Senior Director, Global Payroll

Light & Wonder; Chiswick; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Light & Wonder seeks a Senior Director, Global Payroll to lead strategy, governance and delivery of payroll across a complex international organisation, ensuring payments are accurate, compliant, and on time.

You will oversee a global payroll function spanning people, processes, systems, and vendor partnerships, driving transformation, risk management, and employee experience while partnering with Finance, Legal, Tax and HR leaders.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading global payroll operations.
• Strong governance and risk management capabilities.
• Experience with multi-country payroll frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead global payroll strategy and delivery across regions.
• Establish and maintain a consistent payroll framework with controls.
• Oversee systems, data integrity, and vendor relationships.

Skills

Global payroll leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Workday/ADP experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Accounting/Finance

Tools

Workday

ADP

Job description

Corporate: Light & Wonder's corporate team is comprised of incredible talent that works across the enterprise, defying boundaries to provide essential services in an extraordinary manner to ensure the success of the organization and the well-being of employees.

Corporate: Light & Wonder's corporate team is comprised of incredible talent that works across the enterprise, defying boundaries to provide essential services in an extraordinary manner to ensure the success of the organization and the well-being of employees.

Position Summary

At Light & Wonder, payroll is more than a core business function. It is a critical enabler of our people experience and global operations. As our Senior Director, Global Payroll, you will lead the strategy, governance, and delivery of payroll across a complex international organisation, ensuring our employees are paid accurately, compliantly, and on time, every time.

You’ll oversee a global payroll function spanning people, processes, systems, and vendor partnerships, driving operational excellence while leading the transformation of payroll capabilities worldwide. Working closely with leaders across People Capabilities, Finance, Legal, and Tax, you’ll play a key role in managing risk, supporting organisational change, and delivering a seamless employee experience. This is an opportunity to shape the future of global payroll at Light & Wonder, driving standardisation, innovation, and scalable growth across our business.

We’re looking for people who are full of ideas, want to challenge the norm and work to our core values…

• Dare to be Bold - We always bring courage to work to reach for the unbelievable.
• Uphold Integrity - We promote accountability and respect to raise the bar for ourselves and the industry.
• Never Settle - We relentlessly push forward to create the extraordinary in every detail.
• Celebrate Perspectives - We combine diverse talent to look at the familiar in unfamiliar ways.
• Win as a Team - We bring out the best in each other to share collective success.

What You'll Do

• Lead the strategy and execution of Light & Wonder's global payroll operations, ensuring accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery across all regions.
• Build and maintain a globally consistent payroll framework, including policies, controls, governance, and operating procedures that support business growth and geographic expansion.
• Oversee payroll systems, data integrity, vendor relationships, and service delivery to support a complex, multi-country workforce.
• Drive payroll transformation initiatives, including process optimization, automation, system enhancements, and vendor rationalization to improve efficiency and the employee experience.
• Partner with People Capabilities, Finance, Legal, and Tax teams to mitigate risk, support business initiatives, and ensure compliance with global regulatory requirements.
• Lead payroll readiness and operational support for acquisitions, restructures, workforce events, and other organizational changes with minimal disruption to employees and the business.
• Monitor payroll performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement scalable solutions that strengthen governance, consistency, and operational excellence.
• Develop and lead a high-performing global payroll team, fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure payroll operations align with Light & Wonder's vision, mission, values, and long-term business objectives.

What You'll Bring

• Extensive experience leading global payroll operations across multiple countries and regions, with a strong track record of delivering compliant, scalable, and efficient payroll services.
• Experience leading and developing geographically dispersed payroll teams in a complex, global environment.
• Deep knowledge of global payroll processes, compliance requirements, governance, controls, and risk management.
• Experience operating across both in-house and outsourced payroll models.
• Proven success leading payroll system implementations, enhancements, or transformations, ideally involving platforms such as Workday, ADP, or similar solutions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes and implement practical, sustainable solutions.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted partnerships across functions and all levels of leadership.
• A strategic mindset combined with a hands‑on approach to operational execution.
• Experience across both in-house and outsourced payroll models and experience leading payroll system implementations or enhancements (e.g., ADP, Workday, or similar platforms) preferred

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Accounting, Finance, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

How You'll Grow

• Shape the future of global payroll at Light & Wonder by leading transformative initiatives that drive greater efficiency, consistency, automation, and scalability.
• Expand your impact through close partnership with senior leaders across People Capabilities, Finance, Legal, Tax, and other global business functions.
• Build and develop a world-class global payroll function while establishing the governance, processes, and capabilities needed to support Light & Wonder's continued growth and global expansion.

We're excited to hear from talented candidates from a range of backgrounds. Please note that, at this time, we are unable to support visa sponsorship for this role, so applicants must have the right to work in the country where the position is based.

Light & Wonder and its affiliates (collectively, "L&W") are engaged in highly regulated gaming and lottery businesses. As a result, certain L&W employees may, among other things, be required to obtain a gaming or other license(s), undergo background investigations or security checks, or meet certain standards dictated by law, regulation, or contracts. In order to ensure L&W complies with its regulatory and contractual commitments, as a condition to hiring and continuing to employ its employees, L&W requires all its employees to meet those requirements that are necessary to fulfill their individual roles. As a prerequisite to employment with L&W (to the extent permitted by law), you shall be asked to consent to L&W conducting a due diligence/background investigation on you.

This job description should not be interpreted as all-inclusive; it is intended to identify major responsibilities and requirements of the job. The employee in this position may be requested to perform other job-related tasks and responsibilities than those stated above.