Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Department: People / Human Resources
Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time
Work Arrangement: Hybrid

The Global Payroll & Benefits Manager will own payroll and benefits operations for our employees in the United Kingdom and Germany while serving as a key member of our Global People team.

This role is responsible for ensuring payroll and benefits are accurate, compliant, well-controlled, and provide a strong employee experience across the UK and Germany. The Manager will oversee payroll providers, benefit vendors, brokers, pension programmes, employee changes, reconciliations, reporting, and day-to-day administration for both countries.

Beyond regional ownership, this role will partner closely with the broader Global People team on global payroll, benefits, HR operations, HRIS, reporting, compliance, and process improvement initiatives. As our global organisation continues to evolve, this person will help establish consistent processes and controls across countries while ensuring local requirements are appropriately maintained.

The ideal candidate is highly detail-oriented, analytical, proactive, and comfortable operating with a high level of ownership. They enjoy getting into the details, identifying discrepancies, improving processes, and understanding the broader business impact of their work.

Responsibilities

UK & Germany Payroll

• Own and manage end-to-end payroll operations for employees in the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Coordinate payroll inputs including new starters, leavers, compensation changes, bonuses, commissions, leave, deductions, and other payroll activity.
• Manage relationships with external payroll providers and ensure payroll is completed accurately and on time.
• Review and validate payroll calculations prior to final approval.
• Perform pre-payroll and post-payroll audits and reconciliations.
• Ensure appropriate payroll controls, approvals, documentation, and audit trails are maintained.
• Partner with Finance and Accounting on payroll funding, reporting, reconciliations, and general ledger requirements.
• Support year-end payroll processes and required employee and regulatory reporting.
• Maintain knowledge of relevant UK and German payroll requirements and partner with local advisers and providers when appropriate.
• Investigate payroll discrepancies and own issues through resolution.

UK & Germany Benefits

• Own employee benefits administration across the UK and Germany.
• Manage benefit enrolments, eligibility, employee changes, leavers, renewals, and ongoing administration.
• Oversee UK benefit programmes including pension, life assurance, private medical insurance, health programmes, leave benefits, and other company-sponsored programmes.
• Oversee German benefit programmes including company pension, supplementary health insurance, leave programmes, employee allowances, and other company-sponsored benefits.
• Manage relationships with benefit brokers, carriers, pension providers, and other external vendors.
• Reconcile benefit invoices against employee enrolment and payroll deduction data.
• Ensure employee and employer contributions are accurate and appropriately reflected through payroll.
• Support benefit renewals and evaluate plan cost, utilisation, competitiveness, and employee experience.
• Maintain accurate plan documentation, eligibility rules, rates, employee communications, and administrative procedures.
• Respond to employee benefit questions and resolve complex issues with providers.
• Partner with Finance to ensure benefit costs are accurately tracked, reconciled, and reported.

Global Payroll, Benefits & HR Projects

• Serve as an active member of the Global People team and contribute to the development of our global payroll and benefits operating model.
• Partner with Global People, Finance, HRIS, and regional teams to establish consistent processes and controls across countries.
• Participate in global benefits reviews, renewals, benchmarking, and vendor initiatives.
• Support global payroll and benefits reporting and analytics.
• Help develop global standards for payroll calendars, approvals, reconciliations, documentation, and controls.
• Provide UK and German expertise when global programmes or processes are being developed.
• Participate in broader Global People initiatives including HRIS, employee data, reporting, compliance, organisational changes, and process improvement projects.
• Identify opportunities to streamline and automate manual processes.
• Support HRIS implementations, integrations, testing, and data validation related to payroll and benefits.
• Develop and maintain SOPs, process maps, calendars, controls, and other operational documentation.
• Support global audits, organisational changes, integrations, and other cross-functional initiatives as required.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience managing payroll and/or benefits operations, with the depth of experience required to independently own complex payroll and benefits processes.
• Strong hands-on UK payroll experience required.
• Experience managing or overseeing German payroll and benefits strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of UK payroll, pension, benefits, and related compliance requirements.
• Working knowledge of German payroll and benefits, with the ability to effectively manage local providers and subject matter experts.
• Experience managing outsourced payroll providers, benefit vendors, brokers, and/or pension providers.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, reconciliations, audits, and compliance.
• Experience administering employee benefits and reconciling benefit invoices and payroll deductions.
• Experience working within a multinational or global organisation preferred.
• Strong HRIS and payroll systems experience.
• Strong Excel and data analysis skills with the ability to work accurately with detailed datasets.
• Understanding of payroll accounting and general ledger reconciliation.
• Relevant professional qualification, such as CIPP, CIPD, payroll or benefits certification, is desirable but not essential.

What Success Looks Like

• UK and German payrolls are accurate, timely, compliant, and well-controlled.
• Benefits administration is organised, documented, and consistently reconciled.
• Payroll and benefits issues are identified proactively and resolved quickly.
• Payroll providers, benefit vendors, and brokers are actively managed and held accountable.
• Employees receive responsive and accurate payroll and benefits support.
• UK and Germany have clear payroll and benefits SOPs, calendars, controls, and ownership.
• Global People processes become increasingly standardised, scalable, and data-driven.
• This role becomes a trusted partner to both the EMEA organisation and broader Global People team.

What We're Looking For

You enjoy owning a process from beginning to end and understand why the details matter. Whether reviewing a payroll file, reconciling a benefit invoice, validating an employee deduction, or working through a new global HR process, you are comfortable digging into the data and understanding what is happening.

You don't simply accept an answer because a provider or system says it is correct. You validate the data, ask thoughtful questions, research unfamiliar issues, and follow problems through to resolution.

You are comfortable balancing regional expertise with a global mindset. While you will be the primary payroll and benefits owner for the UK and Germany, you are excited to collaborate across countries and help build better processes for the broader organisation.

You can move quickly without sacrificing accuracy, work independently, and are comfortable operating in an environment where not every process has already been documented or standardised.

Equal Opportunities & Accessibility

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities and creating an inclusive recruitment process. We welcome applications from qualified candidates from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic.

Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process. Candidates who require an adjustment to participate in the application or interview process are encouraged to let our recruitment team know.

Successful candidates will be required to demonstrate their right to work in the United Kingdom in accordance with applicable requirements.