EMEA Payroll Practitioner

Houlihan Lokey, Inc.; Paris; Hybrid; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Houlihan Lokey is seeking a Payroll Practitioner for our EMEA payroll operations. You will process monthly payrolls across France and other countries, ensure data accuracy in Workday, and coordinate with PwC and Papaya.

This hybrid role requires 2-3 days in Paris or London offices, collaboration with HR, Finance, and Benefits teams, and strict regulatory compliance. Strong English and multi-country payroll experience are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting/finance/related field or equivalent
• 3+ years of advanced multi-jurisdictional EMEA payroll administration
• Experience with Workday and in-house payroll systems
• Understanding of European payroll tax and employment legislation
• Proficiency in French and Italian payroll legislation is a plus
• Strong knowledge of shadow payrolls and GDPR compliance

Responsibilities

• Process monthly payrolls for assigned EMEA countries with country-specific cutoffs
• Ensure Workday data accuracy for new hires, changes, terminations
• Coordinate with PwC and Papaya to administer monthly payrolls
• Enter and audit employee details, salary changes, overtime, leaves, and deductions
• Process non-cash benefits like meals and taxi income monthly
• Handle termination prorations and final payments
• Coordinate funds distribution and timely wire transfers
• Prepare monthly general ledgers and payroll reconciliations for select countries
• Respond to payroll queries within SLA and provide documentation

Skills

Workday experience

Multi-jurisdictional payroll

Advanced Excel

English communication

Organizational skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance/Business Administration

Tools

Workday

ServiceNow

Payslips

Strada Global Payroll

In-house payroll systems

Job description

Business Unit:

Human Capital Group

Industry:

No Industry

Overview

Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE:HLI) is a leading global investment bank recognized for delivering independent strategic and financial advice to corporations, financial sponsors, and governments. With uniquely deep industry expertise, broad international reach, and a partnership approach rooted in trust, the firm provides innovative, integrated solutions across mergers and acquisitions, capital solutions, financial restructuring, and financial and valuation advisory. Our unmatched transaction volumes provide differentiated, data-driven perspectives that help our clients achieve their most critical goals. To learn more about Houlihan Lokey, please visit HL.com.

Scope

We are seeking an experienced, detail-oriented and highly organized Payroll Practitioner to ensure Houlihan Lokey’s payroll process is executed flawlessly and will scale with the growth of our business. This is an amazing opportunity to be a key contributor to the payroll team. This role reports into the EMEA Payroll Manager. The Payroll Practitioner will work closely with our Workday HRIS, Compensation, Human Resources Operations, Benefits, and International Payroll Vendor/Platform teams.

This is a hybrid working position which requires a minimum of 2-3 days working in one of our UK or Paris offices.

Responsibilities

• Payroll Administration & Operations
  • Process monthly payrolls for assigned EMEA countries, such as France, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, ensuring strict adherence to unique country-specific cutoffs
  • Ensure accuracy of data in the Workday system for hew hires, job changes, salary changes and terminations
  • Coordinate, review, and administer monthly payrolls in collaboration with our outsourced vendor partners, PwC and Papaya
  • Input and audit employee details, salary changes, overtime, leaves, bonuses, pension adjustments, and deductions into applicable payroll systems, including auditing gross to net calculations
  • Process all non-cash benefits received from the accounting team such as overtime meals and late-night taxi income monthly
  • Process all terminated employee prorated calculations and additional termination payments and holiday payouts
  • Coordinate funds distribution, process payments, and ensure timely wire transmissions to meet local payment deadlines
  • Prepare monthly general ledgers and payroll account reconciliation for select countries
• Employee & Firm Support
  • Be the first point of contact for assigned EMEA countries payroll related queries and correspondence
  • Respond to all employee queries submitted via the Company’s ServiceNow system daily
  • Review and resolve any individual queries within Service Level Agreement timeframe, escalating as needed
  • Process country specific on-boarding and employment documents from employees, insuring accurate coding in Workday, payroll deductions, and reporting
  • Collaborate and review employment certificate requests
  • Confidently explain unique salary proration, time off accruals, and maternity calculations
• Compliance, Controls & Audit
  • Consult with payroll bureaus, payroll providers, and firm HR legal to ensure payrolls are processed in accordance with current payroll legislation and collective bargaining agreements
  • Maintain an up-to-date understanding of country-specific payroll legislation, income tax, social security, statutory reporting, tax withholding, and benefit-in-kind requirements across assigned EMEA jurisdictions,
  • Apply country-specific payroll tax legislation and statutory requirements, for example including but not limited to French Impôt sur le Revenu, cotisations sociales and DSN (Déclaration Sociale Nominative) requirements, and Italian IRPEF (Imposta sul Reddito des ...)
  • Maintain a working knowledge of local payroll tax withholding, social security, statutory deductions, taxable benefits and year-end reporting requirements, and assess the impact of legislative changes on payroll processing
  • Collaborate with Workday IT and HRIS on configuration updates to support changes in regulation or CBAs
  • Maintain complete payroll confidentiality and comply with all GDPR regulations.
• Other duties as assigned

Basic Qualifications

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience)
• 3+ years of advanced multi-jurisdictional EMEA payroll administration, such as France, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherland
• Experience with Workday, in-house payroll systems and local in-country partners
• Demonstrated understanding of European payroll tax and employment legislation, including income tax withholding, social security, taxable benefits/benefits in kind, statutory deductions and employer reporting requirements
• Practical knowledge of French payroll legislation, including Impôt sur le Revenu, cotisations sociales, DSN (Déclaration Sociale Nominative) reporting and applicable collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requirements
• Working knowledge of Italian payroll legislation, including IRPEF (Imposta sul Reddito des ...)
• Strong knowledge of shadow payrolls
• Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Excel (e.g., VLOOKUPs, pivot tables, data comparisons, and audit reconciliations)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with a track record of articulating payroll concepts clearly to diverse stakeholder groups
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to work independently under pressure in a fast-paced environment
• Proven analytical and critical thinking skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Workday, Payslips, and Strada Global Payroll systems

• Working knowledge of ServiceNow ticketing system

• Professional experience in financial services or a similarly complex, highly regulated global corporate environment

• Additional European language skills (such as Italian, Spanish, or French) are highly desirable

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.