Payroll Specialist

Job Description:

About Us

At Econic Partners, we’re more than just an economic consulting firm - we’re problem-solvers, data enthusiasts, and curious thinkers dedicated to helping clients make sense of complex challenges. Our work focuses on competition economics and regulatory analysis. We partner with law firms, corporations, and government agencies to deliver insights that truly make a difference.

Econic Partners launched in January 2025 and has since experienced tremendous growth, expanding to over 420 people across 19 locations worldwide. With over 90 colleagues across London, Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Copenhagen and Milan our European team combines the experience of seasoned economists with the agility and energy of a fast-growing firm. This unique combination allows us to deliver exceptional opportunities for our team and outstanding results for our clients.

We’re building a firm that values creativity, collaboration, and curiosity. At Econic, fresh ideas are encouraged, and everyone has the opportunity to contribute. We believe that the best solutions come from diverse perspectives, and we’re excited to welcome new team members who are eager to learn, grow, and shape the future with us.

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a proactive Payroll Specialist to take ownership of payroll and benefits across our growing international consulting firm, ensuring accurate, compliant and timely delivery across multiple jurisdictions.

Reporting to the Senior HR Director, EMEA you will work closely with HR, Finance and external providers, with responsibility for day-to-day delivery alongside improving processes, controls and employee experience.

We are looking for someone who combines strong payroll expertise with a proactive, hands-on approach: someone comfortable taking ownership, solving problems and challenging providers where necessary, while recognising when to seek specialist advice.

The role offers significant scope to broaden your international payroll expertise, work with Workday and external partners, and help shape our future payroll and benefits approach as the firm evolves.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Own the end-to-end delivery of accurate and timely multi-country payrolls, including all employee changes, variable pay (including exciting Partner compensation e.g. equity), benefits and statutory deductions.
• Manage payroll calendars, approvals and monthly/year-end statutory reporting, ensuring deadlines and regulatory obligations are met across all jurisdictions.
• Complete payroll validation and reconciliations, working closely with Finance to reconcile payroll to the General Ledger and resolve discrepancies.
• Manage the administration and reconciliation of employee benefits, partnering with brokers and providers on annual reviews, renewals and ongoing delivery.
• Manage external payroll and benefits providers, monitoring service delivery, SLAs, costs and performance and driving resolution of issues.
• Maintain accurate payroll data and effective processes across Workday, payroll platforms and Finance systems, identifying and resolving data or integration issues.
• Act as the primary point of contact and internal payroll subject-matter expert, providing timely support to employees and partnering effectively with HR, Finance and external advisers.
• Drive continuous improvement of payroll and benefits processes, controls and systems, including supporting future provider reviews, implementations, transitions and EoR arrangements.

This is not an exhaustive list of responsibilities, and the role holder may be required to undertake other duties reasonably consistent with the scope and level of the role as business needs evolve.

About You

Essential Experience

• Strong understanding of UK payroll legislation, including PAYE, NICs, statutory payments, pensions and HMRC reporting and payroll-related employment legislation, statutory deductions, benefits and employer obligations.
• Experience managing international multi-country payrolls (ideally across several European jurisdictions to include one of Spain, France or Belgium).
• Willingness to develop knowledge of payroll jurisdictions where prior experience is limited, building a sound understanding of local payroll requirements, tax regulations, and statutory obligations.
• Track record of managing dependencies, deadlines, calendars etc and ensuring timeous monthly and annual submissions to tax authorities
• Proven experience administering and managing payroll platform including monthly end-to-end payroll processing, including new starters, leavers, contractual changes, salary changes, bonuses, benefits etc
• Experience managing month- and year-end processes and statutory reporting, including reconciliation of all payrolls related matters with Accounting/GL
• Advanced numerical accuracy, Excel skills, and attention to detail
• Collaborative, proactive, ability to use initiative, seeking guidance, as necessary.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with Workday Payroll (or other HRIS platforms).
• Experience with payroll platforms (Deel and potentially one of, for example, Cloud Pay, SD Worx, Papaya Global, or Sage).
• A second language of Spanish.
• Experience setting up and working with EoR arrangements.
• Vendor Management - working directly with Payroll provider(s) to ensure deliverables and SLAs, are being met, including cost control.
• Payroll transformation - experience of payroll provider review including selection, implementation, parallel runs to ensure smooth transition. Working with Finance/GL and within Workday to ensure integrations / data interfaces are effective.
• Experience with Benefits administration and management to ensure monthly reporting and tax year end reconciliation are accurate. Annual review and negotiation of benefits package and renewal rates across the region, in partnership with Benefits broker.
• Experience working in a fast-paced high-performance environment (either professional/financial services or in a small company start up).

Skills & Competencies

• Highly Organised: Able to manage multiple tasks, deadlines, and stakeholders simultaneously.
• Strong Communicator: Demonstrates clear, professional written and verbal communication skills.
• Detail-Oriented and Analytical: Ensures accuracy in documentation, data, and processes. Able to investigate, question, and analyse information effectively.
• Collaborative: Builds strong working relationships and works effectively with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Process-Driven: Identifies opportunities to improve workflows, enhance efficiency, and drive continuous improvement.
• Discreet and Professional: Maintains confidentiality and handles sensitive information with appropriate care and professionalism.
• Calm and Resilient: Able to work effectively under pressure, meet tight deadlines, and resolve payroll-related issues in a timely manner.
• Ownership: Demonstrates strong accountability and follow-through, and is comfortable acting as the payroll subject matter expert within the organisation.
• Commercially Minded: Able to balance employee experience, compliance requirements, cost considerations, and operational efficiency.