Payroll Specialist

Braeside VIC 3195 | Full time, permanent

About us

Hydrochem is one of Australia's leading water treatment companies, with a proud history of more than 49 years. We maintain critical water and cooling installations at sites across the country, including shopping centres, airports and universities. We are a national business of more than 300 people, and our office is in Braeside in Melbourne's south east.

The role

This role sits at the centre of our payroll function, working directly with the Head of People and Culture. You will own payroll end to end: running it, checking it, and making sure it is right before it goes out the door. There is scope for the role to broaden over time depending on where your strengths sit.

It suits someone who takes real pride in accuracy, is comfortable interpreting awards and agreements rather than just processing what they are given, and wants to build something rather than maintain it. There is a genuine improvement agenda here, including bringing a second business onto our payroll system as part of an integration.

Why Braeside

• Braeside office, five minutes from the Nepean Highway and the Mornington Peninsula Freeway
• Free onsite parking, and no city commute
• An office based team you are part of, rather than a payroll function run at a distance

What you'll do

• Run the end to end fortnightly payroll for a national workforce of more than 300
• Interpret and apply modern awards and our enterprise agreement correctly
• Reconcile and check each pay run before it is finalised, and build the checks that catch issues earlier
• Termination payments, leave, superannuation, single touch payroll and end of financial year
• Support the annual salary review cycle, including modelling, costings and processing the outcomes
• Calculate and process incentive and bonus payments, including monthly, KPI based and discretionary schemes
• Process employee expense reimbursements through payroll, and work with Finance on the approval and evidence side
• Handle payroll queries from employees and managers, and resolve them properly rather than patch them
• Coach managers on timesheets, approvals and what payroll needs from them
• Payroll reporting, audits and compliance checks
• Support broader finance and reporting work as the role develops

What you'll bring

• Solid end to end payroll experience, ideally in a business of similar size and complexity
• Confident working with modern awards and enterprise agreements
• Strong Excel and good systems capability
• Employment Hero experience is helpful but not essential
• Real attention to detail, and the habit of checking your own work before anyone else has to
• Comfortable dealing directly with employees and managers
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion

How to apply

We value inclusion and diversity and encourage applications from people of all ages, abilities and cultures, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTIQA+ individuals, people from multicultural communities, people for whom English is a second language, people with disabilities, older Australians, and parents returning to the workforce.

Applicants must have the right to work in Australia.

The role is based full-time at our Braeside office.