UK Payroll Compliance Lead (Fixed Term - 18 Months)

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive. 

At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.

About the role:

We are looking for this candidate to be based in Australia. The successful candidate would ideally be comfortable relocating to Australia for the duration of the contract. However, candidates who want to be based in the UK are encouraged to apply. This is a fixed-term role for 18 months.

The UK Payroll Compliance Specialist will bring extensive subject matter expertise to Xero’s payroll product and technology team. This is a critical role as Xero embarks on transforming its UK payroll product. Payroll products are highly complex and the successful candidate will play a critical role in partnering with product teams on creating world-class payroll software. The successful candidate will help product teams navigate intricate rules and regulations as well as UK best practice.

You will bring strong knowledge of UK payroll rules, regulations and practices.

What you'll bring with you:

• A working understanding of day to day payroll operations, procedures, and documents.
• Comprehensive expertise in employment and payroll related rules and regulations, including UK income tax, national insurance legislation and workplace pension rules more broadly.
• The ability to interpret and apply relevant rules and regulations. Understanding of associated subject matter such as pensions and HR. 
• A strong desire to work in a fast growing tech company and develop product/design knowledge.
• Strong communication, presentational, organisational and analytical skills. 
• Strong PowerPoint and Excel skills.
• Proven experience personally processing payroll for a UK small business either in-house, as an accountant/bookkeeper, or a payroll specialist on behalf of clients. 
• Proven experience using multiple UK payroll software products.
• Working knowledge of Real Time Information (RTI), faster payments/BACS, auto-enrolment, Payroll Journals, various Pension providers and other related processes such as salary sacrifice and benefits & expenses etc. 
• Experience managing a payroll team, CIPP qualification (or similar), exposure to multiple industries, previous experience of Xero, are desired
• Previous experience of working as part of a technology team and using tools such as Jira, Confluence and Miro is desired. 

As a member of the UK Payroll product team, you will:

• Be tasked with making sure Xero’s UK Payroll product is compliant with relevant rules and regulations.
• Have a wider mission is to eliminate the stress of payroll compliance and make it easier for small business owners to pay and manage their people accurately and with confidence.
• Collaborate with product people, designers, engineers and others to continually improve the user experience of our customers as part of agile iterations.
• Act as the team’s subject matter expert on all things payroll.
• Championing payroll compliance with internal stakeholders across the business. - Guide the team by your in-depth knowledge.
• At times guide our Customer Experience teams on how to solve complex payroll cases.
• Act as the primary monitor of upcoming changes to the UK employment landscape
• Be perfectly placed to upskill the team in their understanding and guide the prioritisation of our product roadmap.
• Immerse yourself in our product development process, research topics online and communicate directly with government and industry bodies such as HMRC.

Why Xero? 

Offering very generous paid leave to use however you’d like (plus statutory holidays!), dedicated paid leave to care for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as an Employee Assistance Program to access mental health care for you and your family, health insurance, life insurance, and income protection, wellbeing and sports programmes, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, beautiful offices, flexible working, career development, and many other benefits that reflect our human value, you’ll do the best work of your life at Xero.

Our collaborative and inclusive culture is one we’re immensely proud of. We know that a diverse workforce is a strength that enables businesses, including ours, to better understand and serve customers, attract top talent and innovate successfully. We are a member of Pride in Diversity, in recognition of our inclusive workplace. Our goal is to make sure you feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life. 

At Xero we embrace diversity and inclusion and value a #challenge mindset. Research has shown that women and underrepresented groups are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single competency or experience . If you are excited about this role, but your past experience doesn't align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be just the right person for this role and Xero. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application and throughout the interview process.