Payroll & Finance Administrator

Salary: £38,379 per annum

Location: Lincoln – 100% onsite

Contract: Permanent, full-time (37 hours per week)

Closing Date: ASAP / Ongoing – applications considered on a rolling basis

Marble Mayne Recruitment is delighted to be supporting a Students' Union in Lincoln with the recruitment of a Payroll & Finance Administrator. This is a newly created position offering an exciting opportunity for an experienced payroll professional to take ownership of a significant payroll improvement project, whilst also supporting the wider finance function.

The organisation employs approximately 70 permanent staff alongside a further 60 student and bar staff, creating a varied and relatively complex payroll environment.

Currently, payroll administration involves a combination of spreadsheets, timesheet systems and manual processes, with the University undertaking the final tax calculations. The organisation is now looking to bring its payroll operations fully in-house, with the ambition of developing a streamlined, automated, one-stop payroll solution by early to mid-2028.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys getting under the skin of existing processes, identifying improvements and implementing more efficient ways of working.

About the Role

Reporting to the Group Finance Manager, the role will be approximately 70% payroll focused and 30% broader finance administration.

Initially, you will need to develop a thorough understanding of how payroll currently operates across the organisation, taking ownership of existing processes whilst reviewing opportunities to improve accuracy, efficiency and automation.

Working closely with senior finance and HR colleagues, you will play a central role in designing and implementing a new integrated payroll solution, reducing manual intervention and ultimately bringing the entire payroll process together.

Alongside this project, you will be responsible for ensuring accurate and timely payroll administration, including timesheet management, payroll calculations, statutory deductions, pensions, reconciliations and compliance with relevant legislation.

The remaining 30% of the role will involve supporting the wider finance team with purchase and sales ledger processing, expenses, reconciliations, month-end activities and general financial administration.

About You

We are looking for someone with strong, hands-on, end-to-end payroll experience who is comfortable working in a varied and potentially complex payroll environment.

Ideally, you will have worked within a small/medium sized organisation where you have needed to take responsibility for multiple aspects of payroll, rather than specialising in one narrow area within a large payroll department.

Experience within hospitality, commercial organisations, charities or similarly varied environments would be particularly relevant.

You will need to demonstrate experience of managing payroll for a mixture of permanent salaried employees and weekly paid, casual or variable-hours staff, including dealing with different pay rates, timesheets and working patterns.

Strong knowledge of UK payroll legislation, statutory deductions, pensions and payroll systems is essential, alongside excellent Excel skills.

Importantly, we are also looking for someone who enjoys improving processes and systems. Previous experience of implementing payroll improvements, introducing automation or supporting a payroll systems transition would be particularly valuable.

As this is a combined payroll and finance position, you will also need some practical finance or accounting experience, ideally including transaction processing, reconciliations and working with accounting systems.

You will be organised, accurate, proactive and confident working independently, with the communication skills to engage effectively with colleagues across the organisation.

Location and Working Arrangements

Please note that this is a 100% onsite position based in Lincoln, with no hybrid or remote working arrangements available. Due to the operational nature of the role, the need to work closely with colleagues and the significant payroll transformation project ahead, the successful candidate will be required to work onsite five days per week.

Application Process

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with no fixed closing date. Early applications are therefore encouraged.

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