Payroll Specialist

Fossefall; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Fossefall is seeking an experienced Payroll Specialist to own multi-country payroll across Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg, with expansion to Finland. You will drive accurate, timely payroll, coordinate external providers and strengthen country routines and controls for a scalable employee experience.

The role requires 3–5 years of hands-on payroll experience, a relevant degree, and proven cross-border exposure.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of hands-on payroll administration experience, including payroll delivered through external payroll providers.
• Relevant post-secondary vocational qualification or bachelor’s degree in payroll, accounting, finance or human resources, or equivalent experience.
• Practical experience with payroll and employer obligations in at least one Nordic country, with ability to work across multiple jurisdictions.
• Working understanding of tax and social security withholding, statutory payroll reporting, pension schemes and employee insurance.

Responsibilities

• Own the monthly payroll cycle in multiple countries: prepare inputs, review provider output, and resolve discrepancies before pay date.
• Manage external payroll provider relationships, including deadlines, SLAs, escalations and onboarding of new jurisdictions.
• Ensure compliance with employer registrations, withholding tax and social security, and statutory reporting in each country.
• Coordinate pension enrolments with contracts and timely provider submissions for new hires and terminations.
• Maintain payroll data accuracy for absences, leave, holidays, terminations and settlements.
• Serve as the liaison with external law firms on employee-rights questions and matters needing closure.

Skills

Payroll processing

Excel

Data handling

Cross-border work

English communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in payroll or related

Tools

Payroll systems

HRIS

External payroll providers

Job description

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity for an international payroll professional to take ownership of multi-country payroll in a growing company with operations across Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg and soon Finland. Reporting to the Finance Manager, the Payroll Specialist will ensure accurate, timely and compliant payroll across jurisdictions, coordinate external payroll providers, and strengthen the processes, controls and documentation that support a reliable employee experience. The role suits someone who enjoys working across countries, navigating local payroll requirements and building scalable routines in a high-growth international environment.

What You'll Do

• Own the monthly payroll cycle in Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg: prepare and quality-assure inputs, review provider output before payment, and resolve discrepancies before pay date.
• Take day-to-day ownership of the external payroll provider relationships, including deadlines, service levels, escalations and periodic review, and contribute to provider selection and onboarding of new jurisdictions.
• Keep the group compliant locally: employer registrations, withholding tax and social security, statutory payroll reporting and filings in each operating country, supported by written country routines.
• Ensure pension agreements and individual enrolments match employment contracts, and that new hires, leavers and salary changes reach pension providers on time.
• Ensure all employees are covered by statutory and contractual insurance schemes and maintain coverage of documentation per entity and country.
• Maintain payroll-relevant employee data, including absence, leave and holiday pay, terminations and final settlements.
• Act as the single internal coordination point towards external law firms on employee-rights questions and employment disputes: collect documentation, instruct counsel and track matters to closure.
• Reconcile payroll to the accounts, support year-end and audit requests, and maintain documented payroll routines and controls.
• Serve as a first line for employee questions on pay, pension and insurance.

About You

• Minimum 3 to 5 years of hands-on payroll administration experience, including payroll delivered through external payroll providers.
• Relevant post-secondary vocational qualification or bachelor’s degree in payroll, accounting, finance or human resources, or equivalent relevant practical experience in payroll administration.
• Practical experience with payroll and employer obligations in at least one Nordic country, with demonstrated ability to work across multiple jurisdictions.
• Working understanding of tax and social security withholding, statutory payroll reporting, pension schemes and employee insurance.
• Strong organisational skills: accuracy, documentation discipline and a proven track record of meeting a recurring monthly deadline cycle.
• Confident in Excel and in payroll and HR systems, with sound data handling discipline.
• Able to coordinate external advisers and providers independently and follow matters through to closure.
• Professional English, written and spoken, with discretion and integrity in handling salary and personal data.
• Structured and proactive, comfortable building process and infrastructure rather than maintaining what already exists, with a strong sense of ownership for the quality and accuracy of your deliverables.
• Comfortable working across borders, cultures and time zones, given Fossefalls international structure.
• Valuable, but not required: payroll experience across several of Norway, Sweden and Luxembourg, Norwegian or Swedish language skills, and experience from a group with multiple legal entities and cross-border employment.
• Also valuable: experience coordinating with external law firms on employment matters, experience documenting, standardising or improving payroll routines and controls, and familiarity with payroll accounting and reconciliation towards the general ledger.

What Success Looks Like

Within 6 months, Fossefall has one accountable payroll owner across all locations and entities. Salaries are accurate and timely, with discrepancies caught before payment and providers meeting agreed deadlines and quality standards. Employer registrations, withholding, statutory filings, pension enrolments and insurance coverage follow documented country routines and match contractual entitlements. Payroll reconciles cleanly to the accounts, year-end and audit requests are straightforward, and employment matters reach external counsel through one coordinated channel. Fossefall can add Finland and further jurisdictions without payroll outgrowing the process.

Why Fossefall?

Fossefall is building for long-term growth, which means many important ways of working are still being shaped. Joining now means having the opportunity to influence how the organization grows, how teams collaborate and how high-quality work gets done. You will work close to capable colleagues, contribute to meaningful priorities and help build something that can last.

About Fossefall

Fossefall is a Nordic AI infrastructure company founded in 2025. We develop and operate AI factories powered by renewable energy, turning clean Nordic power into scalable, sovereign computing capacity for Europe, built in partnership with local communities, energy producers and technology leaders across the world. As a team, we are still small enough to know each other as people, and our culture is shaped by ownership, curiosity, warmth and collaboration.

Due to the nature of our business, background checks and/or security clearance may be required as part of the employment process.