Welcome to Rārangi Utu-a-Mātauranga–Education Payroll. Our team of around 200 people is responsible for delivering the pay to 102,000 teachers and school support staff every fortnight – that’s $294 million per pay period and $7.7 billion each year. It’s the combination of great people and cutting edge technology that enables us to do this well. Check out why we think it’s a great place to work and what roles we have on offer.
Our technology team work on an application built on a modern kubernetes technology stack that uses the latest azure services. This enables us to have agile-minded, technology-focused roles in software development, business analysis, testing, scrum practice, cloud operations, platform engineering, IT system operations and change design.
Our Oracle-based payroll system is run by our wide range of payroll experts, including payroll, salary assessment, overpayment and ACC advisors, tax and customer service specialists, payrun coordinators and payroll system administrators. All of these positions contribute to the fortnightly payrun being successfully delivered to schools.
Our specialist teams keep us at the top of our game and include risk and assurance, people and leadership, finance, communications and engagement and technology assurance.
There are many internal opportunities for growth across the organisation and we pride ourselves on being able to upskill and recruit from within.
Aro ki te kiritaki | Customer focus
Ko te tangata te mea nui | People are the most important thing
Mahi tahi | Working together
Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa | Let’s work in close unison, not separately
Ako | Learning and improving
Whāia te mātauranga hei oranga mō koutou | Seek knowledge to sustain your efforts
Jobs | Tūranga mahi
Kōrero mō te tūranga – About the role
Ko wai mātou – About Education Payroll
Rārangi Utu ā-Mātauranga – Education Payroll is a Crown entity that delivers pay to schools and kura on behalf of the Ministry of Education. With around 200 employees, we deliver one of the largest and most complex payrolls in Australasia.
The combination of great people and cutting-edge technology enable us to pay around 102,000 teachers and support staff across around 2,500 schools accurately and on time every fortnight. That’s approximately $294 million a fortnight and $7.7 billion per annum.
Kōrero mō te tūranga – About the role
The Senior Payroll Systems Administrator ensures an accurate and on-time fortnightly pay. The core focus is overseeing system administration, configuration and management of incidents and issues along with coaching and mentoring other members of the team.
If successful, you’ll be appointed between $77,438 and $96,798 per annum depending on experience and capability.
Because of the highly collaborative nature of our work, Education Payroll is primarily an office-based workplace. Our office is in central Wellington, close to the train station for an easy commute. We do offer flexible working arrangements after our people have completed an initial training period.
Key accountabilities:
- Supporting the change management, asset and configuration management of the payroll system.
- Supporting the access and request fulfilment management, application management and operations management.
- Providing subject matter expertise in system administration and configuration.
- Prepare, plan and perform system configuration changes and testing.
- Identify and resolve issues.
- Provide after hours on-call support on a rostered basis.
Kōrero mōu – About you
To be successful in the role you will need:
- 3+ years of NZ payroll experience
- an IT background with previous experience as a systems administrator on a complex system
- previous experience in coordinating and overseeing the work of others, including mentoring and providing subject matter expertise on system administration and configuration
- strong communication skills are integral to this role, and you should be able to interpret, analyse and explain information as required
- strong orientation towards accuracy, quality and compliance
- strong analytical skills
- great with Microsoft Excel (formulas, pivot tables etc) and a working knowledge of writing SQL queries.
- strong customer service focus
- ability to work with minimum supervision in a team environment
- ability to manage multiple priorities.
Ko ngā uara – Our values
- Ako | Learning & improving
- Mahi tahi | working together
- Aro ki te kiritaki | Customer focus.
Me pēhea te tono – How to apply
We’d love to hear why you’ll be a great addition to the team. Please submit an up-to-date resume and cover letter outlining your interest and suitability for the role through SEEK.
Applications are open until 9am, Monday 22 June 2026.
If you have any questions about the role, please contact myH•@edpay.nz
To be considered for this role, you must have the right to work in New Zealand.
We are not engaging with recruitment agencies for this role at the moment.
If you have questions about roles at Education Payroll email myhr@edpay.nz
1 Apply online, ads are open for a minimum of seven days. 2 Applications reviewed and shortlisted. 3 Updated via phone call or email within seven days of ad closing. 4 We may pre-screen at this stage. 5 Successful candidates progress to interview stage within 14 days of ad closing. 6 Interview outcomes confirmed via phone or your preferred method within five days of all interviews finishing. 7 If successful, you’ll progress to pre-employment checks. 8. Successful candidates made verbal offer within five days of successful reference checks. 9 Employment paperwork will be sent to you within five days of you accepting the verbal offer. 10 Your first day with Education Payroll. We will endeavour to meet these timeframes. If we can’t, we will contact you.