Global Payroll Lead

Description

Global Payroll Lead  |  London

We’re looking for an experienced, international payroll expert to join the People Team, to help take our payroll function to the next level. With over 2200 employees in 14 countries we’re a truly global business. We’re looking for someone to help us find more efficient and effective ways of working. But more importantly, we need someone who can evolve our model and ways of working, so that we can scale the payroll globally function in line with continued business growth. 

This isn’t a job for someone who wants to maintain the status quo. Rather, this role would suit someone who wants to build something new. We’re looking for someone with previous experience in a large, complex business who knows what best practice looks like on a global scale. 

Your mission

TransferWise has already pioneered new ways for people to transfer money across borders and currencies. Our customers can also manage their hard-earned money with the world’s first platform to offer true multi-currency banking. 

Your mission is to provide subject matter expertise to the payroll specialists in each location. You will start by understanding our current processes and how they stack up against local norms, finding efficiencies and process improvements as you go. 

More important than this though, will be the work you’ll do to transform our current model and build a new function that is better aligned to the future needs of the business. This will include upskilling and knowledge sharing within the team, as well as process redesign, system optimisation and external partner management.

Here’s how you’ll be contributing to the People Team

• You’ll take stock of our current payroll processes, reviewing how we work and helping to guide the team to realise greater efficiencies and make sure we’re able to scale with the business
• Provide a clear roadmap for the future, challenging the team to move beyond their current processes to ensure our controls and overall compliance environment is in line with global best practices
• Lead the drive to increase automation by working closely with internal teams and external partners to leverage existing technology and source new partners or tools as required
• Support continued business growth through entry into new markets, involving working with existing partners or sourcing new relationships as required, and making sure we’re able to meet all local legislative requirements
• Operate as a center of expertise, helping local teams to adapt proactively to changing legislative requirements and guiding the team through annual planning and delivery cycles to ensure their impact increases in line with business needs
• Act as a point of escalation for complex queries, mentoring team members to help increase their knowledge, understanding and impact
• Maintain close relationships with each of our external partners, ensuring they adhere to agreed SLAs and that our service contracts are designed to support continued business grow
• Work closely with the members of the Reward and Finance teams to ensure all year end financial returns and other statutory reporting requirements are completed accurately and on time
• Complete month-end checking and reconciliation processes to ensure each of the payroll cycles is completed in line with set processes and that funds are remitted to local authorities and other external agencies correctly
• Work closely with regional financial controllers to drive the continuous improvement of payroll processes, reporting capability and risk controls 

This role will give you the opportunity to

• Bring the regional payroll specialists together and build a united team that operates as one, and is able to effectively support business growth (headcount growth, new markets, new systems and tools, etc)
• Lend your knowledge and technical expertise to the team, building on their local knowledge to build a globally harmonised philosophy and standards ways of working between regions 
• Learn more about global payroll processes and requirements by supporting our entry into new markets as the business grows
• Provide leadership with the people team, working collaboratively across people operations, reward and people technology to establish a new model for payroll execution to support our continued growth
• Play an instrumental role in helping a fast-growth business to mature and scale to the next level - supporting our employees so that they can focus on helping our customers and driving our mission

Stuff you’ve done before

• Gained an understanding of payroll controls across multiple countries / regions
• Led large-scale change projects, for example new system implementations or partner selection processes
• Worked in a fast-paced, high growth business (and learned to handle the ambiguity and changing demands that this can bring)
• Worked in a regulated environment, so you know what best practice controls looks like
• Led a global team of payroll specialists across multiple timezones
• Worked in a matrix environment, requiring close collaboration with multiple different teams
• Run both in-house payroll processes and worked with external processing partners
• Supported with the execution of funding events (secondary sales, etc)

Some extra skills that would be great

• If you have first-hand experience of running a US payroll (along with one or more European processes) this would be hugely useful 
• Previous experience of helping a business transition from private to public would be a distinct advantage

Stuff that comes naturally to you

• Coaching and mentoring - you’ll know how to help others’ grow and develop by asking the right questions and sharing your expertise
• Assessing risk - you’ll be able to find great solutions that work for everyone, and won’t be afraid from taking a few calculated risks to get the right outcome
• Challenging the status quo - we’re not a traditional business and we don’t believe in doing things the same way everyone else does; neither do you
• Relationship building - you’ll need to build trusting relationships with local managers and will also be working with peers across the global people operations team
• Thinking big - we have a strong vision of the mission we’re here to achieve (creating a world of money without borders!) and we need people who’re able to build for the future and help us find global solutions to our next challenges

We’re people without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We want to work with the best people, no matter their background. So if you’re passionate about learning new things and keen to join our mission, you’ll fit right in.

Also, qualifications aren’t that important to us. If you’ve got great experience, and you’re great at articulating your thinking, we’d like to hear from you.

And because we believe that diverse teams build better products, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Key details

Office

London

Salary range

£65,000 - £80,000

Key benefits

• Stock options in a profitable company
• Generous parental leave
• Private healthcare plan
• Pension scheme
• Relocation support
• Loads of development opportunities 
• A fun work environment with social activities and events
• The opportunity to work with super smart, curious people