Payroll Operations Manager

Role Summary

The Payroll Manager is responsible for leading the delivery of high-quality payroll services across multiple countries within a Managed Services environment. The role ensures payroll is processed accurately, on time, and in compliance with local legislation and company policies while driving operational excellence and continuous improvement.

The Payroll Manager leads a team of 4–6 Payroll Specialists, providing coaching, performance management, workload planning, and technical guidance. The role also acts as the primary escalation point for payroll issues and collaborates closely with HR, Finance, vendors, and stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations

• Lead the end-to-end payroll delivery for assigned countries
• Ensure payroll is processed accurately, timely, and in compliance with local legislation, tax, and social security requirements.
• Monitor payroll quality, service levels, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Review payroll results and resolve complex payroll issues and escalations.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls, audit requirements, and data privacy regulations.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 4–6 Payroll Specialists.
• Set performance expectations and conduct regular performance reviews and development discussions.
• Allocate workload and manage team capacity to ensure service continuity.
• Foster a collaborative, customer-focused, and high-performing team culture.
• Support onboarding and training of new team members.

Stakeholder Management

• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Act as the main escalation point for payroll-related matters.
• Partner with HR, Finance, Time & Attendance, Benefits, and external payroll provider to resolve issues.
• Communicate payroll updates, risks, and improvement initiatives to leadership.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve payroll processes, controls, and efficiency.
• Lead or participate in payroll transformation and system implementation projects.
• Support standardization and automation initiatives across the Managed Services organization.
• Drive root cause analysis and implement corrective actions for recurring issues.

Governance & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to payroll policies, procedures, and service level agreements (SLAs).
• Support internal and external audits.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of payroll legislation and regulatory changes.
• Ensure compliance with SOX and other internal control requirements, where applicable.