About the role
We’re excited to be recruiting for a Senior Payroll Officer (12-month Fixed Term Contract) to join our friendly and supportive Payroll team at DS Smith’s Business Service Centre in Caerphilly. This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact while gaining exposure to a high-volume, fast-paced UK payroll environment.
In this role, you’ll take ownership of the administration and customer-facing aspects of our UK Payroll service, ensuring the accurate and timely payment of approximately 5,000 colleagues. You’ll play a key part in delivering an exceptional payroll experience, supporting employees across the UK with professionalism and care.
Collaboration is at the heart of this role - you’ll work closely with your team to manage and resolve payroll queries, while also helping to educate colleagues across the business to build understanding and confidence in payroll processes.
Key Responsibilities include:
Process the monthly payroll, ensuring all employees are paid accurately and on time
Ensure tax and statutory obligations (HMRC, NI) are correctly calculated and applied
Oversee the preparation and distribution of payslips to colleagues across the UK
Manage payroll documentation, ensuring it is processed efficiently and kept up to date
Proactively investigate and resolve discrepancies, escalating where necessary
Maintain a strong focus on delivering excellent customer satisfaction through accurate and responsive payroll support
About you
The ideal candidate will be a proactive and detail-focused payroll professional who takes pride in delivering accurate, reliable work that supports colleagues across the business. They will bring a strong understanding of payroll and HR processes, alongside a customer-first mindset and a genuine willingness to help others. Comfortable working with data and systems, they will use their analytical thinking to identify and resolve discrepancies, while continuously looking for ways to improve. As a collaborative team player, they will contribute positively to the team environment, sharing knowledge and supporting others, while also taking ownership of their responsibilities and helping drive positive change.
Significant understanding of HR and Payroll processes
Experience with integrated HR and Payroll systems (ideally Workday)
Advanced Excel skills
Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
Experience handling employee queries in a professional, customer-focused way
Solid knowledge of HMRC Tax and National Insurance
Experience with manual calculations
International payroll (EMEA) experience is desirable
Benefits
A competitive salary and discretionary bonus
25 days’ holiday + bank holidays, plus banked hours
Hybrid working: 3 days in the office, 2 from home
Pension scheme, life assurance, income protection
Employee assistance programme and digital GP access
Cycle to work scheme and discounts on shopping, travel and more
Location: Caerphilly - we operate on a hybrid basis, with 3 days in the office and 2 at home
About us
We are DS Smith, together with International Paper, we are a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions and other fibre-based products. We believe a better, more sustainable tomorrow is possible with the right people, who challenge and support one another to enact positive change. We employ more than 65,000 colleagues in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), who are experts in innovation, manufacturing, design, sales, sustainability, supply chain, and much more. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Become part of a world-leading organisation and do your best work with us!
Fair recruitment at DS Smith
To fulfil our purpose of redefining packaging for a changing world, we aim to build a diverse, motivated, and engaged workforce. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion where everyone is treated fairly, differences are valued, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, bring different perspectives, ideas and experiences to generate unique solutions focused on present and future sustainability challenges. We welcome all candidates to apply, even those not meeting all criteria
#LI-CE #DSCAE
Skills Required
- Significant understanding of HR and Payroll processes
- Experience processing monthly payroll for a large employee population
- Experience with integrated HR and Payroll systems (ideally Workday)
- Advanced Excel skills
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
- Experience handling employee payroll queries in a professional, customer-focused way
- Solid knowledge of HMRC Tax and National Insurance
- Experience with manual payroll calculations
- International payroll (EMEA) experience
DS Smith Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about DS Smith and has not been reviewed or approved by DS Smith.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered okay to good across many roles, with some plants indicating competitive or above‑market hourly rates for operators and similar positions. This supports a broadly fair perception of base pay even as experiences vary by site.
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Healthcare Strength — U.S. offerings include day‑one medical/vision and dental, employer HSA contributions, and 100% company‑paid life and short/long‑term disability, alongside an EAP. Some role descriptions also highlight mental‑health and fertility options.
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Retirement Support — Packages commonly reference a 401(k) with company match and, in some locations, pension eligibility or company‑funded retirement contributions. This positions retirement benefits as a meaningful component of total rewards.
DS Smith Insights
What We Do
DS Smith provides innovative packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services with a commitment to sustainability and a circular economy. Our core purpose is to Redefine Packaging for a Changing World, and our expert teams work closely with like-minded partners to incorporate renewable resources for products that minimize our environmental impact, reduce complexity and increase profitability through supply chain optimization
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