[Remote] Director, Payroll Strategy and Operations

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. ELIQUENT Life Sciences is hiring a Director, Payroll Strategy & Operations to lead the strategy, transformation, governance, and scalability of its global payroll function. The role partners across HR, Finance, Technology, and external providers to strengthen controls, define the future-state operating model, simplify systems and processes, and build transaction readiness while day-to-day payroll execution remains with the payroll team.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain a proportionate global payroll governance and control framework, including decision rights, approvals, reconciliations, audit trails, segregation of duties, issue escalation, evidence retention, and business continuity
• Partner with the Sr. Payroll Manager to identify key operational, compliance, data, system, vendor, and key-person risks and prioritize practical remediation plans
• Create an operating cadence for payroll performance, risk, controls, issues, and decisions, with clear reporting to the Vice President and relevant stakeholders
• Coordinate payroll audits, control reviews, and corrective actions with Finance, Tax, Legal, HR, Technology, and external experts as appropriate
• Assess the current payroll operating model across supported employee populations, countries, providers, systems, roles, and cross-functional handoffs
• Define and execute a practical future-state operating model with clear responsibilities, service expectations, escalation paths, controls, and partnership requirements
• Develop a phased payroll roadmap that distinguishes immediate stabilization needs from longer-term transformation opportunities
• Ensure the operating model can support geographic growth, integrations, and changing business needs without compromising payroll accuracy or continuity
• Identify the highest-value opportunities to reduce payroll fragmentation, duplicate work, manual steps, avoidable corrections, and inefficient handoffs
• Evaluate targeted opportunities to simplify or consolidate payroll systems, providers, interfaces, reporting, and processes while preserving local compliance and business continuity
• Partner with HR Operations and Technology to improve payroll-related data flows, integrations, ownership, reconciliations, and reporting visibility
• Lead selected automation and approved AI-enabled improvements where there is a clear business case, appropriate controls, available resources, and measurable benefit
• Establish a manageable set of payroll KPIs focused on accuracy, timeliness, adjustments, controls, service, provider performance, risk, and roadmap progress
• Build and maintain due-diligence-ready documentation for payroll processes, controls, systems, providers, country arrangements, key dependencies, risks, and business-continuity plans
• Identify capability, documentation, cross-training, succession, and resource gaps that could limit payroll scalability or continuity and recommend practical solutions
• Support payroll planning for geographic expansion, employee population growth, integrations, acquisitions, or other organizational changes
• Ensure transformation initiatives are sequenced realistically and transferred to named operational owners with documented controls and sustainable support
• Provide strategic leadership to the payroll function and direct leadership to the Sr. Payroll Manager, with payroll specialists continuing to report through the Sr. Payroll Manager
• Partner with the Sr. Payroll Manager to protect day-to-day payroll delivery while creating appropriate capacity for controls, documentation, reporting, and improvement work
• Develop payroll capability through clear expectations, cross-training, succession coverage, process ownership, and continuous improvement
• Communicate payroll priorities, progress, risks, decisions, constraints, and resource needs clearly to senior leadership

Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 10+ years of progressive payroll experience, including meaningful multi-country or global payroll leadership responsibility
• Demonstrated experience improving payroll governance, controls, operating models, systems, vendors, or processes
• Experience leading focused transformation, implementation, consolidation, or continuous-improvement initiatives while maintaining reliable payroll delivery
• Knowledge of payroll controls, compliance, audit readiness, data privacy, vendor management, and business continuity
• Strong program leadership, prioritization, communication, stakeholder alignment, risk management, and change-management skills
• Ability to translate complex payroll and operational matters into clear, pragmatic recommendations for senior leadership
• Demonstrated people leadership and ability to build capability through existing payroll team
• Ability to recognize where specialist legal, tax, accounting, technology, or country expertise is required and coordinate that support effectively
• Experience with payroll automation, analytics, workflow tools, or responsible AI enablement
• Experience supporting payroll due diligence, M&A integration, divestiture, or transaction-readiness programs preferred
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), Global Payroll Management Certificate, PMP, Lean/Six Sigma, or comparable credential preferred

Benefits

• A collaborative global environment
• Meaningful work
• Opportunities to grow
• The ability to contribute to the continued evolution of ELIQUENT’s HR function

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