Manager, Payroll Operations

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Manager, Payroll Operations based in Switzerland.

This is a global payroll leadership role with responsibility for accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery across multiple countries and regions. You will lead a team of payroll specialists while maintaining strong operational oversight across your assigned markets. The role combines people leadership, complex issue resolution, process improvement, and strategic implementation support. You will work closely with Finance, Legal, People Operations, Product, and Service teams in a globally distributed environment. You will also contribute your expertise to country launches, vendor transitions, and payroll in-housing initiatives. Success in this role means building a high-performing team while continuously improving payroll quality, efficiency, and scalability.

Accountabilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of payroll specialists, creating a high-accountability and supportive environment focused on performance, growth, and continuous improvement.
• Own payroll outcomes across an assigned portfolio of countries, ensuring accurate, timely, consistent, and compliant delivery.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of country-specific payroll requirements, policies, controls, and operational processes.
• Investigate complex or escalated payroll issues, identify root causes, drive resolution, and communicate risks or delays proactively.
• Provide input into performance evaluations, development plans, hiring decisions, team changes, and performance actions when required.
• Manage relationships with external payroll vendors and ensure services meet operational, compliance, and quality expectations.
• Support global payroll implementations, including new country launches, vendor transitions, and initiatives to bring payroll operations in-house.
• Provide market-specific expertise during implementation projects, identify execution risks early, and help ensure stable operations following go-live.
• Identify recurring issues, operational risks, and process gaps, and lead improvements that reduce errors, increase efficiency, and expand team capacity.
• Support the rollout of automation, new tools, and standardized workflows while monitoring KPIs, service levels, and quality metrics.
• Partner with People Operations, Finance, Legal, Product, Service Operations, and other stakeholders to translate payroll complexity into clear and actionable guidance.
• Support operational service activities, including team performance and engagement through service-management tools such as Zendesk.

Requirements

• Proven experience owning payroll outcomes for a team within a regional or multi-country environment.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including coaching, feedback, performance management, and team development.
• Strong experience investigating payroll issues and driving operational resolutions within defined authority.
• Ability to interpret, communicate, and consistently apply payroll policies, controls, and processes.
• Experience contributing to hiring decisions, organizational changes, and performance-related actions.
• Strong operational judgment, with the ability to balance accuracy, compliance, speed, and customer impact.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly in asynchronous and globally distributed environments.
• Experience working with external payroll vendors and managing operational relationships.
• Experience supporting payroll implementations, country launches, vendor transitions, or payroll transformation initiatives is highly valuable.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritization, and organizational skills, with a high degree of ownership and accountability.
• Fluency in English; additional languages are an advantage.
• Experience working in a remote-first or internationally distributed organization is strongly preferred.
• Experience with Polish or Czech payroll is advantageous.

Benefits

• Competitive location-based compensation designed to remain above local market rates.
• Work-from-anywhere flexibility with a globally distributed working environment.
• Flexible working hours within an asynchronous work culture.
• Flexible paid time off.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Budget for coworking spaces, professional learning, wellness activities, and gym memberships.
• Mental health support services.
• Stock options.
• Home office budget and IT equipment.
• Opportunities for professional development and internal career mobility.
• A strong focus on pay equity, fair compensation, inclusion, and employee wellbeing.
• The opportunity to work on complex global payroll operations and contribute to scalable international employment infrastructure.