Payroll Lead

Location: Onsite 4 days a week at our Manchester HQ (Manchester Science Park)

Contract Type: Full-time, Permanent

Salary & Benefits: Competitive Salary + Benefits Package

About Novacyt Group:

Novacyt is a leading international molecular diagnostics group specialising in reproductive health, precision medicine, and infectious diseases. Headquartered in the UK and France, we develop integrated genomic technologies and operate globally through key brands including Primer Design and Yourgene Health.

Our Culture:

Novacyt is a growing, vibrant and exciting place to work, we are looking for committed driven individuals to be part of our next growth journey. Our culture is described by our employees as collegiate, friendly, professional, innovative, open and fast paced. We have many social and wellbeing initiatives run by our Nova Social and Charity Huddle that keep our sense of community and togetherness alive.

At Yourgene we focus on putting values‑led programmes in place to ensure that we can attract, retain and develop our people. We want our people to have a career with Yourgene and we ensure that they are recognised and rewarded for their achievements and commitment, everyone plays a critical role in our growth journey.

Novacyt Group are recruiting for a permanent Payroll Lead, based onsite 4 days a week at our Manchester HQ located at Manchester Science Park. We are seeking an experienced Payroll Lead to take ownership of the Novacyt Group payroll function. Reporting to the Head of Group Reporting, this is a hybrid role blending end‑to‑end UK payroll management, international vendor oversight, and payroll accounting.

You will be responsible for ensuring accuracy, statutory compliance, and the integrity of payroll financial data within our systems (Net Suite and Sage).

• UK Payroll
  • Monthly payroll preparation:
    • Managing payroll email inbox and resolving staff queries.
    • Processing joiners/leavers and monthly pay items.
    • Ensuring RTI submission through Pay Fit software.
    • Preparing monthly payroll report for review and approval.
    • Checking and formatting bank file for import of bank payments.
    • PAYE/DEA/PSA payments.
    • Monitoring HMRC PAYE accounts.
    • Working closely with HR team to ensure staff information is accurate and up to date.
    • Maintain headcount file to report to board.
  • Payroll accounting:
    • Preparing and posting payroll journals in the ERP systems (Net Suite/Sage).
    • Payroll reports for group entities.
    • Balance sheet reconciliations for payroll related accounts.
    • Preparing payroll reconciliation for auditors and responding to payroll related audit queries.
    • Holiday accruals calculation and journals.
  • Annual Payroll reports:
    • Ensuring provision of P60’s.
    • Calculating and preparing P11D’s.
    • Calculating and preparing PSA.
  • Key projects:
    • Lead the strategic transition to payrolling Benefits in Kind (BIK), ensuring full compliance and system readiness.
    • Closing of legacy PAYE accounts.
• International Payroll
  • Provision of monthly pay items to third‑party bureau payroll providers.
  • Managing relationship with international third‑party bureau payroll providers.
  • International payroll payments.
  • Preparing and posting payroll journals in the ERP system (Net Suite).
  • Balance Sheet reconciliations for payroll related accounts.

Note:

This is a standalone role with no direct reports or line management responsibilities.

• Payroll Expertise: CIPP qualification (or equivalent) with deep knowledge of UK statutory legislation (tax, NI, SSP, SMP, auto‑enrolment).
• Accounting Proficiency:
  Demonstrable experience in payroll accounting, including calculating accruals, posting journals, and reconciling balance sheet control accounts. You must be comfortable investigating financial variances.
• Technical
  
  Skills:
  
  Advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUPs, Pivots) are essential for data analysis and reporting.
• Systems:
  Experience with cloud‑based payroll software.
• Team player with excellent communication skills.
• Proactive and able to take a flexible approach.
• Prior experience with Net Suite or Pay Fit.
• Experience managing international payrolls through third‑party providers.
• Previous involvement in implementing PBIK (Payrolling…