Payroll Project Manager (Payroll Implementation Lead) - 8 month contract

Role Purpose

The Payroll Project Manager is responsible for ensuring the successful transition and implementation of payroll operations across assigned markets, making sure employees continue to receive accurate, timely and compliant payroll from Day 1 .

The role follows the principle that existing payroll operations should continue to run smoothly during the transition , while the company moves to a new payroll set-up, system or service provider.

You will be responsible for payroll set-up, employee data migration, system testing, payroll comparison, final transition and go-live activities, ensuring there is no disruption to employees' payroll .

The role works closely with payroll vendors, HR, Finance, IT and local country teams . It requires strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple tasks and requests within strict payroll deadlines, while identifying risks and resolving issues in a timely manner.

The role combines hands-on payroll knowledge, payroll systems experience and project management skills .

Key Responsibilities

1. Payroll Transition & Implementation

• Support the overall payroll transition plan and define how payroll will operate during the transition period.
• Gather payroll requirements from each country and work with payroll vendors to understand local requirements, including salary, tax and social insurance regulations.
• Review payroll requirements and proposed solutions from vendors to ensure they are complete and accurate before implementation.
• Work closely with payroll vendors and project teams to implement the required payroll set-up and solutions.
• Develop and track country-level implementation plans to ensure activities are completed on time.

2. Payroll Processes & Documentation

• Provide guidance and templates for payroll processes and documentation.
• Create and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) where existing processes are not yet documented.
• Review payroll documents to ensure they are complete, accurate, up to date and ready for audit.
• Maintain process information, trackers and knowledge materials to support smooth payroll operations and handover to the team responsible for payroll after the transition.

3. Employee Data, Testing & Go-Live

• Support the transfer of employee data from the HR system to the payroll system, including data mapping, checking and validation.
• Develop and conduct payroll testing to ensure the system can correctly process salaries, deductions, benefits and working-time information.
• Run payroll comparisons between the existing and new processes to identify and resolve any differences before go-live.
• Support the final transition and go-live process, including checking employee data, payroll calculations and reconciliation before approval.
• Review and validate information related to benefits, working hours and other employee data required for payroll processing.

4. Payroll Systems & Finance

• Work closely with HR, payroll, IT and Finance to ensure information flows correctly between HR systems, timekeeping systems, payroll systems, banking systems and accounting systems.
• Ensure employee information from the HR system is accurately transferred to the payroll system.
• Coordinate with Finance to ensure payroll costs are correctly recorded in the company's accounting system, including company codes, cost centers and payroll accounting entries.
• Identify which payroll activities are automated and which require manual input, document these processes and clearly define who will be responsible for them after the transition.

5. Governance, Risk & Issue Management

• Maintain country-level payroll documentation, implementation plans and progress reports.
• Monitor risks, issues and delays throughout the implementation and ensure they are escalated to the right stakeholders when required.
• Track and resolve potential issues before the payroll go-live date.
• Ensure payroll operations comply with local legal requirements and the company's internal policies, financial controls and audit requirements.

6. Stakeholder Management & Project Coordination

• Work closely with HR, Finance, Tax, IT, HR systems, Compensation & Benefits, Treasury, payroll vendors and local country teams.
• Coordinate project activities, maintain implementation plans, join project meetings and provide progress updates.
• Act as a key point of contact for local markets, ensuring expectations and requirements are clearly communicated.
• Manage a high volume of requests and activities with tight deadlines, prioritizing tasks based on payroll cut-off dates and key project deadlines.
• Coordinate with both technical and senior stakeholders to ensure timely decision-making and issue resolution.

7. Payroll Processing Support

• Where required, support day-to-day payroll processing, including preparing and checking salary, working hours, deductions and statutory payments.
• Review payroll reports before processing to identify errors or unusual changes.
• Reconcile payroll results at the end of each payroll cycle.
• Monitor payroll service quality and agreed timelines, investigate issues when targets are not met and implement corrective actions.

Required Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in payroll implementation, payroll transition or payroll transformation, preferably in a multi-country environment or during a company restructuring, business separation or merger/acquisition.
• Strong hands-on experience with payroll systems and HR systems, particularly Workday and SAP, as well as payroll-related accounting processes.
• Strong payroll processing knowledge, including salary calculation, tax, social insurance, benefits and working-time information.
• Good understanding of local labor, tax and social insurance regulations.
• Experience working with and managing third-party payroll vendors, including service quality, timelines and issue resolution.
• Experience in system testing, employee data migration, payroll comparison and system go-live.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and requests simultaneously while working with strict payroll deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to identify, manage and escalate risks or issues.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work with HR, Finance, IT, payroll vendors and senior stakeholders.
• Experience in project coordination, including project plans, progress tracking, issue tracking and reporting.
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving environment with changing priorities.
• Payroll certification (e.g. FPC / CPP) and relevant university degree are an advantage.