Join a close-knit family of independent optical practices where empowerment, innovation, and unwavering support create a truly fulfilling career experience.
What's in it for you?
Joining the Hakim Group means becoming part of a close-knit family of independent optical practices across the UK and Ireland.
A place where empowerment, innovation, and unwavering support create a truly fulfilling experience. A career that feels like joining a secret club of the happiest eye care professionals.
As we continue to grow, we're looking for a Senior Payroll Specialist to help shape the future of how we reward and support our colleagues — ensuring every team member across the Group is paid correctly, on time, and with care.
You will also receive:
In return for your expertise and commitment, we're offering:
- A competitive salary based on experience and impact
- Access to our employee health plan and financial flexibility fund
- A rewards portal full of exclusive offers and benefits
- A vibrant calendar of team events and celebrations that bring our culture to life
Most importantly, you'll be part of a supportive, growing team where accuracy, care, and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do.
About the Role:
We're on the lookout for a hands-on, detail-driven leader to oversee and continuously improve our payroll operations. This role is all about precision, leadership, and progress — ensuring our systems, people, and processes work seamlessly together to deliver excellence every single month.
As Senior Payroll Specialist, you'll take ownership of day-to-day delivery whilst also driving forward long-term improvements. From implementing smarter workflows and automation to enhancing compliance and accuracy, you'll help us create a payroll function that's scalable, efficient, and ready for the future.
If you take pride in getting things right, love leading a capable team, and enjoy making complex processes simple, this could be the perfect next step in your career.
About our Payroll Function:
Our payroll operation is significantly more complex than a traditional in-house payroll environment.
The team supports:
- Over 500 employing entities
- Approximately 375 PAYE references
- Simultaneous payroll processing across multiple companies
- UK payroll operations
- Republic of Ireland payroll
- Isle of Man payroll
- Guernsey payroll
- Jersey payroll
- Ongoing acquisitions and onboarding activity
- Multiple pension schemes and salary sacrifice arrangements
- HMRC audits and compliance activity
- Payroll transformation and automation projects through our Payroll 2030 strategy
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys complexity, thrives in a fast-paced environment and can confidently operate across multiple payroll disciplines.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead and oversee the monthly payroll cycle, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timeliness across the Group.
- Manage day-to-day operations, team performance, and workload planning
- Act as the main escalation point for complex queries, providing clear, supportive solutions
- Ensure all payroll activity complies with tax, pension, and employment legislation
- Drive process improvements and automation as part of our Payroll 2030 vision
- Coach and develop the Payroll & Benefits team, building capability and collaboration
- Collaborate with People, Finance, and external partners to resolve pay and benefits matters effectively
- Champion fairness, transparency, and data accuracy in all payroll processes
The Ideal Candidate:
We're looking for someone who brings both precision and leadership — someone who thrives on getting the details right whilst inspiring others to do the same.
Essential:
- Proven experience managing complex, high-volume, or multi-site payroll operations
- Strong understanding of pay, tax, pension, and employment law
- Hands-on experience with iTrent, Sage, and advanced Excel
- Leadership experience with the ability to motivate and develop teams
- Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills
- Meticulous attention to detail and commitment to continuous improvement
Desirable:
- Experience leading payroll transformation or system implementation projects
- Knowledge of automation tools, AI, or payroll reporting technologies
- Experience within healthcare, retail, or professional services
What's Next?
Apply through Indeed and a member of our recruitment team will be in touch.
