Payroll Lead- Surge Team

Job Description

Payroll Lead, Oracle Fusion, Interim, £350 per day, Birmingham

Interim Payroll Lead - Oracle Fusion Surge Team Location: Birmingham (On-site, 5 days per week)
Contract Length: Initial 5-6 months
Rate: £350 per day (Inside IR35, UMB)
About the Role Hays is supporting a local council to recruit an Interim Payroll Lead to join a dedicated Oracle Fusion Payroll Surge Team, created to stabilise, correct, and enhance payroll processing following the introduction of a new ERP system. This is a hands-on SME role for an experienced Payroll professional with deep functional knowledge of Oracle Fusion Payroll. You will play a critical role in safeguarding accurate and timely pay, resolving urgent defects, improving data quality, and supporting business-critical payroll operations through a period of system bedding-in and transformation.
Key Responsibilities Oracle Fusion Payroll SME Support

• Diagnose and resolve complex payroll calculation, configuration, and processing issues within Oracle Fusion.
• Address discrepancies across elements, balances, costing, BIK, and statutory requirements.
• Troubleshoot payroll run failures, retro pay anomalies, and off-cycle payment issues.
• Resolve workflow approval issues and stuck payroll transactions.

Payroll Operations Stabilisation

• Support payroll teams with backlog clearance and manual interventions required due to system defects.
• Validate outputs, reconcile variances, and ensure audit-ready accuracy.
• Provide hands-on support for exceptions, corrections, and high-risk cases impacting employee pay.
• Strengthen controls and improve consistency across the end-to-end payroll lifecycle.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with HR Operations, Finance, IT, and the programme team to resolve upstream and downstream data issues impacting payroll.
• Support improvements in data quality, integrations, interfaces, and reporting.
• Produce clear documentation on fixes, processes, and recommended improvements

Testing, Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Support testing cycles for configuration changes, monthly patches, year-end updates, and system fixes.
• Recommend enhancements to eliminate recurring issues and improve payroll robustness.
• Ensure compliance with HMRC, statutory, and audit requirements throughout stabilisation.

About You We’re looking for someone who brings:

• Strong SME expertise in Oracle Fusion Payroll (essential).
• Extensive experience running payrolls in large, complex organisations.
• Hands-on, detail-driven problem-solving skills with a calm and methodical approach.
• Strong ability to work under pressure in a time-critical environment.
• Confidence working with HR, Finance, IT, and programme teams to resolve cross-functional issues.
• Availability to work on-site in the Midlands, 5 days per week.

Interested? If you have strong Oracle Fusion Payroll expertise and are available for an immediate or short-notice start, we would love to hear from you. Please apply with your up-to-date CV to be considered for this opportunity.

What you need to do now
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