DBS Civilian Payroll - Operational Expert

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

As a Payroll Operational Expert, you will work alongside operational payroll teams, customers and stakeholders to resolve complex payroll matters and provide specialist expertise across a range of payroll processes.

Key responsibilities include:

• Taking ownership of complex overpayment cases, including prior year overpayments and disputed debts.
• Calculating overpayments, repayment arrangements and associated adjustments.
• Managing Negative Net Pay cases and ensuring appropriate action is taken.
• Calculating pension and tax adjustments where required.
• Supporting annual payroll reporting activities.
• Assisting with pension reporting and submissions.
• Supporting internal and external audit activity, including National Audit Office and Government Internal Audit Agency audits.
• Acting as a focal point for escalation of complex payroll enquiries.
• Liaising with stakeholders including Civilian HR policy owners, Finance, Change Management Team and other business areas.
• Supporting change initiatives and payroll testing activities.
• Producing guidance, FAQs and desk instructions to improve payroll knowledge across operational teams.

Assisting operational delivery teams with specialist payroll activities requiring expert knowledge

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and previous skills and experience.

Personal Statement:

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability. (500 Word Max)

At sift, Candidates will be assessed against their CV and Statement of suitability and the following:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

At interview, Candidates will be assessed against the following:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:

Primary: Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

Priority order - Interview

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

1 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

2 - Behaviour - Delivering at Pace

3 - Behaviour - Changing and Improving

4 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

Priority order - Application

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

1 - Career - Job History

2 - Career - Previous Skills

3 - Career - Personal Statement

4 - Behaviour - Changing and Improving

5 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

6 - Behaviour - Delivering at Pace

7 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

Sift and interview timeframes

Sift start date: 13/09/2026

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: MS Teams

Interview start date: 20/09/2026

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.