{"id":3802472,"url":"https://alion.io/job/british-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager","title":"Lead Operations & Payroll Manager","company":{"id":92807,"name":"British Council","domain":"britishcouncil.org","url":"https://alion.io/company/britishcouncil-org","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":72,"open_postings":29,"ghost_share":0.172,"stale_share":0.517,"repost_share":0.345,"time_to_fill_p50_days":43,"computed_at":"2026-11-06T05:58:05Z"}},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Noida, India"],"countries":["IN"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Microsoft Excel","optional":false},{"name":"Agile","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-02T11:01:20Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-05","last_verified_at":"2026-11-06T07:35:35Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For over 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.\nWe work with people in over 150 countries and reach over 700 million people.\nWe connect. We inspire.\nThe Role \nThe Lead Operations & Payroll Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for global People Operations and payroll services. The role is accountable for governance, service performance, compliance, risk management and continuous improvement across retained People teams, managed service providers, payroll vendors and other external partners.\nThe role translates People Function strategy into a controlled and measurable operating model. It ensures that employee lifecycle and payroll services are delivered accurately, on time and in accordance with global policy, local legislation, contractual commitments and internal controls. The role leads through data, clear accountabilities and disciplined governance, while maintaining a strong focus on employee and stakeholder experience.\nThe role also leads major transformation, vendor consolidation, automation and operating-model initiatives, including business-case development, transition planning, benefits tracking and leadership reporting. It acts as a senior escalation point for complex operational, payroll, statutory, supplier and service-delivery matters and provides advice to the PB10 Director and other senior stakeholders.\nThe People Function delivers HR and payroll services across multiple regions, countries, legal entities and service channels. Delivery is shared between internal People teams, retained service desks, managed service providers, payroll partners, Finance, Procurement, Technology and country stakeholders. This creates a complex control environment requiring clear ownership, standard processes, reliable data and active supplier governance.\nThe Lead Operations & Payroll Manager operates across both business-as-usual service delivery and transformation. The role oversees global operations such as AskHR governance, retained-desk activity, managed-service performance, payroll controls, vendor and invoice governance, management reporting and operational improvement. It works closely with regional Lead Operations & Payroll Managers, Payroll and People Data Managers, People Solutions colleagues and cross-functional partners.\nThe role reports to the Director - Head of HR Operations and Payroll (PB10). It may directly or matrix-manage managers, specialists and project resources and will be expected to represent the function in leadership forums, service reviews, audits, supplier meetings and transformation governance.\nMain responsibilities\nThe role translates People Operations and Payroll strategy into effective global operating models, governance frameworks, delivery priorities and clear accountabilities. It provides senior oversight of AskHR, retained HR service desks, outsourced operations and end-to-end payroll delivery, ensuring service quality, SLA performance, statutory compliance, payroll accuracy, financial controls, risk management and timely resolution of operational issues. It also leads supplier, commercial and financial governance, including contract management, vendor performance, purchase orders, invoice validation, budgets, cost optimisation and supplier payments.\nThe role drives global transformation, vendor consolidation, service transitions, automation, digitalisation and continuous improvement initiatives. This includes developing business cases, cost-benefit models, implementation plans, risk assessments, KPIs, milestones and benefits realisation. It owns operational performance reporting, dashboards, executive insights, audit and assurance activities, using data and root-cause analysis to identify risks, capacity pressures, control weaknesses and improvement opportunities. It also ensures robust documentation, business continuity, data protection and regulatory compliance across regions.\nWorking closely with regional and country leadership, Finance, Procurement, Technology, Legal, Risk and external service providers, the role provides strategic advice to the PB10 Director, leads governance and transformation forums, manages complex escalations and aligns stakeholders on operational priorities. It also leads, coaches and develops managers and specialists, strengthens succession planning and operational resilience, builds expertise in payroll, analytics, supplier management and controls, and promotes a culture of accountability, collaboration, inclusion, customer focus and continuous improvement.\nRole specific skills\nBusiness acumen (exemplary): connects service, risk, cost and employee experience outcomes to organizational strategy.\nData literacy (exemplary): uses operational, financial and service data to shape priorities, challenge performance and support investment decisions.\nPeople advocacy (developing/exemplary): balances customer needs, fairness, compliance, ethics and organisational risk.\nExecutional excellence (exemplary): converts direction into measurable plans, sustained governance and accountable delivery.