Role: HR & Payroll Assistant
Location: Wigton, Cumbria (ideally onsite but some flex for home working)
Salary: Up-to £32,000 per annum
Employment Type: 12 months Fixed Term (Strong likelihood for Perm following)
Benefits:
- 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
- Up-to 9% pension match
- Heath Care Cash Plan for yourself and dependent children (up to 21 yrs)
- Discounted local gym membership
- Enhanced sick pay
- Cycle to work scheme
Realise HR is working exclusively with an established international manufacturing business that produces highly specialised materials for a range of regulated and consumer-facing end markets. The organisation operates at global scale, employs a substantial international workforce, and has a long heritage of technical and operational excellence within its sector.
Together, we're looking for an HR & Payroll Assistant to support the HR function and the end-to-end payroll process.
This is a hands-on, operational role, suited to someone who enjoys detail, structure and balancing payroll deadlines with day-to-day HR administration in a busy, operational environment.
This is a fixed term role for 12 months with a strong likelihood of becoming permanent. Full-time, with flexible hours from 07:30 onwards i.e. 07:30-4pm, 08:30-5pm etc. Ideally, an onsite working arrangement, but some consideration and flexibility could be given for hybrid.
The Role
The role supports the full end-to-end payroll cycle along with HR Administration including:
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Overtime and variable pay calculations
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Supporting data collection and validation for engineering payroll
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Liaising with managers to resolve payroll queries and discrepancies
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Supporting pre- and post-payroll checks
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Employee lifecycle administration (starters, leavers, changes)
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Maintaining HR and payroll records
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Responding to routine HR and pay queries
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Supporting compliance with policies and processes
Payroll is processed in-house using Zellis, supporting a workforce with a mix of standard and variable pay arrangements. Approximately two weeks of each month are focused on payroll activity, with the remainder of time dedicated to HR administration and employee support. This is a delivery-focused role rather than advisory or strategic, with strong emphasis on accuracy, consistency and confidentiality.
About You
You’ll be someone with experience in payroll administration who enjoys working with detail, structure and clear monthly deadlines. You’re comfortable supporting payroll activity and take pride in getting things right, particularly where accuracy really matters to employees.
You may already have experience supporting end-to-end payroll, or you might currently be involved in key stages of the payroll process and keen to develop this further. Exposure to payroll systems such as Zellis would be helpful, though not essential, and you’ll be comfortable working with variable pay elements such as overtime and shift-based pay.
Alongside payroll, you’ll be happy supporting day-to-day HR administration, keeping records up to date and responding to routine queries. You’re organised, reliable and approachable, with a calm, methodical way of working especially during busier payroll periods.
This role would suit someone who enjoys a hands-on, supportive position within HR, and who values consistency, collaboration and developing their experience within a structured environment.
Don't meet every single requirement? At Realise, we are dedicated to helping our clients build diverse, inclusive and authentic workplaces, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement, we would encourage you to apply anyway! You might be just the candidate we're looking for!
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