Global Payroll Implementation, Transition & M&A Lead

About the role and team

The Global Payroll Lead, Strategy & Planning is a key member of the payroll team, responsible for leading international payroll implementations, including new entity launches, M&A integrations, payroll provider transitions, and other cross-functional payroll projects and initiatives across EMEA, LatAm and APAC. This role requires strong international payroll knowledge combined with hands-on implementation and project leadership experience, in addition to strong analytical, cross-functional and customer service skills.

The Payroll Strategy & Planning team supports international business expansion in EMEA, APAC and LatAm, leads new entity and M&A payroll implementations, process improvements, systems implementations and payroll provider transitions, and supports the transition of new or changed processes to the Payroll Operations team located in India. The team operates in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, cross-regionally and cross-functionally. This role is expected to operate effectively in ambiguous environments, proactively identify requirements and dependencies, connect the right stakeholders, manage payroll providers, resolve roadblocks, and help define solutions and sustainable processes where an established approach may not yet exist.

What you’ll do

• Act as the lead of implementation of cross-functional payroll projects and/or initiatives to support business needs. Leading these initiatives includes, but is not limited to:
• Be responsible for implementations of new payroll entities, M&A and other related activities
• Lead the transition of operational activities to the Payroll Operations Team
• Lead payroll vendor transitions
• Lead internal and external payroll projects and initiatives
• Build and maintain relationships with key internal and cross-functional partners
• Keep payroll documentation, including employee facing knowledge bases, updated
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for countries across EMEA, APAC and LatAm with varying headcount (over 1000 employees)
• Execute payroll processing (regular, overtime, bonuses, deductions) and ensure full legal/policy compliance during new entity stabilization.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to verify data accuracy and transition standard operating procedures to operational teams through training and documentation.
• Lead project deliverables, status reporting, and risk mitigation across HR, IT, and external partners to ensure on-time execution.
• Identify, implement, and track AI and automated process improvements to maximize operational efficiency.
• Analyze payroll metrics, KPIs, and system data to monitor performance, surface risks, and deliver data-driven insights.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in payroll processing.
• Experience with HR and payroll systems such as Workday and Oracle
• Experience with different payroll vendors such as EY, ADP Celergo, ADP Streamline, Neeyamo, Oracle, UKG/Immedis
• Experience with ServiceNow, both ticket management and knowledge bases
• Experience with Microsoft Office and Google Office Suite
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify and resolve complex payroll issues
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams
• Advanced English required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in international payroll processing; Netherlands, UK and France is preferred
• Payroll Accounting experience preferred
• 4+ years of experience in project management, EMEA payroll project experience is preferred
• Working level knowledge of two or more languages, English required, German or French are preferred