Payroll Supervisor

Salary: £36,500 + generous holiday entitlement + wellbeing cash plan + pension scheme (LGPS) + additional Lift Schools benefits

Hours: 37 hours per week, full time

Contract: Permanent

Location: Home based, with one monthly keeping in touch day in Gateshead

Start date: ASAP

A role where accuracy, trust and people matter

At Lift Schools, we know that excellent schools rely on strong central services behind the scenes. Our payroll team plays a vital role in supporting colleagues across our network of schools, making sure people are paid accurately, on time and with care.

We are looking for an experienced payroll supervisor to join our central HR operations team. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with strong end-to-end payroll knowledge who enjoys solving problems, improving processes and supporting others to do their best work.

This role is primarily home-based, with a monthly in-person team day in Gateshead to support collaboration, training and team connection.

What you'll be doing

You will oversee the day-to-day running of payroll operations, supervising a small payroll team and helping to deliver a compliant, high-quality service across the trust.

The role includes:

• overseeing monthly payroll activity and quality assurance
• supporting and developing three payroll analysts
• managing reconciliations, BACS approvals and HMRC submissions
• supporting complex payroll and pension queries
• working closely with our outsourced pension provider
• helping improve systems, processes and guidance
• building positive relationships with schools and colleagues across the trust

You'll also play an important role in ensuring compliance across Teachers' Pensions and LGPS processes, helping us maintain a reliable and responsive payroll service for colleagues across our network.

What we're looking for

We would love to hear from you if you have:

• strong experience running payrolls end-to-end
• detailed knowledge of payroll legislation, tax and national insurance
• experience working with occupational pension schemes, particularly LGPS and Teachers' Pensions
• experience supervising or supporting payroll colleagues
• excellent attention to detail and organisational skills
• confidence using payroll systems, Excel and Google Workspace tools, including Google Sheets
• a collaborative and customer-focused approach

Experience within education or the public sector would be highly beneficial. Experience using iTrent is also desirable.

Who is Lift Schools?

We're a diverse and inclusive network of schools with one clear mission; to provide an excellent education to every child - in every classroom, every day. And we do this across each of our 59 schools. As with our students, we want our team to be empowered to do their best work, supported by the best leadership they've ever had.

We acknowledge and appreciate the exceptional efforts of everyone here in making this an incredible organisation.

We offer you:

• Comprehensive training: Access a wide range of developmental training to boost your career.
• Generous benefits: From your pension plan to healthcare and financial support, we've got you covered.
• Lifestyle perks: Enjoy discounted gym memberships and travel deals.

Closing Date: Tuesday 2 June 2026

Interviews will be held online.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response. All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification before making an application.

Lift Schools are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our pupils, and we expect all our people and volunteers to share this commitment. We adopt a fair and consistent recruitment process which is inline with Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. This includes online checks for shortlisted candidates. All offers of employment are subject to an Enhanced DBS check, references, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check.

Lift Schools embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. Job share, part-time and flexible working opportunities will be considered.

We are a Disability Confident Employer and there is a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.