Director of Payroll - Global

What you'll do

• Provide strategic oversight for end-to-end global payroll operations delivered through a shared services model
• Lead and develop global payroll teams supporting multiple regions and countries
• Serve as the primary global escalation point for complex payroll issues, controls, and risk events
• Drive alignment between in-country payroll execution and global payroll standards
• Own and maintain global payroll governance frameworks, including SOPs, segregation of duties, and approval workflows
• Ensure payroll processes comply with SOX and internal control requirements
• Partner with Internal Audit and External Audit to support walkthroughs, testing, and remediation
• Identify and mitigate payroll-related risks across regions, vendors, and systems
• Own global payroll accrual processes including wages, bonuses, commissions, leave, severance, and statutory costs
• Partner with Finance on month-end and year-end close, GL postings, and reconciliations
• Ensure payroll data is audit-ready and supports public company reporting standards
• Provide leadership and oversight for ADP, CloudPay, and Workday payroll ecosystems
• Partner with HRIS, Finance Systems, and IT to optimize integrations and controls
• Support global payroll implementations, vendor transitions, and system upgrades
• Manage relationships with global payroll vendors and advisors
• Monitor SLAs and performance metrics
• Act as a trusted partner to HR, Total Rewards, Finance, and Audit stakeholders
• Drive standardization and scalability across payroll operations
• Identify automation and risk-reduction opportunities
• Support long-term payroll transformation initiatives

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive payroll experience with global and/or shared services leadership
• Experience operating in a public company or SOX-controlled environment
• Hands-on experience with ADP, CloudPay, and Workday
• Deep expertise in payroll accruals, reconciliations, and financial close
• Experience managing multi-country payroll operations
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills
• Preferred: Experience building or scaling global payroll shared services or centers of excellence
• Preferred: Payroll transformation or global system implementation experience
• Preferred: Exposure to internal controls, audits, and risk management
• Preferred: MBA, CPA, or payroll certification

Tech stack