Senior Payroll Project Manager

Salt Digital Recruitment; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Salt Digital Recruitment in Malaysia seeks a Senior Payroll Project Manager to lead a complex, multi-country HCM payroll project on a 6-9 month contract. The role unifies business, technology, and vendor teams toward a single payroll system and operating model.

You will coordinate stakeholders across P&C, Finance, IT, local SMEs, Workday and third-party vendors, ensuring delivery within schedule, budget, and quality while guiding governance and country BAU handover.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering complex enterprise projects involving multiple teams and vendors.
• Strong PM capabilities across planning, governance, risk, RAID and budgeting.
• Experience managing third-party vendors and implementation partners.
• Ability to lead cross-functional delivery across business, technology and operations.
• Experience delivering payroll, HRIS, ERP, SaaS or other enterprise platform transformations.
• Knowledge of HCM payroll systems, processes and regulations across multiple countries.
• Experience in multi-country implementations or APAC delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Manage project stakeholders, including executive sponsors, project team members, and external vendor.
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration among project team members.
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the project from mobilization through design, build, testing, cutover, hypercare and country BAU handover.
• Develop and maintain the integrated project plan, milestones, critical path, dependencies, RAID log and decision register.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior executives, HR leaders, and IT stakeholders.
• Effectively communicate project status, risks, and issues to stakeholders at all levels.
• Manage expectations and resolve conflicts to ensure project success.
• Establish and run fit-for-purpose governance forums, reporting cadence, escalation paths and decision checkpoints across clients and vendors.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Vendor management

Cross-functional leadership

Payroll/HCM systems knowledge

Multi-country implementations

APAC delivery experience

Tools

Workday

HRIS

ERP

SaaS platforms

Job description

Salt is looking to hire a Senior Payroll Project Manager for one of the tech clients in Malaysia for 6-9 months & renewable contract role. The Senior Project Manager will lead a complex, multi-country HCM payroll project, ensuring successful delivery within budget and on schedule. The role brings together business, technology and vendor teams to move toward a single and consistent payroll system and operating model. The role is responsible for making sure the program is delivered within its schedule, quality and budget, while coordinating a broad stakeholder group across P&C, Finance, Technology, local country SMEs, Workday and third-party vendors.

Job Responsibilities

• Manage project stakeholders, including executive sponsors, project team members, and external vendor
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration among project team members
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the project from mobilization through design, build, testing, cutover, hypercare and country BAU handover
• Develop and maintain the integrated project plan, milestones, critical path, dependencies, RAID log and decision register
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior executives, HR leaders, and IT stakeholders
• Effectively communicate project status, risks, and issues to stakeholders at all levels
• Manage expectations and resolve conflicts to ensure project success
• Establish and run fit-for-purpose governance forums, reporting cadence, escalation paths and decision checkpoints across clients and vendors.

Qualification

• Demonstrated experience delivering complex enterprise projects or programs involving multiple business and technology teams, vendors and stakeholders
• Strong project management capability across planning, governance, risk, RAID management, reporting, budget tracking and delivery control
• Experience managing third-party vendors, implementation partners, and commercial delivery obligations
• Ability to lead cross-functional delivery across business, technology, and operations stakeholders
• Experience delivering payroll, HRIS, ERP, SAAS or other enterprise platform transformations
• Demonstrate knowledge of HCM payroll systems, processes, and regulations across multiple countries
• Experience in multi-country implementations or APAC delivery environments