Payroll Specialist Lead
This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Payroll Specialist Lead based in Australia.
This role sits at the heart of a global payroll operations function, ensuring accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery across complex, international environments. You will act as a senior payroll expert, owning end-to-end payroll processes while helping refine and scale operational excellence in a fast-moving, fully distributed organization. The position combines deep technical payroll knowledge with leadership responsibilities, including mentoring specialists and supporting regional operations. You will collaborate closely with finance, product, engineering, and implementation teams to ensure seamless payroll execution. The environment is highly autonomous, async-first, and innovation-driven, with strong emphasis on process improvement and automation. This is a high-impact role where precision, compliance, and continuous improvement directly shape employee experience worldwide.
Accountabilities
In this role, you will take ownership of complex payroll operations while ensuring accuracy, compliance, and continuous improvement across processes. You will act as a senior reference point for payroll expertise and help strengthen operational frameworks across regions.
- Manage full end-to-end payroll processing, including statutory filings, approvals, payments, exceptions, and compliance requirements.
- Serve as a subject matter expert for payroll operations within your assigned country or region.
- Maintain data integrity across payroll systems, ensuring accuracy and consistency of employee and financial records.
- Prepare payroll journals, reconciliations, and reporting to support finance and audit requirements.
- Monitor and improve payroll KPIs and SLAs, driving operational efficiency and service quality.
- Implement process improvements and automation initiatives to optimize payroll workflows.
- Mentor and support payroll specialists, providing guidance and escalation support.
- Act as backup support for regional payroll management during absences.
- Collaborate with stakeholders across payroll implementation, finance, product, and engineering teams to ensure alignment and smooth operations.
Requirements
You bring strong end-to-end payroll expertise combined with analytical thinking and the ability to thrive in a global, fast-paced environment. You are comfortable working independently while also contributing to team development and process evolution.
- Proven experience in end-to-end payroll processing, either in-house or within a payroll service provider environment.
- Strong understanding of payroll compliance, statutory requirements, and best practices.
- Experience with payroll systems and strong proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets.
- Analytical mindset with strong problem-solving and attention to detail.
- Ability to work in a distributed, asynchronous, and international environment.
- Strong communication skills in English, both written and verbal.
- Demonstrated ability to improve processes, drive efficiency, and support automation initiatives.
- Experience mentoring or supporting junior payroll professionals is highly valued.
- Strong stakeholder management skills across cross-functional teams.
Benefits
- Competitive annual salary aligned with Australian market standards (AUD 102,100 - 114,900 range referenced in original role).
- Fully remote-first working model with flexibility to work from anywhere.
- Flexible working hours with an async-friendly culture.
- Generous paid time off and global holiday flexibility.
- 16 weeks paid parental leave.
- Mental health and wellbeing support services.
- Stock options as part of long-term incentive planning.
- Home office and learning budgets to support professional growth.
- Budget for co-working spaces or local team meetups and events.
- Career development and internal mobility opportunities in a global organization.
