Head of Payroll Delivery - Southeast Asia

Darwinbox; Manila; On-site; PHP 3,000,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Darwinbox in Manila seeks a senior leader to own the SEA payroll delivery stack across PH, MY, SG, TH, and ID. You will drive delivery quality, commercial outcomes, and team capability as the principal SEA voice, personally leading marquee client engagements to ground-truth delivery.

You will own Onsite + Central Delivery integration, shape the regional roadmap, and mentor others to scale payroll delivery across five markets.

Qualifications

• 15–20 years in payroll & implementation.
• SaaS/product company delivery background.
• In-depth payroll subject matter expertise.
• Deep knowledge of Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Responsibilities

• Regional delivery leadership across PH, MY, SG, TH, ID from deal-to-live through hypercare.
• Own Onsite + Central Delivery integration and optimize pod structure for scale.
• Act as senior product SME for SEA payroll and influence the localization roadmap.
• Lead 1–2 marquee SEA client engagements and manage red/amber accounts.
• Own utilization, margin targets, and drive cost-to-serve improvements.
• Build hiring plans and succession for SEA payroll delivery across regions.

Skills

Payroll leadership

Leadership

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Tools

Payroll systems

Job description

Darwinbox is the fastest-growing HR technology platform, designing the future of work by building the world's best HR tech, driven by a fierce focus on employee experience and customer success, and continuous, iterative innovation. We are the preferred choice of 900+ global enterprises to manage their 2.5 million+ employees across 116+ countries. Darwinbox's new-age HCM suite in the enterprise technology space that has acquired notable customers ranging from large conglomerates to unicorn start-ups: DP World, Masafi, DIFC, Abu Dhabi Department of Finance, Nivea, Starbucks, Swiggy, DLF, Crisil, CRED, Vedanta, Mahindra, Glenmark, Gokongwei Group, Mitra Adiperkasa, EFS Facilities Management, VNG Corporation, and many more.

Our vision of building a world-class product company from Asia is backed by marquee global investors like Microsoft, Salesforce, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

About the Role

Own the full SEA payroll delivery stack - Onsite plus the Central Delivery Team - across Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Accountable for delivery quality, commercial outcomes, and team capability in equal measure, while acting as the senior product SME who shapes the SEA payroll roadmap from the front lines. Runs 1-2 marquee client engagements personally to stay close to the ground truth of delivery.

This is the most-senior payroll delivery role in SEA. The person is expected to be the operating owner of the region and the product's most credible SEA voice - not a coordinator between other people's teams.

Responsibilities:

Regional Delivery Leadership

• Own end-to-end payroll implementation outcomes across PH, MY, SG, TH, and ID — from deal-to-live through hypercare
• Set the regional delivery standard: blueprint quality, configuration discipline, parallel-run rigor, and cutover playbooks
• Run the SEA payroll delivery cadence — weekly project reviews, escalation forums, and quarterly business reviews with commercial and product leadership.

Onsite + Central Delivery Integration

• Own the Onsite Central Delivery handoff model and quality gates end-to-end
• Optimize pod/team structure across geographies for scale, cost, and speed
• Drive an uplift program so junior Central Delivery staff build the pattern recognition to self-audit before work reaches Onsite.

Product SME & Roadmap Influence

• Act as the senior product SME for SEA payroll — the practitioner voice inside product and engineering forums
• Co-own the SEA localization roadmap: statutory gaps, functional enhancements, and country-specific product needs
• Build deep working product knowledge within 3–6 months, sustained through hands-on validation.

Marquee Client Engagement (Personal

• Personally lead 1–2 marquee SEA engagements — enterprise-scale, multi-country, or strategic accounts where you are the visible senior owner to the client
• Use these engagements as your ground-truth signal for what's actually working in the delivery model.
• Take direct ownership of red/amber accounts across the region — stay with the client until the situation is stabilized
• Handle senior client stakeholder pressure (CIO, CFO, CHRO level) without deflecting or overpromising — hold the line on commitments, elevate constructively when scope shifts.

Commercial Ownership

• Own utilization, billability, and margin targets for the SEA payroll delivery function
• Partner with sales and solutioning on estimation quality — accountable for the delivery view on effort, risk, and staffing assumptions
• Drive down cost-to-serve through Central Delivery leverage, tooling, and reusability, without compromising delivery quality.

Team Building

• Own the hiring plan, org design, and succession planning for SEA payroll delivery — Onsite and Central Delivery
• Build country-level bench strength — no single-person dependencies in any of PH, MY, SG, TH, ID
• Champion internal payroll SME development programs (certifications, playbooks, structured cross-country shadowing).

Requirements:

• 15–20 years in payroll & implementation, with recent regional leadership tenure
• SaaS/product company delivery background (not captive, BPO, or pure consulting)
• In-depth payroll subject matter expertise — able to go deep into calculation logic, statutory rules, and cutover mechanics when required
• Deep working knowledge of all five markets: Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia (awareness-level knowledge is not sufficient)
• Willingness to build deep product knowledge within 3–6 months and act as design partner on the SEA payroll roadmap
• Proven ability to handle CXO-level client escalations — has driven red engagements to green
• Track record of driving engagements to closure — does not drop the ball at team boundaries
• Experience managing a distributed Onsite + Central Delivery model at scale
• Has owned utilization, margin, or commercial targets, and made speed-cost-quality trade-off calls
• Has hired, developed, and progressed payroll delivery leaders across geographies
• Sharp written and verbal English — comfortable running senior client and internal leadership conversations
• Self-driven on statutory changes, product releases, and payroll practice evolution.