Payroll Manager

The role

As a Payroll Manager at NEXT, you will oversee and manage our operational payroll teams to deliver an efficient, strictly controlled payroll service to the business. You will make a real difference by taking responsibility for all GB payrolls, ensuring colleagues across all business areas are supported.

Working closely with the Group Payroll Manager and other departmental managers, you will help innovate, develop, and deploy new ideas and practices. While you will bring your own self-motivation to the role, we will provide the assistance and training needed to help you develop your skills and settle into our Head Office environment.

What you'll take on

• Managing the operational payroll services for all business units, successfully navigating different pay frequencies, reference periods, and complex Terms and Conditions.
• Providing management, appraisals, and development support to 2 direct and 12 indirect reports.
• Collaborating with the Services and Development Payroll Manager to test new initiatives, review input/output, and continuously improve our process flows.
• Building strong working relationships with key internal and external contacts, managing the service provided to statutory reporting bodies like HMRC, external auditors, and The DWP.
• Working alongside the Payroll Technical Specialist to produce top-level KPIs and accurate statistical information to measure performance and monitor workloads.
• Maintaining strict control over Bacs, payment reconciliations, and internal system access while ensuring all statutory obligations and data protection policies are adhered to.
• Acting as the escalation point for complex payroll queries, analysing high-level data and trends to problem-solve overall issues.

What you'll bring

• Solid people management and leadership skills, with a proven track record of mentoring teams in a dynamic, large-scale Payroll department.
• Strong commercial aptitude and a highly numerate approach, supported by experience handling complex payrolls for a workforce of 10,000+ employees.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, allowing you to build effective relationships, constructively challenge, and fully understand business needs.
• Good working knowledge of taxable benefits and statutory reporting requirements.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the drive and determination to make a positive difference to the organisation.
• While not essential, a CIPD qualification or prior experience using Oracle systems would be highly beneficial.