Summary

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Location Leeds, London, Manchester, Reading Job Family Corporate Functions Job Type Full Time Posted Date 26-Feb-2026

If you believe payroll is more than payslips and spreadsheets, if you see it as the heartbeat of an organisation’s employee experience, this role is your stage.

As our Head of Payroll, you will lead and reimagine an end‑to‑end, employee‑centred payroll ecosystem that runs smoothly, compliantly, and with an unwavering focus on service excellence. You’ll be the architect of a future‑ready, digitally enabled payroll model that not only pays people correctly and on time (obviously!) but also uplifts trust, transparency, and the everyday experience of our employees.

You’ll shape the evolution of pay and benefits through insight, partnership, and innovation—guiding our teams and service providers to deliver a seamless, scalable, and brilliant payroll service. From governance to digital transformation, from complex legislation to continuous improvement, you’ll take the lead in ensuring our payroll operation empowers our People & Transformation vision at every step.

This role is for someone who thrives in complexity, loves a good challenge, and isn’t afraid to sprinkle a bit of humanity—and maybe even joy—into the world of payroll. Because payroll might be serious, but who says the person leading it has to be?

Key Responsibilities:

Transformation & Service Partnership Management

Shape and deliver the payroll service transformation strategy and plan.
Lead all aspects of payroll service convergence and integration to achieve a service‑excellence model.
Build and develop strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with service providers, supported by clear service agreements, aligned ways of working, and shared success measures.
Ensure service providers are fully connected to VMO2 business objectives and People & Transformation strategies to drive engagement, collaboration, innovation and an employee‑experience‑first service.
Drive employee‑centric service performance and governance through meaningful KPIs, risk mitigation and continuous improvement within the People & Systems shared service model.
Co‑define robust KPIs with service providers that support employee experience and effective query-handling.
Oversee service escalation protocols, ensuring timely resolution and active stakeholder/customer engagement where needed.
Maintain strong understanding of service provider contracts and partner with Service Agreement teams and People leadership to manage amendments, change requests and commercial/service impacts effectively.

Payroll Governance

Partner with VMO2 Treasury and service providers to lead accurate payroll sign-off controls and ensure timely payment of all statutory and third‑party deductibles (HMRC, pensions etc.).
Act as payroll product & process owner, maintaining in‑depth understanding of end‑to‑end payroll processes to effectively assess risks, issues and mitigation options.
Continually reassess and evolve service controls and assurance practices in alignment with transformation priorities and stakeholder needs.
Ensure compliance with UK payroll legislation by reviewing statutory, policy and audit recommendations and overseeing required changes delivered by service providers.
Oversee updates to payroll quality controls and performance measures in line with legislative and audit changes.

Ways of Working

Collaborate with team colleagues to co-deliver initiatives that support the People & Transformation agenda through aligned people products, continuous improvement and digitalisation.
Build strong relationships with stakeholders and the wider leadership team to understand their plans and challenges, improving payroll service delivery and governance.
Lead efforts to ensure hyper‑connection between payroll and service provider teams to deliver the best digital self‑service employee experience, reducing queries and enhancing manager capability.
Lead change management for all payroll service communications and collateral, ensuring information is relevant, accessible and reaches the right employee groups through effective channels to maximise service performance and employee experience.

Who we are

The UK’s fastest broadband network. The nation’s best-loved mobile brand. And, one of the UK's biggest companies too. We put our customers first, making life simpler, smoother, and more joyful. With big ambitions and a brilliant team, we’re building a more connected future for everyone.

Our ways of working

We’re a flexible-first organisation, because we know people do their best work when they have choice and clarity. To support meaningful collaboration, we ask everyone to spend at least eight days each month connecting in person.

That doesn’t just mean time in the office, it could be team meetings, offsites, volunteering days, cross-functional projects, or away days - anywhere meaningful collaboration happens. What matters is making those moments purposeful, so when we come together, it really counts.

Accessible, inclusive and equitable for all

Virgin Media O2 is an equal opportunities employer and we're working hard to remove bias and barriers for our people and candidates. So, we build equity and inclusion into everything we do, from the policies we craft to the relationships we shape. We support and encourage you to be your authentic self throughout your application journey with us.

The must haves

In order to be considered, you must have the following experience;

Extensive experience in Payroll and People transformation across a shared services model, supporting a fast-paced business, with focus on service, systems and process integration in a large-scale high volume complex payroll operation post recent HRIS deployment.
Specialist knowledge and understanding of UK Payroll legislation with previous experience of managing a large-scale employee centric payroll operation with a track record of leading a complex payroll transformation whilst assuring quality controls preferably in partnership with a shared services provider
Strong understanding of the payroll governance lifecycle and its implications for employees, managers, stakeholders e.g. Finance, Legal, Tax, Reward, and Payroll and HR operations. Full membership of payroll related profession e.g. CIPP or proven professional competency gained via experience
Resilience and adaptability, with the ability to lead and collaborate through ambiguity, evolving operational & systems landscape, whilst assuring service provider delivery of an employee first compliant service
Critical thinking and sharp problem solver, with strong focus on employee experience implications, regulatory requirements and insights to evaluate risk and inform decisions
Excellent change leadership skills, able to distil complexity, manage ambiguity and lead service provider and stakeholders through constant stage

The other stuff we are looking for

We'd also love you to bring;

Highly influential through stakeholder partnerships, able to advise on people products & plans from a payroll strategy & operations perspective and make an impact on product owner and go to market approaches, priorities & decisions that always assure an employee first payroll service experience
AI transformation experience, from design to successful deployment and ongoing improvement maintenance, where AI has measurably improved payroll service performance and the employee experience
Empathy and emotional intelligence, with the ability to navigate complex change in proficient collaboration with others to achieve alignment, trust and positive partnerships

What's in it for you

Our goal is to celebrate our people, their lives and everything in-between. We aim to create a culture that empowers everyone to bring the best versions of themselves to work each and every day. We believe the most inclusive and diverse culture makes for a better business and a brighter world.

Working at Virgin Media O2, you get a bumper reward package bursting with benefits, and loads of extras you can add if you’d like to. These are designed to support both you and your loved ones, making sure that you’re covered no matter what life throws your way.

Next steps

If we feel like a place where you can belong, we'd love to learn more about you as a person and your experience to date. Once you've submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, are likely to include a two stage interview.

When you apply, you'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed, and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert, therefore we may bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as possible. If you’re offered a job with us, it will be conditional, based on the passing of background checks. All roles require a criminal record check and some roles need a financial probity check. Your recruiter can provide you with more information if needed.

Thanks for your patience and for showing an interest in joining the Virgin Media O2 family.

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Virgin Media O2

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Head of Payroll