Payroll & Pensions Manager (Interim) - INTERNAL ONLY

City's Finance team consists of around 50 individuals and St George's consists of 22 individuals and offers a full finance service to the university and has a number of key functions:
1. To provide financial management information, analysis and expertise to senior management colleagues and external stakeholders.
2. To provide financial management expertise to support short and long term decision-making.
3. To provide a range of high quality customer (primarily, all our students and staff colleagues) focussed financial services around core finance processes. These include: billing to receipt; procure to pay; payroll, pensions and personal expenses; corporate, regulatory and statutory reporting; risk management; preparation and submission of taxation returns, financial regulatory compliance; financial systems; research accounting; financial controls; project and fixed asset accounting and financial management; procurement; achievement of value for money; proactive budget management and pursuit of cost reductions; etc.

This is a fixed term role until 30 September 2025 with the possibility of a further extension.

You will be located within the City Finance team's recently refurbished offices in Gloucester Building within our Clerkenwell campus in Islington where we are working under a hybrid working arrangement, which requires you to be onsite for a minimum of 60% of your time, which equates to 3 days per week for a full time employee. This may need to be flexed occasionally to accommodate All Finance events such as our departmental meetings.

City is currently using SAP R3 as its ERP and Payroll system and is in the process of moving to a new ERP system (Oracle Fusion Cloud Service). The move to a new ERP system has required the incumbent role holder to be seconded onto the project team that will lead us through the implementation. The project is currently planned to go live for City sometime between August and December 2025 and for St George's sometime after then.

The 2024/25 year end at 31 July 2025 will be the first year end as a merged institution and will be more complex than normal under new auditors with information being held on two systems (City and St George's) and needing to be consolidated together.

We are therefore seeking to appoint someone to this role who has the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and customer focus in order to provide cover for the incumbent role holder over the remaining length of the project and to keep all existing processes, systems and teams running and working as required to ensure that the Finance team's service levels and output are maintained.

The role holder will also be expected to play a proactive role in integrating with the St George's Finance teams / policies / processes, assisting with ERP transformation activities as needed, dealing with Global Mobility payroll actions / queries and lead on providing payroll and pensions related audit deliverables.

You will ensure the University meets its obligations in terms of pay and pensions, resulting in the accurate and timely payment of staff salaries, ensuring at the same time compliance with the statutory and other regulations (e.g. pension schemes), with the timely submission of returns and the maintenance of comprehensive pay and pension records and accounts. The role will also entail playing an active and proactive role in integrating with the St George's Finance teams / policies / processes, assisting with ERP transformation activities as needed, dealing with Global Mobility payroll actions / queries and lead on payroll and pensions audit deliverables.

You will hold a degree or relevant professional qualification and have full membership of Institute of Payroll and Pensions Management or a Diploma from the Institute of Payroll and Pensions Management.

An extensive background in Payroll & Pensions is required, along with experience at management or supervisory level; ideally within a Higher Education environment. Experience of successfully managing and motivating a team and the ability to develop the individuals within the team to realise their full potential. You will have experience of leading teams through periods of change; and embedding new process, procedure and culture.

You will have experience of dealing with Global Mobility cases / queries, e.g. dealing with tax advisors, foreign tax and social security departments, shadow payrolls, statutory filings, tax and social security assessments, etc.

Knowledge of SAP Payroll or a significant experience of operating the corporate payroll process through a well-established and fully integrated HR/Payroll/Finance payroll system.

You will be able to work to deadlines and possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to liaise with senior managers and to participate effectively in meetings, acting as chairperson when appropriate.

City St George's, University of London is the University of business, practice and the professions and brings together the expertise and excellence of City, University of London and St George's, University of London into one institution.

The combined university is one of the largest suppliers of the health workforce in the capital, as well as one of the largest higher education destinations for London students.

Combining a breadth of disciplines across health, business, law, creativity, communications, science and technology, we are creating a 'health powerhouse' for students, researchers, the NHS and partners in uniting a world-leading specialist health university. We are now one of the UK's largest health educators, where staff and students have access to an expanded team of brilliant academic and professional services colleagues, combined resources and facilities and more interdisciplinary opportunities.

The merger creates opportunities to generate significant change in the world of healthcare including changes to treatment, population health monitoring, workforce development and leadership, policy, and advocacy.

Following the recent merger between City, University of London and St George's, University of London, the newly named City St George's, University of London (CSG) Finance Directorate aims to provide a high quality financial management service to both support and enable the growing success of the University. The Finance team aspires to be regarded as a valued and essential business partner to all of CSGs Schools and Professional Services.

Over the coming months the Finance Directorates of both City and St George's will be working closely together to agree and implement new integrated ways of working encompassing joint policies, processes, structures, etc. to cover the fully merged institution.

City St George's offers a sector-leading salary, pension scheme and benefits including a comprehensive package of staff training and development.

City St George's, University of London is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all its activities, processes, and culture for our whole community, including staff, students and visitors.