Senior Manager, Payroll - Apac

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Manager, Payroll for APAC, to lead payroll operations across APAC. This role will oversee end-to-end payroll delivery, vendor performance, compliance, and process optimization to ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll execution across the region.

The successful candidate will combine deep APAC payroll expertise with strong operational leadership and continuous improvement capabilities. They will partner closely with Global Payroll leadership, Shared Services, HR, Finance, Legal, and external providers to drive operational excellence while supporting broader global payroll initiatives.

This role requires a hands-on leader who can operate both strategically and tactically, influencing stakeholders at all levels while ensuring consistent, high-quality payroll delivery across complex, multi-country environments.

The Senior Manager is accountable for payroll service outcomes across APAC, including delivery quality, adherence to compliance, customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and risk mitigation. The role owns regional payroll performance and is responsible for driving corrective actions when service outcomes do not meet defined standards.

Key Responsibilities

Regional Payroll Leadership & Execution

• Lead end-to-end payroll operations across APAC countries, ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant payroll processing.
• Own regional payroll delivery performance, including accountability for accuracy rates, timeliness, compliance adherence, and service quality outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with country-specific employment laws, tax regulations, and statutory requirements.
• Manage Statutory submissions, including year-end compliance outputs
• Act as the escalation point for complex payroll issues, audits, and compliance matters.
• Lead resolution of complex payroll and employee-impacting issues, ensuring timely investigation, root cause identification, and sustainable corrective actions.
• Partner with customer-facing teams to support payroll-related client escalations and ensure professional, solution-oriented engagement with customers when required.
• Provide training to Shared Services and other applicable teams to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Establish clear accountability across internal teams and vendors for payroll inputs, approvals, and delivery timelines.

Ensure payroll processes support a positive employee experience by minimizing payroll errors and resolving pay-related inquiries impacting employees.

Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Standardize payroll processes and controls across APAC markets to drive consistency and reduce risk.
• Identify opportunities for automation, simplification, and cost optimization.
• Implement and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLAs) with the internal team and LPPs.
• Own performance against defined KPIs and SLAs, including development and execution of remediation plans when targets are not achieved.
• Drive improvement initiatives that create reliable, repeatable, and scalable payroll processes that will support expansion and growth opportunities across APAC.
• Utilize operational data, customer feedback, and issue trends to proactively identify systemic gaps and implement preventative solutions.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with APAC payroll vendors, ensuring strong service delivery, compliance, and cost-effectiveness.
• Conduct regular vendor performance reviews and lead contract discussions where appropriate.
• Hold vendors accountable to contractual SLAs, service quality standards, and escalation response expectations.
• Partner with Shared Services, HR, Finance, Legal, and IT to ensure seamless payroll integration with upstream and downstream processes.
• Support broader global payroll initiatives, including system enhancements and vendor consolidation efforts.
• Collaborate with customer delivery and account management teams to ensure payroll services meet client expectations and contractual obligations.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure strong internal controls and audit readiness across all APAC payroll operations.
• Develop and maintain payroll governance frameworks, documentation, and reporting.
• Mitigate compliance risks through proactive monitoring and partnership with Legal and Compliance teams.
• Support internal and external audits as required.
• Own remediation planning and execution for audit findings, compliance gaps, or payroll delivery risks within defined timelines.
• Ensure clear documentation and traceability of payroll decisions, escalations, and resolutions impacting employees or customers.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• 10-15 + years of progressive payroll leadership experience, with significant exposure to multi-country APAC payroll.
• Strong knowledge of APAC payroll regulations, taxation, and employment legislation.
• Proven experience managing Local Payroll Providers (LPPs) across multiple countries.
• Demonstrated success in process improvement, standardization, and operational optimization.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leadership.
• Experience leading teams in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Experience supporting payroll delivery in customer-facing environments, including interaction with clients or internal customers regarding payroll outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience resolving complex payroll or employee pay issues requiring cross-functional coordination and root cause analysis.

Preferred

• Experience in a multinational organization with regional or global payroll scope.
• Experience in payroll outsourcing and/or EOR.
• Exposure to payroll system implementations or integrations.
• Familiarity with Customer Support / Ticketing Systems such as Zendesk, HubSpot, Salesforce.
• Payroll certification (CPP, GPP, or equivalent).
• Experience supporting vendor consolidation and/or transformation initiatives.
• Experience operating within service delivery models with defined SLAs, customer performance metrics, or contractual service obligations.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinker with strong operational execution capability
• Results-driven, with a focus on accuracy and compliance
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Effective change leadership and stakeholder engagement
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Ability to navigate complexity across multiple APAC jurisdictions
• Customer-oriented mindset with strong ownership of service outcomes and employee experience
• Ability to drive accountability across distributed teams and third-party providers