About The Role

As a Payroll Advisor at Admin Army, you will own end-to-end payroll delivery for a portfolio of clients across New Zealand and Australia. You are an experienced operator. You do not need hand-holding on the fundamentals. What you will bring is the technical depth to handle complexity, the communication skills to manage client relationships well, and the professional maturity to support and elevate the people around you.

This role is part of a close-knit payroll team and reports directly to the Payroll Manager. You will work alongside other payroll team members and collaborate regularly with our global teams.

About Admin Army

Admin Army provides business support services to ambitious SMEs and NFPs across New Zealand and Australia. We are a 30+ strong crew specialising in bookkeeping, payroll, compliance production, and finance function support. We are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Streamline Business Group, which means our team spans New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and India.

Our Values

Own the Details
Earn Trust Daily
Razzle Dazzle: Elevate Every Interaction

Role Responsibilities

Payroll Delivery

Manage end-to-end payroll processing for a portfolio of clients with varying complexity, ensuring accuracy and compliance at every step.
Independently identify and resolve processing errors before finalisation.
Manage complex payroll scenarios, including termination payments, retrospective pay adjustments, parental leave calculations, and multi-rate employees.
Perform GL reconciliations and produce reconciliation reports. Investigate and resolve variances.
Manage IRD filing obligations, including payday filing and associated returns. Handle non-standard tax codes and special scenarios.
Interpret employment agreements, including ambiguous provisions, and apply them accurately to payroll outcomes.
Produce and maintain payroll reports for clients and internal use. Interpret data to identify trends, anomalies, or risks and communicate findings clearly.

Compliance and Legislation

Apply nuanced knowledge of NZ payroll legislation across complex and non-standard scenarios, including the Holidays Act, Minimum Wage, and PAYE obligations.
Monitor legislative updates and assess their impact on client payrolls.
Identify and communicate compliance risk clearly and early.

Client Relationships

Build and maintain strong working relationships with clients, acting as a reliable and proactive point of contact.
Communicate payroll changes and their impacts clearly and in advance.
Provide second-level support on escalated client queries, resolving issues with professionalism and discretion.
Handle sensitive remuneration matters, including overpayments and disputes, with care and confidence.

Team Support and Development

Support the growth and capability of payroll officers through guidance, practical knowledge-sharing, and day-to-day mentoring.
Contribute to training and onboarding of new team members as required.
Act as a go-to resource for the payroll team on technical queries and complex scenarios.

Process and Systems

Own and manage your workflow through our practice management system, maintaining visibility and structured communication for the team.
Proactively identify inefficiencies and contribute to process improvement and automation initiatives.
Operate confidently across cloud-based payroll platforms (e.g., PayHero, Employment Hero, Xero Payroll).
Contribute to SOP development and maintenance for client accounts you manage.

What We Expect

You take full ownership of your client portfolio and your outputs. Accuracy is non-negotiable.
You communicate proactively. When something shifts, you say so early.
You manage your own workflow without being chased. Deadlines are understood and met.
You bring informal leadership to the team through expertise, consistency, and a genuine interest in helping others grow.
You understand the difference between what you can resolve independently and when to escalate. You escalate with context and a recommended solution, not just a problem.
You think in sequences, not just steps. Payroll is a system. You understand how the parts connect, where errors tend to hide, and why working in a logical, consistent order matters every time.
You review other people’s work with active scepticism. A significant part of this role involves checking payrolls processed by our global teams. That requires a different discipline to processing your own — you are looking for what you did not do, which means pattern recognition, not just a checklist tick.
You are genuinely curious about how things work and how they could work better. You notice inefficiencies and do something about them. You are comfortable with tools and processes evolving around you, including the use of AI to improve how we work. You do not wait to be told what needs fixing.
You look for what could be better, not just what is broken.
You are comfortable being pulled into project work from time to time — payroll audits, system implementations, client onboarding. You treat it with the same rigour you bring to processing.
You represent Admin Army to clients with professionalism and razzle dazzle.

Selection Criteria

Essential

Minimum 5 years of end-to-end payroll experience, including exposure to multi-client or high-complexity environments.
Strong working knowledge of NZ payroll legislation and the Holidays Act, applied with confidence in non-standard scenarios.
Proven experience managing IRD filing obligations, GL reconciliations, and complex payroll calculations.
Proficient across cloud-based payroll platforms (e.g., PayHero, Employment Hero, Xero Payroll).
Able to manage a portfolio of clients with competing deadlines and communicate clearly under pressure.
Confident using practice or project management systems to self-manage workload and maintain team visibility.
Demonstrated ability to identify and resolve complex payroll issues independently.
Strong attention to detail and systematic approach to verification and quality control.
Professional communication skills and proven ability to build trusted client relationships.

Advantageous

NZ Payroll Practitioners Association certification (e.g., Certified Payroll Specialist), or a commitment to achieving it.
Experience in a managed services or outsourced payroll environment.
Exposure to Australian payroll.
Experience mentoring or supporting less experienced payroll team members.

Payroll Advisor - NZ (Remote)