Payroll Operations and Systems Manager

About the role: Job title: Payroll Operations & Systems Manager Working hours: 37.5 hours per week About the Role: The Payroll Operations & Systems Manager is the strategic engine behind our payroll delivery. While the Head of Payroll ensures compliance, accuracy, and legislative adherence, you are responsible for the operational machinery that allows the department to function efficiently and at scale. In this pivotal role, you will bridge the gap between technical systems and operational delivery. You will own the resource planning, integration strategy, and workflow optimisation, ensuring that our HRIS connects seamlessly with our payroll software and that our teams are utilised effectively to meet customer requirements. Key Responsibilities: 1. Operational Operations & Resource Planning Strategic Capacity Management: Take ownership of the department’s resource modeling. You will analyse sales forecasts, onboarding pipelines, and seasonal peaks to ensure the team is appropriately staffed and skilled to meet demand. Work Allocation Strategy: Collaborate with the Head of Payroll to design data-driven work allocation models. You will move the team away from reactive assignment to proactive capacity planning, ensuring deadlines are met without team burnout. Efficiency & Utilisation: Implement metrics to track team utilisation and identifying operational bottlenecks. You will constantly analyse the "time-to-process" and drive initiatives that reduce manual intervention. Process Engineering: Lead the design of standardised operational workflows. You are responsible for identifying friction points in the payroll cycle and implementing lean processes that maximise speed and consistency. 2. Systems Integration & Technical Strategy Integration Architecture: Define and own the operational strategy for integrating customer HRIS platforms with our payroll systems. You ensure the "pipes" that carry data are robust, secure, and scalable. Data Integrity &a