Senior Payroll Specialist

Role & responsibilities

• Start with a project to consolidate payroll and compensation processes and relevant knowledge from various countries in the MEA Global Centre in Pune (Middle East and Africa Payroll)
• Be responsible for conducting payroll and compensation processes for various countries, incl. documentation and third-party management (e.g., for gross to net payroll calculations, statutory compliances, etc.)
• Responsible for all reporting and reconciliations, Payroll tax updates, including the oversight of all year-end activities with the vendor
• Responsible for effective and efficient delivery of Payroll across the network deliver SLAs (service level agreements), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), metrics/measures
• Mitigate risks related to audits, data privacy, security, visibility, and other related regional concerns
• Provide level 2 inquiry payroll support to employees, managers, and Regional HR. Escalate issues to the vendor as needed
• Manage Documentation – ensure documentation is up to date for processes, and regional documentation is maintained
• Work with the Team Lead, Regional Payroll Managers, and the global payroll process owner in identifying areas where enhancements can be made to streamline existing workflows or projects and work towards standardization and further improvements of the processes
• Review/validate payroll registers/outputs shared by payroll vendor
• Work with external providers to run the payroll for various countries, delivered on time and quality
• Work with Finance colleagues to complete the necessary reconciliation of payroll
• Clarify all queries related to payroll, either with employees or service providers, or any other team
• Foster a close working relationship with HR Advisors in various countries, senior leadership in Business Areas, and colleagues in Finance and Payroll
• Stay updated on market trends in payroll and compensation, applicable country legislation, and evolving business needs.

Preferred candidate profile

• To be passionate about global payroll and compensation-related topics and be customer-centric-minded
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree required in a related field (Human Resources or Finance-related academic credentials preferred)
• Experience in global payroll is a must, and exposure to compensation and benefits will be an advantage
• Excellent written and oral communication in English is required, other international languages will be an advantage
• Demonstrable experience with payroll and/or compensation processes, statistics, and benchmark data
• To be able to understand and translate business questions into analytics projects
• Good knowledge of the HR system landscape (BMC Service Management, Oracle HCM, Oracle on-premises, and different payroll systems will be an advantage)
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office Suite (especially Excel) required
• Demonstrable experience in building and maintaining professional partnerships with internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to develop and implement new ideas or ways of working and adapt to change - An eye for innovation trends and digital solutions
• Change and project management skills will be an advantage
• Payroll/Compensation and Benefits certification will be an added advantage