our Payroll Operations Manager?
- Payroll operations experience in HR or Payroll teams.
- Strong knowledge of PAYE Tax, National Insurance, and Pension rules.
- Proven team leadership and development skills.
- Experience collaborating with managers, employees, and stakeholders.
- Familiarity with Local Government pay and conditions (a plus).
- Excellent customer relations and problem-solving abilities.
- Strong communication skills for handling queries.
- Ability to guide and support payroll system users.
- Confident managing complex payroll tasks, ensuring compliance.
Why Southwark?
Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London, managing 55,000 homes lived in by 40% of Southwark’s residents. We are home to over 18,300 businesses including iconic London venues such as The Shard, The Tate Modern and Borough Market along with many social enterprises and we have a young, diverse, and growing population.
At Southwark we are committed to making our borough just and fair and are taking positive action to tackle inequalities. Our residents and communities are our greatest asset and the passion we have for Southwark is shared by millions of Londoners who enjoy our outstanding cultural offer, use our hospitals and attend our universities.
Our refreshed borough plan and focus on Southwark Stands Together, (which is our work with Southwark’s communities and the council’s staff to tackle racism, injustice and inequality) underpins all that we do.
We particularly welcome applications from members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities to increase representation at senior management level in the Council.
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Additional details
Full time, 36 hours per week, Monday to Friday. This role offers a flexible hybrid working arrangement, with time split between working from home and our Tooley Street offices.
Salary range £45,852 - £53,319 per annum
Employee benefits:
You’ll join a motivated, driven, and supportive team that values each of its members and strives for excellence. You’ll also be part of a successful, high-achieving development team making a real difference to the lives of residents across the borough. In return for all your hard work, skills and experience, you will receive:
- A competitive base salary (pro rata for part time staff)
- Strong supportive senior management team
- Regular one to one supervision
- Professional development & training opportunities
- Clear career development pathways
- Agile and flexible working arrangements
- Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Season ticket and cycle loans
- Annual Leave starting at 29 days per year, increasing to 37 (with length of service) (pro rata for part time staff)
- Wellbeing programme
- HSF Health plan and eye care scheme
- EAP employee assistance programme, confidential counselling and support
- Social clubs and staff groups
Disability Confident (guaranteed interview) scheme:
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the below criteria:
- Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
- Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
- If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition.
Recruitment timetable
Closing date: 5th May 2026 at 23:59*
*We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role, in which case we will move the key dates for the process. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
Interview date: week commencing 11th May 2026
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