Payroll Bureau Manager

Overview

3 billion people across the world work in frontline jobs. Yet, despite rising costs and staff shortages, frontline organisations are still left to choose between paper, Excel, and WhatsApp, or decade-old workforce management solutions to take care of the most important part of their businesses – their people.

Enter Sona: the next generation of AI-native, frontline workforce management. We’ve built an end-to-end platform covering Scheduling, HR, Payroll, and Communications that gives the largest frontline organisations everything they need to staff more intelligently and empower their teams.

In under 4 years, we’ve already made a deep impact on the lives of over 100k frontline workers and the operation of their organisations, grown the team to 110+, and secured over $50M in funding from notable VC’s, including Felicis, Northzone, Gradient Ventures (Google), SpeedInvest, Antler, and Notion Capital, plus notable angels like Tom Blomfield (Monzo).

It’s a hugely exciting time to be joining the team as we’re still small enough that you’ll have a significant impact on the company’s growth trajectory and culture, yet large enough to have a great structure, experienced leaders and world-class benefits in place. More on working at Sona here.

About the Role

This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced Payroll Bureau Manager to join the expanding team at Sona during a pivotal stage of growth. We’re on a mission to transform how payroll works for frontline industries and we want you to help lead the way.

In this player-coach role, you’ll be both a hands-on expert and a mentor. You’ll lead from the front, managing a portfolio of enterprise customers while building and refining the day-to-day operations of our payroll bureau. Reporting to the Director of Payroll, you’ll play a critical role in scaling our outsourced service offering to Hospitality and Social Care customers.

You’ll collaborate closely with teams across the business including Implementation, Solution Architecture, Product, Customer Success, and Payroll Implementation, to deliver a best-in-class bureau service. Whether it’s refining internal processes, guiding your team, or joining customer conversations with Sales as a subject matter expert, your influence will be felt across the organisation.

Responsibilities

Deliver the end-to-end payroll service for a portfolio of enterprise clients, ensuring timely and accurate processing

Act as a trusted advisor for your customers, owning the relationship and driving satisfaction

Lead and mentor the payroll team, sharing knowledge and embedding best practices

Partner with the sales team to support late-stage conversations with prospective clients

Identify, suggest, and implement operational improvements that enhance scalability and efficiency

Champion our evolving WFM and HR platform, ensuring smooth integration into payroll processes

Set and track team KPIs and SLAs. Ensuring we meet and exceed service expectations

Stay ahead of regulatory changes and industry innovations to keep our offering cutting-edge

Requirements

Deep experience in UK payroll processing, including HMRC, PAYE, and pensions. Irish payroll experience is a huge plus.

Proven track record managing payrolls in a bureau or outsourced service setting. With high-volume or complex structures (e.g. shift-based, weekly/fortnightly pay cycles)

Hands-on mindset, you’re just as comfortable processing payrolls as you are leading a team

Strong commercial and customer-facing instincts, you think like an operator, not just a processor

Excellent organisational and problem-solving skills, with a keen eye for detail

Confident navigating startup environments; fast-moving, collaborative, and ever-evolving

Ownership mentality; proactive, accountable, and always looking for ways to improve

Benefits

Salary £45,000 – £50,000

Remote-first, UK based role. Occasional travel to UK customers or the London office

Share options

35 days annual leave (25 days standard plus 10 flexible public holiday days)

Extra day of leave for every year of service

Pension contributions matched up to 5%

Comprehensive health insurance

Enhanced parental leave & pay

Co-working space stipend for those based outside London

Bi-annual all expenses paid team retreats

The latest Macbook and equipment budget for your home office

Professional development budget

Unlimited free books

Note: this represents a typical benefits package for a UK-based, full-time employee. Exact details may vary based on location and employment type but we try to be as fair as possible to all of our team members. Please ask your contact in the Talent team to clarify the available benefits for you.