Manager - Compensation & Benefits

Azelis India; Navi Mumbai; On-site; INR 3,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Azelis India is seeking an experienced Senior Payroll Manager to oversee the entire payroll lifecycle, including input collection, processing, and disbursement, while ensuring compliance with Indian tax and statutory requirements.

You will coordinate with Workday and ADP, manage vendor interfaces, and drive process improvements across compensation and benefits, taxation, and financial closing activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Commerce or Finance; postgraduate HR qualification preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of end-to-end India payroll, compensation and employee benefits experience.
• Hands-on experience with Workday and ADP preferred.
• Strong knowledge of Indian payroll taxation and compliance, statutory payments and benefits administration.
• Experience supporting audits, actuarial reporting, Finance closing and senior stakeholder reviews.
• Advanced Excel for reconciliations, validation, data analysis and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Own the complete monthly payroll cycle, from input collection to salary disbursement.
• Manage payroll changes, promotions, arrears, reimbursements and deductions.
• Administer full and final settlements including leave encashment and gratuity inputs.
• Maintain payroll calendars, controls, reconciliations and documentation.
• Address employee queries on salary, tax, benefits and settlements.
• Govern Workday/ADP interfaces and data alignment with finance.

Skills

Payroll management

Workday

ADP

Excel

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's in HR/Commerce/Finance

Postgraduate HR qualification

Tools

Workday

ADP

Job description

Responsibilities:

1. End-to-End Payroll Management

• Own the complete monthly payroll cycle, including input collection, validation, processing, output review, approvals and timely salary disbursement.
• Administer salary changes, promotions, variable pay, incentives, arrears, recoveries, reimbursements, deductions, leave impacts and other payroll adjustments.
• Manage full and final settlements, including leave encashment, notice pay, statutory deductions, recoveries, gratuity inputs and timely settlement documentation.
• Maintain payroll calendars, maker-checker controls, exception logs, reconciliations, employee records and complete supporting documentation.
• Resolve employee queries relating to salary, deductions, tax, benefits and settlements within defined service levels.

2. Workday, ADP and Payroll Vendor Governance

• Ensure accurate and timely employee, compensation and payroll-related updates in Workday and alignment of approved inputs with ADP.
• Coordinate with ADP and other service providers for payroll processing, system configuration, pay elements, issue resolution and statutory deliverables.
• Validate interfaces, payroll outputs and data consistency between Workday, ADP, attendance/leave systems and Finance records.
• Monitor vendor performance, service levels, recurring errors, corrective actions, invoices and process improvements.

3. Wage Code and Statutory Compliance

• Support implementation of applicable wage code requirements and corresponding changes to salary structures, payroll processes, policies and employee communication.
• Ensure accurate and timely statutory computation, payment, filing and record maintenance for PF, professional tax, labour welfare fund, income tax/TDS and other applicable payroll obligations.
• Monitor legislative changes, assess payroll and benefit impact, and coordinate implementation with internal stakeholders and external advisers.
• Maintain compliance calendars, challans, returns, registers, reconciliation records and evidence required for inspection or audit.

4. Compensation and Benefits

• Administer compensation programmes, salary structures, annual merit and promotion cycles, variable pay calculations and compensation reporting.
• Manage employee benefit programmes, including Group Medical Coverage (GMC), Group Personal Accident (GPA) and Group Term Life (GTL). Manager - Compensation & Benefits | Internal HR Document
• Lead benefit enrolment, additions/deletions, endorsements, claims coordination, employee communication and query resolution.
• Coordinate annual policy renewals, census data validation, utilisation/claims review, insurer and broker discussions, quotations, approvals and policy documentation.
• Support benefit benchmarking and recommend improvements that balance employee value, market practice, cost and governance.

5. Income Tax Administration

• Manage employee tax declarations, investment proof collection and validation, tax computation, payroll deductions and year-end tax closure.
• Coordinate quarterly salary TDS returns, Form 16 issuance and resolution of employee tax queries in partnership with the payroll provider and tax advisers.
• Ensure tax records and reconciliations are accurate, complete and audit-ready.

6. Finance Closing, Reporting and Actuarial Inputs

• Complete monthly payroll closure and provide Finance with accurate payroll journals, cost summaries, variance explanations, headcount/payroll MIS and statutory reconciliations.
• Reconcile payroll, benefits, statutory liabilities, employee recoveries and vendor payments with Finance and resolve differences promptly.
• Coordinate data and inputs for actuarial valuation reports, including gratuity and leave-related employee data, and validate reports for completeness before Finance submission.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, accruals and year-end closing for payroll, employee benefits and statutory costs.

7. Audit, Controls and Governance

• Lead payroll and benefits support for internal, statutory and external audits, ensuring timely submission of accurate evidence and closure of observations.
• Design and maintain SOPs, process maps, approval matrices, access controls, segregation of duties and payroll control checklists.
• Protect confidential compensation and personal data in accordance with company requirements and applicable law.
• Identify control gaps, recurring payroll issues and opportunities for automation, standardisation and improved employee experience.

Key Stakeholders

• Employees, HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition and HR Operations
• Country/Cluster HR leadership, Finance, Legal/Compliance and business leaders
• ADP, Workday support teams, insurers, brokers, actuaries, auditors, tax advisers and statutory consultants

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Commerce, Finance or a related discipline; a postgraduate HR qualification is preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in end-to-end India payroll, compensation and employee benefits, with demonstrated ownership of payroll controls and compliance.
• Hands‑on experience with Workday and ADP is strongly preferred.
• Sound working knowledge of Indian payroll taxation, statutory payments, wage-related compliance, employee insurance and benefits administration.
• Experience supporting audits, actuarial reporting, Finance closing and senior stakeholder reviews.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel capability, including reconciliations, validation, data analysis and management reporting.

Core Competencies

• Payroll and C&B expertise
• Compliance and risk orientation
• Analytical accuracy
• Confidentiality and integrity
• Stakeholder management
• Vendor governance
• Planning and deadline discipline
• Clear employee communication
• Problem solving
• Continuous improvement

Success Measures

• Accurate and timely payroll processing, statutory payments and employee settlements.
• Clean payroll-to-Finance reconciliation and dependable month-end reporting.
• Timely policy renewals, benefit administration and resolution of employee queries.
• Audit readiness, effective closure of observations and sustained payroll controls.
• Accurate Workday and ADP data, reduced manual errors and measurable process improvement.