Payroll Advisor (Permanent, Remote NZ)

Most payroll teams have one. The person everyone quietly relies on. The one who catches the thing nobody else caught finishes the week with zero fires and still takes the time to explain to someone who's asked for the third time why the Holidays Act works the way it does. Cool under pressure, sharp on detail, and genuinely good at the work.

We need that person. Permanently.

About the role

This is a permanent, full-time role in our payroll team, reporting to the Payroll Manager. You'll carry a portfolio of NZ clients, with the odd AU one in the mix, across different platforms, levels of complexity, and pay frequencies. A real part of the job is reviewing payroll processed by our global team in Fiji and India before it goes out the door. That means proper scrutiny, not a courtesy glance.

We're not a lone wolf shop, but we're not a hand-holding one either. We're a crew that knows its stuff, gets on with it, and holds the line when it matters.

Project work will land on your desk from time to time, too: an audit here, a system implementation or client onboarding there. If you back yourself technically, that's a good thing. We'll use it.

What you'll actually be doing

• Running end-to-end payroll across a multi-client portfolio like the experienced operator you are.

• Reviewing payrolls you didn't process with the kind of eyes that find what optimism skips over.

• Handling the scenarios that make less experienced people nervous: terminations, retro adjustments, parental leave, and multi-rate employees.

• Staying on top of IRD obligations and flagging compliance risks before they become someone else's problem.

• Being the client contact people actually want to hear from, because you're clear, reliable, and you don't dress things up.

• Helping payroll officers grow through real guidance, not because it's in your job description, but because that's what good looks like.

• Spotting the process clunk and fixing it, including making proper use of the available tools.

You, in a nutshell

• 5+ years of end-to-end NZ payroll. Not "supported the team with." Ran it.

• The Holidays Act is not your nemesis. The messy real-world scenarios don't faze you either.

• You know your way around PayHero, Employment Hero, and Xero Payroll. More than one, ideally.

• Multiple clients, competing deadlines, no drama. That's just Tuesday for you.

• Your manager is not your calendar, your reminder system, or your quality check. You are.

• When you review someone else's work, you're looking for what's wrong, not hoping it's fine.

Bonus points for

• NZPPA certification, or a genuine plan to get there.

• Managed services or payroll bureau experience.

• Any exposure to Australian payroll.

• Time spent bringing less experienced team members up to speed.

Who we are

We're Admin Army. A 35-strong crew keeping the back offices of ambitious SMEs and NFPs across New Zealand and Australia running properly. Payroll, bookkeeping, compliance, done well, across multiple platforms, tight turnarounds, and complex setups.

Remote-first and detail-obsessed. We take the messy stuff seriously and the rest in stride. Three things matter here: own the details, earn trust daily, and bring razzle-dazzle to everything you do. If you're not sure what razzle dazzle means in a payroll context, you'll know it when you see it. And you'll know pretty quickly if you've got it.

If that sounds like your kind of team, read on.

The logistics

• Start date: By negotiation

• Contract: Permanent

• Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm NZT. We're firm on this. Payrolls are finalising right up to the end of the day, and we need you there when it matters. We're reasonable about life getting in the way occasionally, but consistent early finishes don't work for this role.

• Location: Anywhere in NZ with a solid internet connection

• Salary: Commensurate with experience

Ready to apply?

Send us your CV and a cover note. Fair warning: we pay far more attention to the cover note than the CV. A well-crafted paragraph that shows you actually care about payroll will get you further than a seven-year career history formatted to within an inch of its life. No essays, no buzzwords, no LinkedIn boilerplate. Just tell us why payroll is your thing and why this role caught your eye.

Applications reviewed as they come in.