Payroll Finance officer and Business Partner

This vacancy is only available to existing Civil Servant employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). Please review the \"Eligibility\" section before you apply.

General Information

The national salary range is £35,335 - £37,847, London salary range is £40,014 - £42,859. Your salary will be dependent on your base location

Working Pattern: Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working

Vacancy Approach: Cross Government

Location: Belfast, London

Region: London, Northern Ireland

Closing Date: 21-Sep-2026

Post Type: Loan

HEO

Number of jobs available: 1

Reserve List: 12 Months

Job ID: 21913

Descriptions & requirements

BACKGROUND

The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.

The Northern Ireland Office employs around 170 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.

Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.

Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:

• Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
• Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, where terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
• Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
• Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Office is seeking to recruit a payroll finance officer and business partner. The paybill is a significant part of the NIO discretionary budget and with a number of Arms Length Bodies, and ring‑fenced funds ensuring the paybill is correctly charged and managed will form a key part in ensuring the NIO can maximise its budget usage.

The role will sit within the Financial Accounting and Reporting team but will also provide support to the Financial Management and Business partnering team, providing a great insight into NIO Finance.

The role will be responsible for posting of all payroll journals to the Account NI accounting system, supporting the cash management team in ensuring sufficient funds are available for outgoing payments, manage staff accruals and lead the holiday leave accrual, complete monthly payroll reconciliations, and prepare invoices for payroll costs that need to be reimbursed. Additionally the role will work closely with HR colleagues providing financial support and costing, will ensure the payroll figures are accurately presented in the monthly finance reporting and will also support key banking and financial services.

The post is based within the Corporate Operations Group in the Northern Ireland Office, a high performing and responsive team that provides high standards of corporate services to support the delivery of the NIO’s objectives and deliver Ministerial priorities.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Posting of payroll journals to Account NI accounting system as part of the month-end process
• Funding requests to ensure sufficient balances at bank for outgoing payments on pay-day
• Process third party payments as advised by payroll provider
• Calculate staff accruals including retention of supporting audit evidence on a monthly basis
• Prepare invoices for payroll costs and debtors control
• Liaise with HR and other teams, including ALBs, providing support on costing data to support workforce planning and payroll forecasting
• Prepare all necessary expense and balance sheet reconciliations
• Undertake analytical reviews of monthly payroll costs and challenge movements for line manager review, and presentation in monthly financial reporting.
• Support the NIO internal and external audit processes
• Assist in the completion of statutory returns

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Hold existing CTC clearance
• Demonstrable experience of supporting financial processes in a busy and complex finance function for a minimum of 6 months.
• Demonstrable experience of building positive and effective working relationships across a wide range of stakeholders
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, able to comprehend accounting information and distil into a format that is widely understandable to non-finance stakeholders.
• Demonstrable experience of using financial software, and advanced MS Excel skills (including sorting data, vlookups & pivot table etc.)
• Ability to work independently and prioritise workload

DESIRABLE CRITERIA

• Hold AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting

BEHAVIOURS

We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours for the HEO level during the application sift and interview process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service (Lead behaviour)
• Delivering at Pace
• Working together

More information on Behaviours and Success Profiles can be found here .

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviours and experience, and technical knowledge. The lead behaviour being assessed is managing a quality service.

EXPERIENCE

Both experiences and achievements are assessed during the interview stage. The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviours and experience, and technical knowledge. The lead behaviour being assessed is managing a quality service.

Interview stage assessments

Interview Dates: To be confirmed

Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Working Together

INTERVIEW

You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. You will be asked to respond to one strength question in the interview.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

• WHO- Whatit was?Howyou approached the work/situation? What theOutcomeswere, what did youachieve? or
• STAR- What was theSituation? What were theTasks? WhatActiondid you take? What were the Results of your actions?

OFFER

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.

The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

SECURITY CLEARANCE

This role requires National Security Vetting CTC given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.

This role requires - and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years.

NIT: Detached Duty and relocation costs

Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence

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