Payroll Administrator

Salary:31236.00 - 32080.00 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 04 January 2026

The Role

Are you an enthusiastic payroll professional looking to join an established busy payroll team in a dynamic rewarding environment

An exciting position is available on our team for an experienced motivated and proactive individual. You will be responsible in supporting the efficient and accurate operations of the University payroll team with the ability to review and develop our colleagues and key administration will support the payroll manager and payroll colleagues and be a contact point for queries from employees and HMRC.

The position is fixed term for 18 months and offers an exciting opportunity to support the team during some substantial payroll system changes and to also gain insight to the operation of the Finance unit.

This role is open to colleagues wishing to take a secondment and you should discuss this with your current manager before submitting your application.

We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive environment and we would be happy to discuss arrangement for flexible and/or blended working from home and our modern office environment at the heart of the University and Newcastle city centre.

Informal enquires are welcomed and can be addressed to Jackie Duffus Payroll Manager via

Interviews will take place on Thursday 15th January 2026.

Key Accountabilities

• Develop the activities of the payroll team ensuring compliance with University policies and procedures. To support training and production of documentation for payroll changes and improvements
• Provide guidance and assistance where necessary to other Payroll staff ensuring queries are resolved and University policies and statutory regulations are adhered to
• Run various payroll exception reports and verify National Minimum Wage is paid where deductions have been made for various salary sacrifice arrangements taking appropriate action where necessary to ensure compliance with legislation
• Calculate Basic Earnings Assessments for new Cycle to Work and Childcare Voucher contract
• Run reports for payroll reconciliation purposes and exception/validation reports for investigation or escalation to the Payroll Manager where appropriate
• Act as point of contact for queries which would normally be directed to the Payroll Manager providing advice on specific payment arrangements or queries and recovery of overpayments
• Monitor queries from employees People Services School/Service representatives and external sources e.g. HMRC Department for Work and Pensions
• Retrieve electronic notification of tax codes and student loan deductions from HMRC upload into SAP and update employee records resolving any issues with HMRC
• Review New Starters to ensure they are enrolled into the correct pension scheme
• Support the overpayments process by calculating and checking manual net overpayment calculations when required and liaise with People Services to ensure recovery is arranged
• Undertake any other duties of a relevant nature as required from time to time to support the Payroll Administrators in completion of the payroll including processing of student payment exception forms expenses and loan requests

The Person

Knowledge Skills and Experience

• An up to date and comprehensive knowledge of statutory regulations regarding PAYE and Statutory payments including a good understanding of legislation regarding Pensions Auto-enrolment and requirements for RTI reporting
• A good understanding of computerised payroll systems with ability to interrogate the system in order to produce reports and statistics
• Good interpersonal and organisational skills in order to advise and persuade non-finance staff of the possible implications of non-compliance with University regulations and procedures
• Strong oral and written communication skills in order to effectively communicate both financial and non financial information to a wide variety of individuals
• Ability to interpret rules and regulations in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various University conditions of service and regulations as required to ensure accurate processing of payrolls
• High level understanding of IT systems and ability to design and compile report specifications using Microsoft Office and/or SAP financial systems (or similar systems)
• Ability to work quickly and accurately to strict deadlines
• Ability to work under pressure prioritising own workload and that of the team in order to meet strict deadlines
• Significant recent experience of computerised payroll systems including evidence of involvement in business improvement projects
• Experience of managing resources and staff

Attributes and Behaviour

• Encourages and supports a free flow of communication and information across own area and the wider University where appropriate
• Can put forward their own view whilst listening and respecting the views and opinions of others
• Chooses communication tools appropriately e.g. selective use of emails and other channels of communication
• Works in a planned and structured way and sets priorities for a high-volume workload in conjunction with the team
• Ensures that activities are completed on time to meet deadlines
• Maintains flexibility in work plans to allow for changing circumstances
• Demonstrates commitment to the delivery of excellent service
• Understands the customer / stakeholder requirements and seeks to deliver them
• Looks for ways to make improvements to the service
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Looks at ways of developing cross functional co-operation and support
• Shares relevant and useful information with others and keeps other team members up to date with progress

Qualifications

• Educated to A Level standard or equivalent standard by relevant experience
• Payroll related qualification (desirable)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a GoldAthena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality CharterBronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 28850

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