TAFE NSW Life-Changing Careers
Senior Manager Payroll Services
Location negotiable across TAFE NSW (pending campus availability)
Permanent Full-time
$222,889 package includes salary ($197,662), employer's superannuation and annual leave loading
At TAFE NSW, we are dedicated to life-changing impact.
That’s why we offer world-class training and education that delivers the skills needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Life-changing impact starts with an incredible team that sees their career as an opportunity to transform someone’s world. Whether that’s inspiring students, supporting each other, or helping our communities and industries flourish.
We live by TAFE NSW values: Customer Focus, Integrity, Collaboration, and Excellence. They define who we are, how we work and inspire our performance.
We invest in our people
At TAFE NSW, you will discover a diverse, dynamic, and collaborative environment, where you can innovate, create value, and do meaningful work. We provide you with tools and ongoing training and professional development, health and wellbeing programs, and depending on your role, a 35 hour working week with a variety of flexible working options.
About the role
As the Senior Manager Payroll Services at TAFE NSW, you will lead the delivery of high-volume payroll and disbursement services across a large and complex organisation. You’ll oversee a dispersed team operating across the state, ensuring payroll operations are accurate, timely, and customer focused. A key focus of the role will be supporting the payroll leadership team to build a culture of high performance and strong collaboration, working together to enhance consistency and service delivery.
This role requires a strategic leader who can drive operational excellence while navigating resource challenges and team dynamics. You’ll be instrumental in strengthening cross-team communication, guiding the effective use of resources across the function, and leading process and system improvements in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
About You
You’re a people focused leader with a proven ability to guide teams through change and build a culture of high performance. You understand the importance of aligning teams that have come from different structures and ways of working, and you’re confident in your ability to bring people together around shared goals, KPIs, and clear expectations. You’ve successfully supported teams to become high functioning and collaborative, and you know how to lead with empathy while driving accountability.
You’ll bring strong experience in managing large, complex teams ideally within a high-volume payroll environment and you’re comfortable navigating change and competing priorities. Your ability to coach and develop others will be key to your success, as will your collaborative leadership style. Experience working with SAP or similar enterprise systems will be highly regarded.
To be successful in this role, you will have:
- Degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent skills, knowledge and experience.
- Extensive experience managing a large, complex payroll function within a large government or similarly complex organisation.
- Deep technical expertise in contemporary payroll practices, relevant legislation (taxation, superannuation, awards/agreements), payroll systems, risk management and/or process improvement methodologies.
To find out more about the role, click to view the 
Role Description.
Our commitment to Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
We are committed to creating a culturally safe and accessible workplace where dignity, trust, respect, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion are valued, so you can safely bring your whole self to work and connect with your community through our many diverse employee networks.
If you require an adjustment in the recruitment process, please contact our Talent Acquisition Advisor listed below.
A career of life-changing impact awaits you. Apply now!
Applications close 11.55pm AEST Thursday 25 September 2025
To apply for this role, click on 'apply now' and provide:
- Your current resume
- Certified copies of your qualifications
- Response to one targeted question when prompted in the application form (max 300 words)
Targeted Question: Describe a time when you supported a team through significant organisational change. How did you build trust, align leadership, and help the team establish clear performance expectations and collaborative ways of working? What was the impact on team culture and outcomes?
General recruitment and adjustment enquiries: contact Talent Acquisition Advisor Sally Barry, sally.barry4@tafensw.edu.au and 02 7921 0203.
Role-specific enquiries: contact Margaret Spears, Director Workforce Services, margaret.spears@tafensw.edu.au and 02 79212717.
For helpful insights into preparing your application, TAFE NSW’s recruitment process, and getting interview ready, read through our Application Process and the interactive Capability Application Tool.
This is a child-related position. A Working with Children Check is a prerequisite for anyone in child-related work. It involves a national criminal history check and review of findings of workplace misconduct.
To be eligible for positions at TAFE NSW, you need to be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Australia or a New Zealand citizen with a current New Zealand passport.
An eligibility list, valid for 18 months, may be created for this position, and position(s) of the same classification that subsequently becomes vacant, may be filled via this recruitment.
Location is negotiable across our TAFE NSW campuses. Please note your preferred campus location is not guaranteed and is subject to campus availability at the time of offer.
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