Head of Payroll Interim

Role type: Interim

Duration: 6 months

Sector: Higher Education

Location: London

Hourly rate: £45 – £50 per hour

The Role

You will lead and develop a team of payroll specialists, ensuring a high-quality payroll service is delivered to employees while maintaining robust controls, processes and compliance standards.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing strategic and operational leadership to the payroll production team.
• Overseeing the full monthly payroll cycle, including validation and sign-off of gross-to-net payroll, statutory submissions, payroll costings, payments and year-end processes.
• Ensuring payroll deductions, pension processes and auto-enrolment requirements are accurately managed.
• Maintaining compliance with UK legislation and relevant overseas payroll requirements.
• Developing, documenting and continuously improving payroll procedures, controls and processes.
• Leading payroll exception reporting and investigating potential underpayments, overpayments and anomalies.
• Ensuring accurate and timely reconciliation of payroll and third-party payments.
• Liaising with HMRC, pension providers, auditors and other statutory and external bodies.
• Supporting payroll-related reward schemes and working with external providers.
• Producing management information, KPIs, statutory returns and other payroll reporting.
• Leading payroll-related projects, process improvements and change initiatives.
• Working closely with internal and external audit teams and implementing agreed recommendations.
• Ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements are robust and regularly reviewed.
• Developing the payroll team through effective leadership, performance management, training and succession planning.

Essential experience

We are looking for an experienced payroll professional who has operated successfully within a large, complex organisation, ideally within Higher Education or another similarly structured environment.

Qualifications and Experience

• A CIPP Foundation Degree or equivalent payroll qualification.
• Strong experience managing a complex end-to-end payroll function.
• Proven experience of leading and developing payroll teams.
• Strong knowledge of payroll legislation, statutory requirements and compliance.
• Experience managing monthly payroll cycle closure, statutory reporting and payments.
• Experience designing, implementing and continuously improving payroll processes and procedures.
• Experience working with integrated HR and payroll systems.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills, with exceptional attention to detail.
• The ability to interpret legislation and organisational policy and translate these into effective payroll processes.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience leading teams through organisational or process change.
• The confidence and composure to manage deadlines, complex issues and sensitive payroll.