A large, established national organisation is seeking an experienced Senior Payroll Manager to lead a sizeable and complex payroll function through its next stage of development.
This is not simply a role focused on getting payroll out the door. The environment is large, operationally complex and spread across multiple business streams, employee populations and payroll platforms. The successful person will be responsible for ensuring the fundamentals remain strong while also improving the way the function operates, develops its people and uses systems.
You will lead a nationally distributed payroll team of approximately ***** people and work closely with senior Finance, HR and operational stakeholders. The role requires someone who can provide strong leadership and structure, remain close enough to the detail to understand what is happening, but avoid becoming the person who personally solves every transactional issue.
There is also a genuine transformation element to the opportunity. The organisation is considering the future consolidation and evolution of its payroll technology environment, creating the potential for the successful person to play an important role in future system implementation, migration and process improvement.
The role would suit an accomplished Payroll Manager or Senior Payroll Manager who has worked in a complex, high-volume environment and enjoys combining technical payroll knowledge with people leadership, operational improvement and systems thinking.
Experience leading payroll across multiple entities, business units, awards or employee populations would be particularly valuable, as would previous involvement in payroll transformation, implementation or migration projects.
What you'll be doing:
Leading, coaching and developing a sizeable payroll team across multiple locations
Taking overall responsibility for accurate, compliant and timely payroll delivery across a complex workforce
Providing structure, direction and accountability across the payroll function
Ensuring appropriate delegation while developing capability within the team




Overseeing payroll activity across multiple systems, employee groups and business operations
Maintaining strong payroll governance, controls and compliance
Working closely with Finance, HR and operational leaders to resolve issues and improve outcomes
Reviewing existing payroll processes and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, accuracy and control
Building stronger systems, workflows and operating disciplines within the function
Remaining sufficiently connected to day-to-day payroll operations to identify issues without becoming consumed by transactional processing
Contributing to future payroll technology decisions and potentially playing a key role in system migration or implementation
Supporting the payroll function as the broader organisation continues to evolve and grow
What you'll bring:
Significant experience leading a complex payroll function
Experience managing and developing a sizeable payroll team
Robust technical knowledge of Australian payroll legislation, awards, compliance and payroll controls
Experience within a high-volume payroll environment
Exposure to multiple payroll systems, entities, business units or employee populations
Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to delegate, coach and empower rather than simply take work back yourself
Confidence working with senior Finance, HR and operational stakeholders
Strong judgement, accountability and attention to detail
The ability to balance strategic thinking with a sound understanding of operational payroll
Experience improving payroll processes, controls and ways of working
Exposure to payroll system implementation, migration or transformation would be highly regarded
Experience withDayforce,



Chris21/Frontier or other large enterprise payroll platforms would be advantageous
Experience in workforce-intensive industries involving large, distributed, casual, award-based or otherwise complex employee populations would be valuable
Why this role?
This is a genuine opportunity to take ownership of a payroll function that matters to the broader organisation.
You will inherit an established team and operating environment, but there is clear scope to strengthen leadership, develop capability beneath you and improve the way payroll operates. You will have visibility with senior leadership and the opportunity to influence decisions rather than simply administer an existing process. The role also offers hybrid working flexibility, supporting a balance of office based collaboration and working from home.
The complexity of the environment also makes the role interesting. There are multiple employee populations, business streams and payroll platforms to manage, meaning this is a position for someone who enjoys understanding how the pieces fit together and improving them over time. There is also the potential for significant payroll technology change ahead. While no future platform decision has been finalised, the organisation is actively considering the evolution of its payroll environment, and experience with major system implementation or transformation would position the successful person to play an important role in that journey.
Culturally, the organisation is looking for someone technically credible, calm, accountable and commercially aware, but equally someone who genuinely enjoys leading people. They want a Senior Payroll Manager who will create clarity and accountability, develop the team and build a function that is not dependent on the manager personally carrying too much of the workload.
This is an important senior appointment and would suit someone looking for broader ownership, genuine organisational influence and the opportunity to lead both the people and evolution of a complex payroll function.
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📌 Senior Payroll Manager (South Australia)
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📍 South Australia