Global Payroll Director

What you'll do

• Lead the global payroll function ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processing across 20+ countries
• Provide leadership, coaching, and development to the payroll team
• Build team capability across payroll operations, compliance, stakeholder management, systems, and projects
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, priorities, and performance expectations
• Promote a collaborative, transparent, and solutions-oriented team culture
• Ensure team is structured and resourced to support current and future business needs
• Oversee end-to-end payroll operations including regular, off-cycle payroll, year-end activities, statutory reporting, reconciliations, and employee payments
• Ensure compliance with local legislation, tax regulations, labor requirements, data privacy, SOX/internal control standards, and company policies
• Maintain internal control framework including documentation, key controls, review mechanisms, and issue remediation
• Monitor operational performance, risks, service levels, and drive corrective/preventive actions
• Partner with Accounting, Finance, and Treasury for payroll funding, reconciliation, journal entries, accruals, and reporting
• Support internal and external audits with payroll documentation and responses
• Review and analyze payroll processes to identify opportunities for standardization, automation, scalability, and stronger controls
• Design and implement best practices balancing local requirements and business needs
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to improve accuracy, efficiency, employee experience, and operational resilience
• Define and track payroll metrics, service levels, and dashboards for leadership visibility
• Develop and execute payroll strategies aligned with corporate objectives and growth priorities
• Anticipate risks and evolving business requirements and improve payroll operating models
• Lead payroll transformation initiatives including vendor transitions, new payroll solutions, process redesign, and systems optimization
• Partner with HRIS, IT, and vendors on integration, data flows, security, access management, and change management
• Recommend systems enhancements and process automation
• Oversee payroll readiness for organizational changes such as acquisitions, restructures, entity changes, or new country expansion
• Ensure project governance, milestone management, stakeholder alignment, and issue resolution
• Partner with internal stakeholders across HR, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and IT to manage cross-functional impacts
• Serve as senior payroll subject matter expert providing recommendations, risk assessments, and decision support
• Manage payroll vendors to ensure accountability, performance, service quality, and contractual compliance
• Foster strong supplier relationships enabling collaboration and accountability
• Lead escalation management for critical payroll, compliance, and service issues

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, Business, or a related field preferred
• 10+ years of progressive payroll experience, including significant people leadership responsibility in a complex, multinational environment
• Deep expertise in global payroll operations, payroll compliance, controls, and best practices
• Strong knowledge of payroll governance, audit readiness, and internal control environments
• Demonstrated experience leading payroll process improvement, transformation, and systems-related initiatives
• Experience operating in a hands-on leadership role with the ability to move between strategic planning and detailed execution
• Proven ability to lead teams through complexity, change, and ambiguity
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills and experience working in matrixed, international organizations
• Excellent verbal, written, presentation, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to clearly articulate risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities to audiences at all levels of the organization
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data and judgment to drive decisions
• Demonstrated ability to influence outcomes through credibility, storytelling, and fact-based recommendations
• Strong work ethic, ownership mindset, and willingness to roll up sleeves as needed
• Experience with payroll vendor management, global payroll implementations, and service delivery governance strongly preferred
• CPP, FPC, or relevant international payroll certification is a plus

Benefits