Payroll Operations Change and Controls Senior Associate

BOURNEMOUTH, United KingdomFull-timePosted Jul 17, 2026

Elevate your profile in a role where your work directly improves how we deliver payroll services at scale. You will partner across Human Resources, Finance, Technology, and vendors to drive operational excellence through disciplined change management and strong controls. This is an opportunity to modernize processes, strengthen governance, and deliver measurable improvements for employees across multiple countries.

As a Payroll Operations Change and Controls Senior Associate in Global Payroll Operations, you will support the delivery of payroll services across countries using a mix of in-sourced, hosted, and outsourced solutions. You will lead process and control improvements, manage change initiatives (including automation), and help ensure accurate, compliant, and resilient payroll execution. You will partner with stakeholders and vendors to identify risks, resolve issues, and implement scalable improvements.

Job responsibilities

  • Support the delivery of payroll services across many countries using in-sourced, hosted, and outsourced solutions
  • Ensure timely and accurate administration of garnishments, insurance-related payroll items, and taxes, including correct withholding and remittance
  • Review, document, and update payroll processes to promote consistent, efficient, and well-controlled execution
  • Drive change activities, including automation, process updates, and implementations driven by legislative or regulatory changes
  • Identify improvement opportunities and partner with stakeholders to implement scalable solutions, including automation and artificial intelligence where appropriate
  • Identify payroll risks and ensure appropriate controls, governance, and monitoring are in place
  • Monitor changes to social security, employment, and tax laws that impact payroll and benefits and coordinate timely operational updates
  • Support compliance with internal policies and external regulatory requirements
  • Provide day-to-day support to managers and the broader payroll team, contributing to issue resolution and decision-making
  • Lead training and documentation to strengthen team capability, resilience, and coverage arrangements
  • Support outsourced payroll vendor performance and issue resolution to maintain service quality and compliance

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills

  • Experience delivering change management initiatives, including automation and technology-enabled process improvements
  • Strong knowledge of end-to-end payroll processes, including tax and employment law considerations and payroll accounting fundamentals
  • Demonstrated capability in data management, analysis, and reconciliation with a focus on accuracy, completeness, and control
  • Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize effectively in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment
  • Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop teams, and to escalate issues appropriately
  • Strong analytical and calculation skills with high attention to detail
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines in a structured and controlled manner
  • Flexible and adaptable approach, with comfort navigating changes to procedures, systems, and processes
  • Vendor management experience, including managing service performance and issue resolution
  • Experience working in a large, multi-site organization

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills

  • Experience supporting multi-country payroll delivery models and stakeholder groups across regions
  • Experience implementing governance, controls, and monitoring frameworks in an operations environment
  • Experience using process mapping, workflow, or reporting tools to support operational improvements
  • Exposure to automation tooling and scaled adoption approaches (for example, standardized playbooks and training)

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