Payroll, Time & Attendance Specialist

About the role

Maersk is looking for a Payroll, Time and Attendance Specialist to join its team in Cape Town. The role covers payroll processing, time and attendance administration and supporting the Payroll Team Lead, within a culturally diverse, international environment.

Key responsibilities

• Manage pre-payroll, on-cycle and off-cycle payroll processes for weekly and monthly paid employees.
• Validate payroll results and provide reconciliations based on control reports.
• Ensure timely statutory and third-party payments and reporting.
• Adjust basic time configurations in systems after initial implementation, as approved or required.
• Track payroll deliverables through defined payroll metrics.
• Be risk aware and help identify, report, mitigate and track risks in the payroll delivery process.
• Support the Payroll Team Lead in answering audit questions, internal and external.
• Take part in time and attendance initiatives such as system upgrades, communicating changes to People Partners, testing and documenting changes for record retention, and project support.
• Interface with People Partners to support employee and leader queries.
• Identify improvement opportunities in regional processes and raise them to global process leaders.

Required profile

• Solid experience (5-8 years) in payroll and time and attendance processes within a complex international organisation.
• Solid experience working in a wage environment and with Bargaining Councils.
• Ability to engage and mobilise diverse local HR stakeholders.
• Proactive, collaborative and analytical approach, with attention to detail and a structured, results-focused style.

Required skills

• Strong knowledge of South African compliance and legal regulations for payroll and benefits.
• In-depth knowledge of South African tax, social security and retirement savings (Pension, Provident and Retirement Annuity).
• Basic accounting knowledge.