Payroll Specialist

About the team

People Shared Services (PSS) unites key People functions—including Talent Operations, Onboarding, Payroll, People Programs, People Experience, Workplace & Facilities,  Workforce Compliance, Global Security, Health & Safety, People Analytics, and People Systems & Solutions. Our team delivers seamless transactional People services, optimizes processes, ensures global compliance, and builds scalable, tech-enabled solutions across the candidate and employee lifecycle. We partner closely with other People functions to streamline communication, documentation, and programs—always with a people-first, automation-driven mindset.

As part of the Payroll Team, we act as strategic partners and subject matter experts for India Payroll, providing oversight and guidance on payroll operations, systems, and compliance. We support payroll initiatives, system changes, and process improvements while ensuring strong governance and alignment with global payroll standards and local regulations.

About the role

The Payroll Specialist (EMEA) is responsible for executing and supporting end-to-end payroll operations for assigned EMEA countries, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll delivery through TMF and internal systems. This role requires strong operational payroll knowledge, close partnership with vendors, and the ability to collaborate cross-functionally with People Business Partners (PBPs), People Programs, Finance, and external providers. Prior experience using Workday is strongly preferred to support payroll data accuracy, reporting, and audit readiness.

The Specialist plays a critical role in day-to-day payroll execution, issue resolution, data accuracy, and continuous process improvement across the EMEA region.

What you’ll be doing

• Execute monthly payroll processing for assigned EMEA countries and support regional payroll activities in partnership with TMF.
  • Coordinate payroll inputs, validations, approvals, and timelines with TMF to ensure accurate and on-time payroll delivery.
  • Validate payroll outputs, including base pay, variable compensation, allowances, statutory deductions, taxes, and benefits, ensuring compliance with local country regulations.
  • Maintain and audit employee payroll data in Workday, including compensation changes, tax setup, allowances, and statutory deductions.
  • Review payroll reports, identify variances, investigate discrepancies, and drive resolution prior to payroll sign-off.
  • Manage payroll queries and escalations, providing timely resolution and clear communication to employees and stakeholders.
  • Support statutory compliance requirements, including local filings, remittances, and coordination with TMF on regulatory changes across EMEA countries.
  • Partner with Finance on payroll reconciliations, accruals, funding requirements, and variance explanations.
  • Support internal and external audits by preparing documentation, reconciliations, and audit responses.
  • Contribute to payroll process improvements, standardization, and automation initiatives across EMEA payroll operations.
  • Participate in regional payroll projects, Workday enhancements, and vendor optimization efforts.

We’re excited if you have

• 3–5 years of payroll experience, with hands-on responsibility for one or more EMEA countries; regional EMEA exposure strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of payroll statutory requirements across EMEA countries, including income tax, social insurance, pensions, and other local compliance obligations.
• Experience working with payroll systems and third-party payroll providers, including Workday and/or TMF, supporting payroll inputs, data validation, reporting, audits, and vendor coordination strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical and reconciliation skills with high attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple payroll calendars, deadlines, and stakeholders across countries.
• Proven ability to handle confidential employee data with discretion and professionalism.
• Experience supporting payroll across multiple EMEA countries in a regional or global organization – Preferred
• Familiarity with vendor-managed payroll models and service governance (SLAs, issue tracking, escalations) – Preferred
• Strong Excel skills (pivot tables, lookups, reconciliation formulas) – Preferred
• Experience supporting payroll audits and compliance reviews – Preferred
• Prior experience in a fast-growing, multinational, or matrixed environment – Preferred

#LI-SK8