Payroll Officer

Overview

Payroll Officer Jobs in City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa at Potentiam Ltd

Title: Payroll Officer

Company: Potentiam Ltd

Location: City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Potentiam company background

(The Employer)

Potentiam is a rapidly growing global offshore solutions provider, connecting skilled technical professionals with leading UK and European companies. With established offices in South Africa, Romania, and India, and our newest location in Brazil, we continue to expand our global presence to support businesses in scaling effectively and sustainably.

Our mission is to help companies build high-performing offshore teams while ensuring our people have clear career development and growth opportunities. Potentiam manages all aspects of HR, payroll, infrastructure, and staff development, while our clients directly oversee their teams’ day-to-day responsibilities and role-specific training.

With ambitious growth plans to reach over 500 team members globally within the next 3–4 years, Potentiam offers an exciting, fast-paced environment where people, purpose, and performance come together.

Potentiam’s client

Our client is one of the UK's leading providers of independent medical assessments and services, supporting insurers, legal professionals and corporate organisations throughout the UK.

Purpose of role

The Payroll Officer is responsible for delivering accurate, timely and compliant payroll services across multiple UK businesses. Supporting approximately 2,200 employees across 12 weekly and monthly payrolls, this role plays a key part in ensuring payroll accuracy, legislative compliance and an excellent employee experience.

Working within a shared services environment, the Payroll Officer will manage end-to-end payroll processing while collaborating closely with HR, Finance and UK stakeholders to resolve payroll queries and continuously improve payroll operations.

Duties and responsibilities

Payroll Processing

• Process end-to-end UK payrolls across multiple companies.
• Ensure payrolls are processed accurately and within strict deadlines.
• Manage weekly and monthly payroll cycles.
• Process new starters, leavers and contractual changes.
• Administer statutory payments including SSP, SMP, SPP and other statutory entitlements.
• Process P45s, P60s and year-end payroll activities.
• Calculate deductions including PAYE, National Insurance and pension contributions.
• Support payroll reconciliations and payroll journals.
• Prepare payroll reports for Finance and management.
• Assist with payroll audits and compliance reviews.

Payroll Compliance

• Ensure payroll processing complies with UK payroll legislation.
• Prepare and submit HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) submissions.
• Maintain compliance with PAYE regulations.
• Support Auto-Enrolment pension administration.
• Ensure GDPR and confidentiality requirements are consistently maintained.
• Maintain accurate payroll records and employee data.

Payroll Administration

• Validate payroll data before processing.
• Investigate and resolve payroll discrepancies.
• Maintain employee payroll records within HRIS and payroll systems.
• Support payroll system updates and testing where required.
• Ensure payroll documentation is complete and accurately filed.

Stakeholder Management

• Respond professionally to employee payroll queries.
• Liaise with UK managers regarding payroll matters.
• Work collaboratively with HR and Finance teams.
• Deliver excellent customer service while handling sensitive and confidential information.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders across multiple business units.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve payroll processes and efficiencies.
• Support payroll-related projects where required.
• Maintain knowledge of changes to UK payroll legislation and best practice.

Skills/Experience

Essential

• 3–5 years' payroll administration experience.
• Experience processing high-volume payrolls.
• Experience managing end-to-end payroll processes.
• Experience working with UK payroll.
• Strong understanding of:
• PAYE
• National Insurance
• HMRC RTI submissions
• Statutory payments (SSP, SMP, SPP etc.)
• P45 and P60 processing
• UK payroll compliance
• Experience performing payroll reconciliations.
• Strong payroll reporting experience.
• Experience supporting payroll audits.
• Proficiency using payroll and HRIS systems.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and data validation skills.
• Experience working with UK stakeholders.
• Strong customer service and communication skills.

Desirable

• Payroll or Finance qualification.
• Experience within a Shared Services environment.
• Experience supporting multiple UK companies.
• Experience using UK payroll systems such as Sage, BrightPay, ADP, IRIS, Moorepay or similar.

Location and hours

Cape Town, 09h00 -18h00 / 10h00 to 19h00 SAST, Hybrid

Data Privacy Notice

The personal information you provide during the application and recruitment process will be used solely for recruitment purposes, in accordance with our data protection policies.

For any questions regarding data processing related to HR activities, please contact Chantal Endemann at [email protected].

All data shared with third parties complies with applicable confidentiality and retention requirements.