Payroll Implementation Manager

grape; Zürich; Hybrid; CHF 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid setup

CHF 200 home office budget

Internet allowance

Flexible hours

Learning budget CHF 1500

Wellbeing support

Team events & retreats

Travel reimbursement

Job summary

grape is seeking a Payroll Implementation Manager to lead the technical implementation of grape connect, linking payroll and HR systems to the grape platform. You’ll configure wage types, test setups, and collaborate with HR, payroll providers, and engineers for smooth onboarding.

You’ll work within Customer Success, coordinating with cross-functional teams to drive adoption and automation while continuously improving integrations and documentation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in client-facing implementations with project management across timelines and stakeholders.
• 3+ years hands-on payroll experience including wage type mapping and data transfers.
• Proficient in German and English; Swiss German and French a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end grape connect implementations for new and existing customers.
• Configure and test payroll and Krankentaggeld set-ups; ensure data transfers and interfaces.
• Build and manage technical partnerships with HR/payroll providers and internal engineers.

Skills

Implementation experience

Payroll expertise

Client-facing

Project management

Languages: German & English

Tools

SAP

Abacus

Job description

Our entrepreneurial spirit drives us in what we do and what we are passionate about. Our mission is to become the premier health partner in the insurance business. Recognising the need for innovation in the traditional employee insurance model we are set to revolutionize the employee insurance industry. We help companies support people before and after they get sick and to make more of their time. Our insurance solutions reduce monotonous and manual work for employees, doctors, HR & payroll managers. As we strive to lead a technology-driven transformation, we put employees first.

At grape we pride ourselves on our people and our culture. We continue to grow fast and that’s where you come in. Our team is dynamic, diverse and full of creative ideas. Want to join? We can’t wait to get to know you!

About grape:

Our entrepreneurial spirit drives us in what we do and what we are passionate about. Our mission is to become the premier health partner in the insurance business. Recognising the need for innovation in the traditional employee insurance model we are set to revolutionize the employee insurance industry. We help companies support people before and after they get sick and to make more of their time. Our insurance solutions reduce monotonous and manual work for employees, doctors, HR & payroll managers. As we strive to lead a technology-driven transformation, we put employees first.

At grape we pride ourselves on our people and our culture. We continue to grow fast and that’s where you come in. Our team is dynamic, diverse and full of creative ideas. Want to join? We can’t wait to get to know you!

Your Role

As Payroll Implementation Manager, you own the technical implementation of grape connect, from pre‑sales feasibility assessment through go‑live, for new and existing customers. grape connect is our data standard linking customers’ payroll and HR systems to the grape platform, enabling automated insurance processes and absence management. You configure and test payroll and daily allowance (Krankentaggeld) set‑ups, and build partnerships with HR and payroll system providers so future integrations get simpler and faster. You sit within Customer Success and work closely with Customer Success Managers, Sales, Engineering, external IT partners and customers to deliver a smooth, fast technical onboarding. And when you see a better way of doing things, you build it.

What you’ll do:

Customer-facing Implementation & Pre‑Sales

• Lead end-to-end grape connect implementations for new and existing customers
• Drive grape connect adoption among existing customers together with the CSM to foster automation
• Run technical pre‑sales assessments (feasibility, scoping, effort estimation, quotation) before sales closes deals

Payroll Configuration & Testing

• Own and continuously optimize wage type mapping processes, internally and with customers
• Set up and maintain payroll system interfaces and data transfers, including technical account configuration
• Test payroll processes, daily allowance (Krankentaggeld) calculations and data flows end to end in lockstep with the CSM

Technical Partnerships

• Independantly build and manage technical partnerships with HR and payroll system providers
• Drive standard integrations with an in-house engineer to make future implementations simpler and faster
• Keep documentation of our grape connect ways of working accurate and up to date

What you’ll need:

