International Payroll Coordinator

Payroll Co‑ordinator

Bristol

About CMS

CMS is a future‑facing law firm with more than 79 offices across 45 countries and over 5,000 lawyers worldwide. We combine deep sector knowledge with a global perspective to help our clients anticipate change and respond with confidence. Technology plays a key role in how we work, and we continue to invest in smarter, more effective ways of delivering legal services – while supporting our people to develop and thrive.

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Payroll Co‑ordinator to join our team in Bristol. In this role, you will support the Payroll Manager in delivering an accurate and timely payroll service for the UK and selected international payrolls, as well as supporting the administration of pension arrangements.

You will work closely with HR, Finance and third‑party providers, helping to ensure payroll processes run smoothly, compliantly and to agreed deadlines across multiple jurisdictions.

What you’ll be doing

In this role, you can expect to be involved in a wide range of payroll activities, including:

• Supporting the transfer of international payrolls from local offices to the central UK payroll function
• Coordinating multi‑country payroll cycles, ensuring accuracy and timeliness across different time zones
• Processing, inputting and checking monthly pay and benefit changes
• Processing required inputs for shadow payrolls, in line with instructions from the tax team
• Managing the payroll inbox and Workday cases, responding to colleague queries within agreed SLAs
• Running pay and retro calculations, investigating discrepancies and correcting errors
• Submitting UK payroll to agreed deadlines to enable BACS automation
• Completing monthly payroll checks to ensure compliance with UK and relevant international legislation
• Maintaining and updating payroll standard operating procedures for UK and international payrolls (currently Workday and CloudPay)
• Processing and reconciling deductions such as cycle to work, flexible holiday and season ticket loans
• Completing manual payroll adjustments where required, including starters and leavers after cut‑off
• Creating and auditing family leave schedules (including maternity, adoption, shared parental and neonatal leave) to ensure pay accuracy
• Processing third‑party payments via BACS in line with UK legislative deadlines
• Producing monthly payroll ledger journal postings and reconciling payments to 3E
• Supporting UK pensions administration, including auto‑enrolment and re‑enrolment processes
• Running payroll reports and audit checks, including identifying missing or duplicate bank details
• Completing Office for National Statistics payroll surveys
• Handling confidential employee information with appropriate discretion at all times

About you

We’re open to different backgrounds and experiences. To be successful in this role, you will bring:

• Previous experience working in a payroll environment
• A strong understanding of UK payroll legislation and compliance requirements
• Confidence working accurately with detailed data and tight deadlines
• Strong organisational skills, particularly when managing multiple payroll cycles across countries
• Good communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with HR, Finance and external providers
• A proactive approach, with the confidence to use initiative and resolve issues

The following would be beneficial, but are not essential:

• Experience using Workday and/or CloudPay
• Exposure to international payrolls or projects supporting international payroll delivery
• Working knowledge of Excel and Word
• CIPP qualification or working towards one

You will also need 5 GCSEs including Maths and English (Grade C or above) or equivalent.