\nProblem solving (exemplary): resolves complex, cross-functional issues with incomplete information and competing stakeholder interests.\nInterpersonal and influencing skills (exemplary): builds alignment across senior stakeholders, suppliers and distributed teams.\nCommercial and supplier management (developing/exemplary): manages performance, obligations, cost, risk and value across outsourced services.\nChange and transformation leadership (developing/exemplary): leads operating-model, process, technology and behavioural change.\nRole specific knowledge and experience\nMinimum/essential\nSubstantial leadership experience in complex People Operations, payroll, shared services or outsourced service-delivery environments.\nDemonstrated experience leading multi-country or global payroll and HR operations governance across internal teams and external providers.\nStrong knowledge of payroll operations, controls, reconciliations, statutory compliance, risk management and audit requirements.\nExperience managing service providers and payroll vendors through SLAs, KPIs, governance forums, corrective actions and commercial discussions.\nExperience designing or improving target operating models, processes, controls, SOPs, RACI structures and escalation frameworks.\nProven delivery of transformation, transition, automation or vendor-consolidation initiatives with measurable outcomes.\nExperience in preparing business cases, financial models, cost-benefit analysis, executive presentations and leadership recommendations.\nAdvanced analytical capability, including strong Excel and presentation skills and the ability to turn data into clear executive insight.\nExperience leading managers, specialists or matrix teams across different locations and priorities.\nExcellent stakeholder management, judgement, written communication and ability to operate effectively in ambiguous or high-pressure situations.\nDesirable\nExperience of global payroll transformation, managed payroll services, payroll technology integration or HR service outsourcing.\nKnowledge of HRIS, case-management, reporting and workflow platforms such as SAP SuccessFactors, SAP, C4C/AskHR or equivalent.\nExperience of contracts, supplier invoice, purchase-order and financial-control governance within a global organisation.\nExposure to continuous-improvement frameworks, process automation, data visualisation or AI-enabled service improvement.\nExperience working in an international matrix organisation and with senior governance or investment forums.\nLanguage Requirements\nBritish Council systems and global processes operate in English. High-level written and verbal proficiency in English is required.\nEducation\nDegree or equivalent professional experience in Human Resources, Business, Finance, Operations, Payroll or a related discipline.\nProfessional Qualification and Certification\nRecognised payroll, HR or reward qualification (for example CIPP, CIPD or equivalent) - preferred.\nProject, change or continuous improvement qualification (for example PRINCE2, PMP, Agile, Lean or Six Sigma) - desirable.\nCommercial, procurement or contract-management training - desirable\nBritish Council | Pay Band 8\nLocation: Noida, India\nDepartment: People Function\nContract: Indefinite Contract\nApply by: Wednesday, Nov 18 (23:59 local time)\nInterview Date TBD\nPlease note that candidates must have the pre-existing, legal right to work in India at the time application. Mobility / relocation / visa sponsoring support will not be provided. British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service. This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.\nA connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.\nEquality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement\nWe are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and we welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability, and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent and we guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.\nSafeguarding Statement\nThe British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people, and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.\nIf you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email ","description_format":"text","description_chars":10518,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":true,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Hybrid work"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"India","iso":"IN","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Skill Assessment","Higher Education","Language Learning"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-05T12:06:28Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.632,"p_room":1,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":43,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-06T05:58:05Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/british-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/british-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-06T09:34:48Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":17354,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-07T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":92807},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=92807"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fbritish-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fbritish-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fbritish-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/british-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fbritish-council-lead-operations-payroll-manager"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3802472}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"britishcouncil.org","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3802472},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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