About the role

This role is the primary person responsible for Cognism payroll which includes working with our external payroll and benefit providers. You will initially manage payroll for 3 countries (US, UK and Canada) but also drive change and oversee payroll in 4 additional countries.

The ideal candidate is a strong people leader, a self-starter, a problem solver, and is comfortable challenging the status quo to improve and scale the function. This individual should be experienced in overseeing the end-to-end payroll process, driving process optimization/automation, managing external audits. You should also have experience partnering with multiple stakeholders and business partners to drive cross-functional initiatives while ensuring strong governance and compliance.

This is a hybrid role, the successful candidate must be willing to attend the London office as requested.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the implementation of payroll with a new global provider
• Responsible for monthly payroll process in the US, UK and Canada
• Drive, review, and audit work performed by payroll provider, including auditing payroll data, ensuring accurate wages, tax withholdings, deductions, and garnishments
• Manage third-party vendors and the preparation, analysis, and maintenance of all payroll-related reports, including governmental and regulatory filings, and payroll and benefit reconciliations
• Reconciliation of payroll and benefits to the general ledger.
• Monthly UK pension scheme uploads and processing
• Answer payroll queries from employees
• Identify, investigate, and resolve discrepancies in payroll records
• Prepare and provide relevant data for external audits
• Support special projects, including process documentation and improvements, system updates, integrations, upgrades, or implementations.
• Maintain strong, collaborative relationships with all key internal stakeholders including HR, Finance and IT, ensuring clear roles and responsibilities between the teams

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Finance / Accounting, or a related discipline CIPP (Charted Institute of Payroll Professionals) qualification preferred
• The ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience in payroll operations
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, highly organised with an exceptional attention to detail
• Strong knowledge of international payroll regulations, including payroll tax, reporting, and required filings
• Strong organizational, change management, and execution skills, along with the ability to prioritize and drive multiple tasks simultaneously
• Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills
• Eagerness to learn and willingness to take on new challenges
• Experience with process improvement and redesign
• Attention to detail and quality of work