Business Analyst - Payroll - Waterfall - HR

Business Analyst - Payroll Transformation (24-Month FTC)

Location: London (4 days per week onsite)
Contract: Full-Time, 24-Month Fixed Term Contract
Salary: Up to £80,000 plus 10% bonus, Private Medical Insurance (PMI) and excellent pension scheme

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Business Analyst to play a key role in a major payroll implementation and optimisation programme as part of a wider people systems and operational transformation initiative. Working across a complex, multi-entity organisation, you will partner with Payroll, Finance, HR, Reward, IT and operational stakeholders to understand current payroll processes, define future business requirements, and support the successful delivery of a new payroll solution.

This opportunity is ideal for a Business Analyst with strong payroll expertise who enjoys working in a collaborative environment and can translate complex operational requirements into clear, actionable deliverables.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Business Analysis activities for the payroll transformation programme.
• Elicit, document and validate payroll business requirements across multiple operating companies.
• Map end-to-end payroll processes, identifying risks, controls, gaps and opportunities for standardisation.
• Produce high-quality business requirements, user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Translate payroll process requirements into clear specifications for implementation partners and solution providers.
• Validate payroll outputs, ensuring accuracy, compliance, auditability and alignment with Finance requirements.
• Lead or support User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including test planning, scenario creation, execution, payroll reconciliation and defect management.

Skills & Experience Required

• Proven experience as a Business Analyst on payroll implementation, transformation or optimisation projects.
• Strong payroll process knowledge, including inputs, calculations, approvals, controls and outputs.
• Skilled in process mapping, gap analysis and impact assessment.
• Ability to write clear user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Strong understanding of payroll controls, compliance, reconciliation and audit requirements.
• Experience supporting payroll UAT and validating payroll outcomes.
• Knowledge of workforce data dependencies and payroll-related finance postings.
• Experience working within complex, federated or decentralised organisations.
• Exposure to payroll technology selection, implementation or optimisation programmes is desirable.
• Experience partnering with Finance stakeholders on payroll costing, reconciliation and financial impacts.

If you have strong Payroll Business Analysis experience and are looking to join a significant transformation programme where you can make a tangible impact, we'd love to hear from you.