Payroll Manager
- Lead and manage payroll operations for Australia and New Zealand.
- Ensure compliance with payroll legislation and internal controls.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives for payroll processes.
The Company
Sanitarium is a progressive and dynamic business that is Australian owned and produces Australia’s leading breakfast products – Up & Go, So Good, Alternative Dairy Co range and Australia’s favourite breakfast Weet-Bix.
We’re now hiring an experienced Payroll Manager to lead our Australia and New Zealand payroll operations, ensuring accurate, compliant and customer‑focused payroll delivery across a complex, multi‑jurisdiction environment.
About the Role
Reporting to the Financial Controller, the Payroll Manager will own and lead end‑to‑end payroll operations for AU and NZ. You’ll provide leadership to a team of Payroll Officers, ensure strong governance and compliance, and drive continuous process and system improvements to enhance service delivery.
This is a hands‑on leadership role requiring both payroll expertise and strong people leadership capability.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, coach and develop the payroll team, including workload planning, performance management and capability building
- Own end‑to‑end payroll delivery for Australia and New Zealand, ensuring accuracy, timeliness and strong internal controls
- Maintain the integrity of employee and payroll data across Core HR, Workforce Management and Payroll systems
- Ensure compliance with legislation, awards and agreements across AU & NZ
- Manage statutory payroll obligations including PAYG, Superannuation, STP and NZ payroll submissions
- Act as first‑level escalation point for payroll issues and complex queries
- Oversee payroll documentation, SOPs and maintenance of payroll knowledge resources
- Partner with People & Culture, People Tech, Workforce teams and Finance to resolve issues and improve outcomes
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency, accuracy, risk mitigation and customer experience
About You
You are a confident payroll leader who thrives in a collaborative and fast‑paced environment. You bring a strong customer mindset, exceptional attention to detail and the ability to balance operational delivery with people leadership.
You will bring:
- Proven experience leading payroll operations in a complex AU/NZ environment
- Strong working knowledge of AU and NZ payroll legislation, awards and statutory requirements
- Hands‑on experience with Dayforce (Core HR, WFM, Payroll) or a similar enterprise payroll system
- Demonstrated people leadership, coaching and workload prioritisation skills
- Strong analytical and problem‑solving capability
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- A continuous improvement mindset and high level of accountability
- Absolute discretion and respect for confidentiality
Desirable:
- Advanced payroll certification
- Payroll leadership or management qualifications
All applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have the legal right to work in Australia.
We are an organisation driven by our mission and values. If you share our passion for what we do, our products and can respect our principles then this is a great opportunity for you.
Hear why our employee’s love working at Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing, where people and purpose matter. **************************************************************************>
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