Senior Payroll Officer

About the opportunity

We are a global organisation operating across more than 60 countries, delivering large-scale food production and service solutions to a highly regulated industry. Our operations run around the clock, at significant volume, and to exacting quality and safety standards.

Your new role

We are seeking a Senior Payroll Officer on a 6 – 9 month fixed term contract, with the potential to transition to a permanent role in the future. You will support the payroll function through detailed analysis, reporting, compliance monitoring and payroll system administration. You will work closely with Payroll, HR, Finance and external providers to ensure payroll operations run efficiently and accurately.

This role suits someone who enjoys getting into the detail — reconciling, investigating, improving — and who is comfortable operating in an environment with multiple awards, agreements and pay cycles.

Your key focus areas

• Preparation, processing and checking of all aspects of weekly and monthly payroll
• Supporting the team with end-to-end payroll processing across all payrolls
• Analysing payroll data to identify discrepancies, trends and improvement opportunities
• Reconciling payroll reports, superannuation and leave balances
• Processing award-based superannuation and liaising with fund administrators
• Investigating and resolving payroll queries and complex payroll issues
• Partnering with HR and Finance to ensure accurate employee and payroll data integrity
• Driving process improvements across payroll procedures
• Liaising with the Injury & Wellbeing Manager on the status of all claims
• Contributing to payroll system implementations, testing and parallel runs
• End of financial year processing
• Maintaining the confidentiality and accuracy of sensitive payroll information

What you'll need

• Previous experience as a Senior Payroll Officer or Senior Payroll Analyst
• Relevant payroll or accounting qualifications
• Strong understanding of Australian payroll legislation, Modern Awards and compliance requirements
• Demonstrated experience within complex payroll environments
• Advanced Excel skills, including VLOOKUPs, pivot tables and data analysis
• Power BI experience
• Experience with Preceda
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong stakeholder engagement and clear communication skills
• A collaborative, results-driven approach and excellent interpersonal skills

Highly regarded:

• New Zealand payroll experience
• Exposure to Strada Global
• Experience supporting payroll system implementations

What's on offer

• A pivotal role in a stable, well-established global business
• Genuine potential for the contract to convert to a permanent opportunity
• Exposure to system implementation work and process improvement projects
• A supportive finance and payroll team that values technical expertise
• On-site parking and convenient access to the site