About our Trust

Our Vision to empower and inspire children, adults and communities to be ambitious, healthy and kind, dedicated to making our world a better place.  

Our Fantastic Five Values 

D - Harbour children deserve joyful (delight)schools that ignite creativity and learning through play. We invest in colleagues to ensure success and promote lifelong well-being for everyone.

A - We recruit the best colleagues and nurture talent in safe environments, inspiring our children to strive for excellence (ambition). By learning from the best, we improve and give back to our communities.

N - Harbour schools are rooted in care, valuing respect and empathy (nurture). We create supportive environments where children and colleagues thrive, preparing them for the future.

C - We promote pride, inclusion, and civic responsibility, celebrating diversity and community. Colleagues will experience belonging through collaboration, well-being, and continuous development.

E - Success comes when colleagues are empowered to innovate, take risks, and learn from failure. At Harbour, we encourage creativity and collaboration, helping both children and colleagues achieve their goals. 

 Our Magnificent Seven Behaviors

● We will act with integrity, honesty and transparency in all that we do
● We will trust our fellow professionals and value their skills and knowledge
● We will work collaboratively and encourage others to do the same
● We will work inclusively, building and celebrating inclusive and diverse communities
● We will be kind to ourselves and in all our dealings with others, acting with
compassion and empathy
● We will communicate regularly and with clarity with our stakeholders and with each
other, welcoming and reflecting on constructive feedback from others
● We will be aspirational for all, wanting the best for ourselves and for everyone

Job title:                                                      Payroll & Recruitment Manager

Location:                                                     Harbour Learning Trust, Low Road, Healing DN41 7QD

Contract:                                                    Permanent 

Salary Scale:                                              SO2 - £37,280 - £39,862

Closing date:                                             Monday 2nd March 2026 - 9am

Interview date:                                        Friday 6th March 2026

Start date:                                                  ASAP

At Harbour Learning Trust, we passionately believe that every child should receive the very best education to prepare them fully for the future. We know that to provide that excellence for our children, we must first create an environment defined by success and happiness for all—and that starts with our incredible staff.

We are looking for a Payroll and Recruitment Manager who cares as much about people as they do about processes.

Your role;

You will lead two of our most vital operational functions, ensuring our schools are staffed by incredible people and that those people are supported by a seamless, caring, and compliant service.

Reporting to the Head of HR & Safeguarding, you won’t just be "processing"—you will be a champion for our values, ensuring that from the moment someone applies to work with us to the day they move on to their next chapter, they feel valued and respected.

How you’ll make an impact;

• You will lead the full employee life-cycle, taking personal pride in everything from recruitment and contract generation to a warm, comprehensive on-boarding and a respectful off-boarding process.

• You will embed "Safer Recruitment" practices, ensuring our commitment to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is at the heart of everything we do.

• You will own our end-to-end monthly payroll, ensuring our hardworking staff are paid accurately and their pensions are managed with the utmost care.

• You will work hand-in-hand with Business Support Partners and school leaders to maintain a Single Central Record (SCR) that is always audit-ready and rooted in excellence.

About you

You are a professional who understands that behind every payroll line and every recruitment file is a person.

• Experienced: You have a proven track record in end-to-end payroll and recruitment, ideally within an educational setting.

• Knowledgeable: You have a deep understanding of KCSIE, safer recruitment, and payroll legislation, and you use that knowledge to keep our community safe.

• Values-Driven: You are professional, kind and approachable,  with a "solution-focused" mindset and a heart for safeguarding children.

• Meticulous: You have a high level of integrity and a keen eye for detail, ensuring our data and compliance are second to none.

Join our family;

If you are a values driven,  resilient, adaptable professional who wants to use your skills to support a Trust that puts children first, we would love to meet you.

Apply today to help us build a future where every child—and every staff member—can succeed.