HR and Payroll Assistant (Maternity Cover)

If you're looking for a rewarding entry point into HR operations with payroll responsibility, this HR and Payroll Assistant (Maternity Cover) role is a brilliant opportunity to make an immediate impact. Expect hands-on work, strong cross-functional exposure with HR, Finance and managers, and a clear, structured route to owning key employee lifecycle and payroll admin activities. The HR and Payroll Assistant (Maternity Cover) position is ideal if you love detail, enjoy improving processes, and want your work to be felt every month as teams and payroll run smoothly. What You Will Do: - Support hiring managers through the recruitment process, including managing applications and coordinating interviews via the applicant tracking system. - Manage new starter administration, including onboarding documentation, right to work checks and pre-employment processes. - Handle employee lifecycle administration such as contractual changes, probation support, absence management and leaver processing. - Input and collate monthly payroll changes and liaise with Finance to support accurate and timely payroll processing. - Maintain and correct employee data across systems, including SAP, BrightHR, ATLAS and internal platforms, ensuring data integrity. - Assist with employee relations administration at Level 0 and Level 1 by responding to routine queries and supporting managers with casework administration. What You Will Bring: - Proven experience in a similar HR, payroll or people administration role, with confidence processing payroll changes. - CIPD Level 3 (or equivalent) is essential, with further HR study viewed positively. - Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice, with the ability to apply it accurately. - Experience with pension administration, including managing uploads and changes in line with relevant deadlines. - Excellent systems skills and high attention to detail, alongside strong organisational and communication abilities. This HR and Payroll Assistant (Maternity Cover) role sits within the engineering and technology industry and helps this company keep HR administration reliable, compliant and efficient. By supporting recruitment coordination, onboarding, employee lifecycle administration and payroll change input, you help maintain a smooth employee experience while also supporting continuous improvement in processes and controls. Location: Lichfield, with the role supporting HR operations on-site within the HR and payroll team. Interested?: Ready to bring your HR and payroll administration skills to a role with real day-to-day value? Apply now for the HR and Payroll Assistant (Maternity Cover) opportunity and take the next step in your people operations career. Your CV will be forwarded to Jonathan Lee Recruitment, a leading engineering and manufacturing recruitment consultancy established in 1978. The services advertised by Jonathan Lee Recruitment are those of an Employment Agency. In order for your CV to be processed effectively, please ensure your name, email address, phone number and location (post code OR town OR county, as a minimum) are included.