diff --git a/lib/include/srsran/phy/phch/pbch_msg_nr.h b/lib/include/srsran/phy/phch/pbch_msg_nr.h
index 8d1e09c09..e9757caf1 100644
--- a/lib/include/srsran/phy/phch/pbch_msg_nr.h
+++ b/lib/include/srsran/phy/phch/pbch_msg_nr.h
@@ -23,11 +23,16 @@
  */
 #define SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_SZ 24
 
+/**
+ * @brief Define the payload buffer for SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_SZ to be 32 for alignment purposes
+ */
+#define SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_MAX_SZ 32
+
 /**
  * @brief Describes the NR PBCH message
  */
 typedef struct SRSRAN_API {
-  uint8_t payload[SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_SZ]; ///< Actual PBCH payload provided by higher layers
+  uint8_t payload[SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_MAX_SZ]; ///< Actual PBCH payload provided by higher layers
   uint8_t sfn_4lsb;                       ///< SFN 4 LSB
   uint8_t ssb_idx;                        ///< SS/PBCH blocks index described in TS 38.213 4.1
   uint8_t k_ssb_msb;                      ///< Subcarrier offset MSB described in TS 38.211 7.4.3.1
diff --git a/lib/src/phy/sync/test/ssb_decode_test.c b/lib/src/phy/sync/test/ssb_decode_test.c
index 9cebbd0a4..c59982551 100644
--- a/lib/src/phy/sync/test/ssb_decode_test.c
+++ b/lib/src/phy/sync/test/ssb_decode_test.c
@@ -20,14 +20,6 @@
 #include <srsran/phy/utils/random.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
-/**
- * @brief NR PBCH payload buffer size for the SSB decode test.
- *
- * @note This needs to be a multiple of 32, since the PBCH message payload is
- * generated with srs_random_bit_vector.
- */
-#define SRSRAN_PBCH_TEST_MSG_NR_SZ 32
-
 // NR parameters
 static uint32_t                    carrier_nof_prb = 52;
 static srsran_subcarrier_spacing_t carrier_scs     = srsran_subcarrier_spacing_15kHz;
@@ -121,7 +113,7 @@ static void gen_pbch_msg(srsran_pbch_msg_nr_t* pbch_msg, uint32_t ssb_idx)
   SRSRAN_MEM_ZERO(pbch_msg, srsran_pbch_msg_nr_t, 1);
 
   // Generate payload
-  srsran_random_bit_vector(random_gen, pbch_msg->payload, SRSRAN_PBCH_TEST_MSG_NR_SZ);
+  srsran_random_bit_vector(random_gen, pbch_msg->payload, SRSRAN_PBCH_MSG_NR_SZ);
 
   pbch_msg->ssb_idx = ssb_idx;
   pbch_msg->crc     = true;