Payroll Product Owner / Payroll Lead

Highberg B.V.; Utrecht; Hybrid; EUR 67,000 - 89,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Mobility options

Hybrid working

Professional development

Highberg Festival

Job summary

Highberg B.V. seeks a Payroll Product Owner / Payroll Lead to own the payroll chain for large organisations, ensuring CAO and legislative changes go live on time and systems stay aligned across countries.

You will collaborate with HR, Finance, IT, and payroll providers, manage the backlog, and mentor analysts while driving growth of Payroll Services within a European, locally rooted team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree and payroll expertise at the level of Dutch PDL qualifications or VPS degree.
• At least eight years of payroll experience, including coordinating/leading.
• Experience directing a BPO payroll provider.
• Knowledge of product management and agile working (backlog, prioritisation, roadmap).
• Experience with payroll in an international or multi-country environment is a plus.
• Strong consultancy and stakeholder management with fluent Dutch and English.

Responsibilities

• Manage and prioritise the backlog: plan CAO, legislative and system changes so changes go live on time.
• Vendor management: direct the payroll provider and monitor quality, delivery and SLAs.
• Stakeholder management: inform HR, Finance and country payroll leads about progress, roadmap and risks.
• Chain management: ensure HR system, payroll engine and local systems stay aligned.
• Implement changes from impact analysis to go-live with proper validation.
• Provide functional leadership to analysts on tickets, testing and analyses.
• Identify risks early around year-end, CAO changes from 1 January, 13th month run, or new country go-lives.
• Contribute to growth of Payroll Services through best practices and knowledge sharing.

Skills

Payroll management

Stakeholder management

Agile methods

BPO experience

Dutch & English comms

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree

Dutch PDL / VPS qualification

Job description

About the role

In this role, you take charge of the entire payroll chain at large organisations that have outsourced their payroll to a BPO partner, or where multiple countries and systems come together. You are the linchpin between HR, Finance, IT, the payroll provider and the (local) payroll leads. You make sure risks are identified early and that the provider delivers what has been agreed. At the same time, you help build our growing Payroll Services team. Is this the next step you are looking for?

• Hybrid

Why Highberg?

At Highberg, everything revolves around people. Around colleagues who want to make a difference, take ownership, and work together based on trust and craftsmanship. We believe real change happens when strategy, execution, and humanity come together. That starts with our own team. This is why we create an environment where you can continue to grow, apply your expertise, and expand it further. An environment where you can make lasting impact.

Bringing strategy to life

At Highberg, you are not a remote advisor. You work closely with clients on challenges that truly matter, from strategy through to implementation. This allows you to make an immediate impact and see the results of your work in practice.

Collaborative, human, and professional

We work closely together, share knowledge, and strengthen one another to achieve the best possible outcomes. Our culture is open and built on trust, with room for both ambition and humanity. We listen, celebrate successes, and hold each other accountable, always with attention to people as well as to quality.

European outlook, locally rooted

With teams in the Netherlands and the DACH region, you work in an organization with a broad, European perspective. At the same time, the culture remains personal and close-knit. This gives you the opportunity to collaborate internationally at a high level, within a committed and engaged team.

Culture as a catalyst

Our culture is a key reason why colleagues enjoy working at Highberg. We place trust in our people, value initiative, and believe it is important that everyone can continue to develop. This enables you to get the best out of yourself, while together contributing to sustainable growth.

Your role as Payroll Product Owner / Payroll Lead

As Payroll Product Owner / Payroll Lead at Highberg, you own the payroll chain. Without a clear owner, issues fall between the cracks; you ensure that collective labour agreement (CAO) and legislative changes go live on time, that systems stay aligned and that payroll runs correctly every period. You work within Payroll Services, the Dutch-speaking payroll team of Highberg | Consultday.

Your responsibilities include:

• Managing and prioritising the backlog: planning CAO, legislative and system changes, so that statutory changes go live on time.

• Vendor management: functionally directing the payroll provider and monitoring quality, delivery and service levels.

• Stakeholder management: keeping HR, Finance and country payroll leads informed about progress, the roadmap and risks.

• Chain management: ensuring that the HR system, payroll engine, local systems and Finance remain aligned.

• Implementing changes, from impact analysis and testing to go-live, with careful validation before production.

• Providing functional leadership to analysts or the payroll team on tickets, testing and functional analyses.

• Identifying risks early around year-end, CAO changes as of 1 January, the 13th-month run or the go-live of a new country.

• Contributing to the growth of Payroll Services through best practices, knowledge sharing and coaching colleagues.

Who are you?

• You are a connector and orchestrator who keeps an overview of a chain of parties, countries and systems.

• You have an ownership mindset: you identify risks early and make sure agreements are honoured.

• You have a meticulous and pragmatic attitude: you validate before production and are not afraid to hold the provider and stakeholders to account.

• You are AI-literate and able to apply AI in a conscious, critical and responsible way to enhance your work.

What are we asking?

• You hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree and have payroll expertise at the level of the Dutch PDL qualifications or hold a VPS degree

• You have at least eight years of relevant payroll experience, part of which was in a coordinating, lead or product owner role.

• You have experience directing a BPO partner or payroll provider.

• You have knowledge of product management and agile working (backlog, prioritisation, roadmap).

• Experience with payroll in an international or multi-country environment is a plus.

• You have strong consultancy and stakeholder management skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills in both Dutch and English.

What are we offering?

• Attractive and comprehensive employment conditions: a gross monthly salary of €6,000 to €8,000 (depending on experience), with variable compensation aligned with the responsibility and impact of your role, complemented by paid leave, mobility options and a pension scheme.

• The best of two worlds: the intellectual sharpness and quality of a high end consultancy firm, combined with the agility and engagement of an entrepreneurial organization.

• Responsibility, autonomy, and entrepreneurship: from the very start, you take ownership in projects and client work, with plenty of room to take initiative, supported by experienced colleagues. A structured development cycle with coaching from partners and development coaches, offering strong growth and career opportunities

• Collaborating in an accessible environment: you work in a setting where decision making is close to the action and ideas quickly gain traction.

• Flexible working with strong connection: hybrid working is possible, combined with regular moments where we come together for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and team activities such as inspiring sessions and the Highberg Festival.

About the culture

Highberg is a European transformation consultancy. We support organizations in realizing their strategic ambitions by combining clear direction with execution.

We believe sustainable change happens when deep expertise and human dynamics are in balance. That is why we work closely with our clients, not only as advisors, but as partners in realization.

Our teams combine analytical depth with pragmatism and build solutions that not only work on paper, but above all in practice.