• Customer-facing implementation experience: 5+ years in client‑facing roles managing concurrent implementations, with strong project management skills across timelines and stakeholders. You have experience scoping implementations technically in the pre‑sales phase, assessing feasibility before contracts are signed, and can translate technical detail into clear business language.
• Technical payroll experience: 3+ years of hands‑on payroll experience with a proven track record, including wage type mapping and exports, handling employee data, and testing payroll processes end to end. You work confidently with payroll interfaces and data transfers, including API‑based connections and common data formats (CSV, TXT, XML, JSON). You understand how salary reductions (Lohnkürzungen) during absence and continued salary payments (Lohnfortzahlung) work in practice and in the system, and have a basic grasp of daily allowance (Krankentaggeld) practice and calculations. Nice to have: Experience with absence data and system knowledge of SAP and/or Abacus.
• Technical partnerships: Experience in building and managing technical partnerships with software and system providers, ideally with enterprise HR and payroll systems. Together with an in‑house engineer, you drive standard integration projects with common systems, so future implementations become simpler and faster. You bring the business acumen to lead partner- and provider‑level conversations.
• Collaboration and ownership: Strong cross‑functional collaborator with the rigor to keep configurations accurate. You don’t wait to be asked: you spot what could work better in current setups and take the initiative to improve it yourself.
• Languages: Proficient in German and English required; Swiss German and French a plus

What we offer in return:

• Empowering workplace: Join a passionate team and an empowering workplace where you are given the ownership, tools, and support to make decisions and take initiative. Together we grow and build innovative solutions.
• Hybrid setup: Enjoy the flexibility of our hybrid work schedule, with the freedom to work remotely or from our office in Zurich. On Thursdays, our team day, we meet together in our Zurich office.
• Home office stipend: To enable our hybrid setup, we allocate a one‑off CHF 200.- home office budget to help you set up your dream workspace in the comfort of your own home.
• Internet allowance: We give you a monthly internet allowance to help cover your internet costs at home and enable you to work seamlessly from your home office.
• Flexible working time: You can distribute your working hours the way you want to.
• Learning budget: We support you in improving your skills, acquiring new knowledge and advancing your career. We also allocate a CHF 1'500.- budget annually
• Well-being: Work‑life balance is important to us and we foster a supportive work environment. We support you with mental health sessions with our partner Aepsy.
• Team events: Every month we gather for fun and engaging events where we can connect and bond with our colleagues and our teams.
• Team retreats: Once a year we travel somewhere nice to bond with our colleagues.
• Travel and commute: We will cover your SBB half fare card, so we can spend some time together in the office.
• Paid vacation: You get 5 weeks (25 days) of paid vacation every year and 2 additional days of paid vacation to compensate for canton‑related holidays, religious holidays, birthdays, etc. The total amount of paid vacation days per year is 27 days.
• Wellness budget: Health and well‑being looks different for everyone. You can optimize your wellness budget to best fit your needs.
• Parental and adoptive leave: We offer additional time off to support employees who are balancing family and work time in the most crucial stages of family life.
• Digital nomad: For every 3 years of employment, you can work for an extended period of time from anywhere in the world (location subject to review).

Our recruitment process

We place particular emphasis on four areas when making our selection decision: professional and technical skills, mindset & values. We evaluate these through the following steps:

Step 1 - Your motivation

To get to know you better, we invite you to a 30‑minute motivational interview with our Talent Acquisition Team.

Step 2 - Role fit

In the first interview, we assess how well your qualifications and skills align with the role requirements. This discussion will take place with your Hiring Manager.

Step 3 - Case study

For roles with higher technical demands, we will invite you to complete a case study or technical assessment. This allows us to better evaluate your specific skills and problem‑solving abilities.

Step 4 - Our culture connect

Throughout the interview process, you’ll gain insight into our company culture, and we’ll explore how your values and mindset align with our ways of working. The final interview will offer a deeper look into this connection, along with broader discussions about the role and our vision.

Our diverse experiences, perspectives, and voices make us the company we are, and we would love to learn more about you!

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Health is our foundation. Innovation drives our mission. Together, we’re building the future of employee insurance.

At grape, collaboration isn’t just a buzzword, it’s the foundation of how we work, live, and succeed. From bold brainstorms and lessons learned, we overcome challenges side by side. Our time together is our greatest asset. Disrupting an industry that truly needs change takes courage, creativity, and team spirit and that’s exactly what defines us.

With well‑being at the core, we foster an environment where ideas and people thrive. Your growth matters as much as our mission. Whether it’s supporting your self‑care, developing new solutions, or redefining how health and insurance connect, we grow together.

Our values guide us every step of the way: keeping Health at Heart , Invent ing Together , and always striving to Embrace Clarity .

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.