Junior Payroll Specialist

This role is with KLG, a global leader in international education. KLG is now owned by Inspirit Capital and continues to deliver world-class educational experiences through its international network of schools and university partners.

Kaplan Languages Group (KLG) is a world-class language education platform operating over 20 schools across 8 countries. We deliver premium academic, professional, and language travel programmes to students from over 140 countries. At KLG, we combine education with financial excellence to support our international growth.

Key responsibilities

Payroll preparation and processing

• Support payroll processing across assigned countries, entities, and payroll cycles in line with agreed calendars and deadlines.
• Collect payroll inputs from HiBob and business teams, including new hires, leavers, salary changes, variable payments, benefits, deductions, leave, and other employee changes.
• Extract, clean, validate, and format employee and payroll data from multiple sources into templates required by ADP Celergo and other payroll providers.
• Upload or submit accurate payroll input files and complete pre-processing checks before payroll cut-off dates.
• Review payroll outputs against source data, prior periods, and agreed control totals; investigate discrepancies and escalate material issues promptly.
• Support off-cycle payments, corrections, and retroactive adjustments under the direction of the Global Payroll Manager.
• Maintain accurate payroll records, checklists, trackers, and supporting documentation.

Data, reconciliation and reporting

• Reconcile payroll inputs and outputs, identify variances, and maintain clear evidence of completed checks.
• Prepare payroll reports, journals, funding information, and audit support for review by the Global Payroll Manager and Finance.
• Monitor data quality between HR, payroll, and finance systems and follow up on missing, inconsistent, or incomplete information.
• Use Excel to organize and analyze large data sets, including lookups, formulas, pivot tables, and data validation tools.
• Handle payroll and employee data securely and in accordance with data privacy and confidentiality requirements.

Stakeholder and provider support

• Work with HR, Finance, managers and external providers to obtain complete and accurate payroll information on time.
• Respond to routine payroll queries clearly and professionally, referring complex, sensitive, or technical matters to the Global Payroll Manager.
• Track outstanding actions with payroll providers and internal teams and support the timely resolution of operational issues.
• Build effective working relationships across countries, cultures, and time zones.

Processes, systems and improvement

• Learn and use HiBob, ADP Celergo and other payroll platforms to support day-to-day payroll operations.
• Follow documented payroll processes, controls, and approval requirements, escalating exceptions and potential risks.
• Maintain process notes, payroll calendars, templates, and job aids so activities can be completed consistently.
• Suggest practical improvements to data collection, templates, controls, and workflows to reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.
• Support system testing, payroll migrations, and process changes as required.

Experience and qualifications

Essential

• Practical payroll processing or payroll administration experience, with a sound understanding of payroll inputs, outputs, deadlines, and reconciliations.
• Strong Excel and data manipulation skills, including the ability to extract, clean, compare, validate, and format data from multiple sources.
• High level of accuracy, numeracy, and attention to detail when working with sensitive, high-volume data.
• Ability to learn new payroll and HR systems quickly and follow structured processes and controls.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities within fixed deadlines.
• Confidence in investigating discrepancies, solving operational problems, and escalating issues appropriately.
• Clear written and spoken English, with the ability to work effectively with international colleagues and providers.

Desirable

• Experience in a multinational, shared services, or multi-entity environment.
• Experience using ADP Celergo, another ADP payroll product, HiBob or a comparable HR/payroll platform.
• Experience working with outsourced payroll providers or preparing payroll input files for third-party processing.
• Exposure to payroll-to-finance reconciliations, journals, funding reports, or payroll implementation projects.
• A relevant technical, professional, or university qualification in payroll, accounting, finance, business administration, or human resources