Payroll SME / Auditor
Company Overview: The Airedale Group are the leading market design, installation, and maintenance provider for commercial kitchens in the UK hospitality and food service industry. We work alongside clients from the initial designs through to bespoke fabrication and installation. Coupled with the largest body of professional maintenance engineers in the country, we offer the complete end-to-end solution to our extensive client base. We have long-standing relationships with many of the biggest multi-site brands in the UK.
Job Overview: We are seeking an experienced and commercially minded Payroll SME & Auditor to Audit our UK payroll function. This role will be a 6-9 month fixed term contract, with responsibility for ensuring effective and efficient payroll operations by conducting a comprehensive review of current payroll practices, controls, systems, and governance arrangements, making recommendations to improve compliance, efficiency, and best practice alignment.
The successful candidate will play a key role in assessing payroll operations against regulatory requirements, industry best practice, and organisational needs, identifying opportunities for improvement and making recommendations to enhance compliance, operational effectiveness, employee experience, and risk management.
This is an excellent opportunity for a payroll professional who combines deep technical expertise with strong analytical capability, strategic thinking, stakeholder management, and a proven track record of identifying risk, driving improvement and delivering operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead a project to review and audit current payroll practices, controls, processes, and governance frameworks across the organisation.
Audit payroll operations for compliance with relevant regulatory bodies and statutory requirements including HMRC, pensions legislation, employment legislation, GDPR, and wider payroll governance standards.
Benchmark current payroll practices against industry best practice, identifying risks, inefficiencies, control gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
Develop and present clear recommendations and action plans to strengthen payroll compliance, controls, operational effectiveness, and employee experience.
Partner with People, Finance, IT, and external providers to implement agreed payroll improvements, policy enhancements, and system/process changes.
Provide guidance on the end-to-end payroll function for UK employees, ensuring accurate and timely payroll processing.
Ensure full compliance with HMRC regulations, statutory requirements, pensions legislation, GDPR, and employment legislation.
Review payroll controls, reconciliations, reporting, and internal audit requirements and make recommendations for improvement.
Oversee payroll providers, systems, and third-party relationships where applicable.
Provide advice for managing year-end payroll activities including P60s, P11Ds, PSA submissions, and statutory reporting.
Manage and develop payroll policies, procedures, and governance frameworks.
Provide payroll expertise and guidance to senior leadership, People Team, and Finance stakeholders.
Lead, coach, and develop payroll team members.
Drive process improvement, automation, and systems optimisation initiatives.
Identify opportunities to improve employee experience and operational efficiency.
Contribute to wider business transformation and people strategy initiatives.
Build strong cross-functional relationships with the People, Finance, IT teams and external stakeholders.
Essential Skills & Experience
Knowledge and understanding of payroll assurance, risk management, and governance methodologies
Experience leading payroll compliance audits, regulatory reviews, or payroll transformation programmes within complex UK organisations.
Strong understanding of payroll governance, internal controls, regulatory compliance, and payroll best practice frameworks .
Experience identifying payroll risks, producing improvement recommendations, and implementing sustainable operational enhancements.
Significant experience in a senior payroll leadership role within a UK environment.
Extensive knowledge of UK payroll legislation, HMRC requirements, pensions, and statutory compliance.
Expert-level knowledge of Sage Payroll software, with hands-on experience using it.
Experience managing complex payroll operations and payroll systems. (Sage & PXD)
Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
Proven ability to lead teams and manage change effectively.
Experience driving payroll process improvements and operational transformation.
Commercial awareness with the ability to contribute strategically beyond payroll operations.
Strong analytical, organisational, and problem-solving skills.
Qualifications:
Essential
Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience.
CIPP qualification (Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals).
Qualification or experience in audit, governance, risk, or compliance (e.g., Internal Audit, Finance, or Assurance disciplines).
SME-level knowledge and experience of Sage Payroll software
Demonstrable experience conducting payroll compliance reviews, governance assessments, or payroll audit/improvement projects.
Desirable
MCIPP (Member of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals).
CIPD qualification (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development).
SME-level knowledge and experience of Access People Payroll software would be advantageous.
Personal Attributes
Strategic and forward-thinking mindset.
Highly detail-oriented with strong governance focus.
Collaborative and influential leadership style.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
Proactive approach to continuous improvement and innovation.
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