Payroll Partner, EMEA

About Airwallex Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 676,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use us, directly or through our platform partners, to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products of their own. We started in Melbourne in 2015 to build the infrastructure global commerce runs on. We're the regulated backbone behind global payments: not by accident, but by design. A decade plus, 85+ licenses, and a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. We're co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with more than 2,300 people across 27 offices. We hire builders with founder-level energy, people who move fast with good judgment, dig in with real curiosity, and make calls from first principles rather than waiting to be told what to do. Read our operating principles to see it in full. Looking for a Global Payroll Partner with experience in providing strategic direction to business and leading a team to work towards payroll operations, implementations /system improvements/ cost reduction, advisory, service delivery, control framework, stakeholder management, to shape long term payroll capabilities and contribution to the overall organisational mission. Our UK team is growing, we are currently 110+ employees, working in a hybrid work environment with a minimum of 3 days per week in our London Office. Global Payroll Operations: Manage global payroll operations, including ensuring accurate and efficient payroll processing, compliance with region-specific securities regulations and employment tax requirements, reconciliations, month-end/year end close procedures. Provided in-depth analysis and insights on global payroll data, that can be used by Finance/ HR to forecast/ understand trends in employee costs. Identify and implement improvements to Payroll processes and sub processes. Provide advice and education to employees in relation to pay issues, award changes, new policies etc, resolving any payroll enquiries in a professional manner. Partner with legal and HR to drive implementation of new entity set up and “Employment of Record” services as part of international expansion efforts. Provide advice and education to employees in relation to pay issues, award changes, new policies etc, resolving any payroll enquiries in a professional manner. Resolving employee/stakeholder queries raised via JIRA/slack channels. Developing process payroll knowledge repository in the form of documents, FAQs, response templates. Familiar with private equity, RSU, ESOP schemes and reporting requirements. Drive process improvements to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and employee experience in payroll operations. Global Payroll System Management: Lead the implementation of a single & unified global payroll solution for each entity in the organisation. Maximise payroll data and workflow automations by leveraging system integrations capabilities of the payroll system. Support the evolution of payroll systems and tools to ensure effective optimisation and best practice procedures are implemented and executed. What we are looking for: Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field preferred Minimum 5 years of regional experience working in end-to-end payroll processing Self-motivated individual with the ability to work independently and as part of a team, with excellent time-management and organisational skills. Familiarity with payroll vendor management, and HRIS/payroll integration projects. Attention to detail and accuracy, with the ability to handle confidential and sensitive information securely. Demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to identify and resolve payroll discrepancies and issues. Strong analytical and numerical skills, with the ability to analyse data and generate meaningful reports for management. Excellent commun