Associate Director, Global Payroll Accounting

Trilliad, LLC; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Trilliad seeks an Associate Director, Global Payroll Accounting to lead the global payroll close, reconcile balance sheets, and deliver GAAP-compliant reporting across jurisdictions.

You will own the payroll accounting process, coordinate with Talent Operations and external providers, and drive internal controls, SOX compliance, and process improvements as the company scales.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in accounting roles with at least 3 years focused on payroll accounting, compensation accounting, or employee-related financial reporting in a multi-entity or multi-country environment.
• 3+ years managing or leading a team responsible for payroll accounting, close processes, or balance sheet reconciliations.
• Experience managing payroll accounting for a company operating in at least 5 countries, including coordination with external payroll providers and navigation of differing statutory and tax requirements.
• Demonstrated experience accounting for complex compensation structures including sales commissions with multiple tiers or accelerators, performance bonuses, and equity-based compensation programs.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the monthly, quarterly, and annual accounting close process for all compensation-related accounts globally — ensuring accurate accrual, recognition, and reporting of payroll, bonuses, commissions, equity, and benefits in compliance with US GAAP and local statutory requirements.
• Manage the reconciliation and substantiation of compensation-related balance sheet accounts across all entities — ensuring audit readiness and resolving discrepancies between payroll systems, general ledger, and statutory filings.
• Direct the accounting treatment of complex compensation structures including sales commissions, performance bonuses, equity-based compensation, and multi-country benefit programs — translating operational complexity into compliant financial reporting.
• Coordinate with the Talent Team and external payroll providers to ensure payroll is delivered on time, accurately, and with complete accounting inputs across all jurisdictions.

Skills

Multi-country payroll accounting

Compensation accounting

Balance sheet reconciliation

Internal controls design

Cross-functional coordination

Job description

Associate Director, Global Payroll Accounting

United States

About Trilliad

Trilliad, a market-leading Growth Services Provider (GSP), solves challenges and drives results for Growth Leaders across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success. Trilliad’s full-service solutions deliver competitive advantage for the brands it works with by optimizing their sales and marketing strategies, processes, skills, and technology. Trilliad drives efficiency and predictability at the intersection of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success to increase seller productivity, lower cost per lead, decrease cost per sale, accelerate time to close, and drive customer lifetime value.

At Trilliad, culture is our backbone. It shapes how we think, behave, and treat one another, and it defines how our clients, partners, and communities experience us. Every company has a culture, and at Trilliad, we make ours intentional—anchored in our Leadership Principles. These principles guide every decision and interaction: putting the company first, obsessing over growth, remembering that business is personal, and ensuring strategy turns into execution. We succeed by being one team, striving for greatness, speaking the truth, and holding ourselves accountable. We lighten up with humor, stay patient and disciplined, run towards problems, celebrate results, and never accept confusion as an option. This is the culture you step into at Trilliad—purposeful, lived, and continually developed.

What you will do

You own global payroll accounting — the monthly close, balance sheet reconciliation, and GAAP-compliant financial reporting that turn Trilliad's payroll, bonus, commission, equity, and benefits liabilities into accurate, audit-ready numbers across every country and acquired business. You lead the team that runs this close process, set the standard for how payroll accounting is done as Trilliad scales into new geographies, and serve as the primary finance point of contact for payroll tax registrations and regulatory filings. You also collaborate with the Talent Team to ensure payroll delivery meets both operational and financial-reporting requirements — but the accounting, the controls, and the audit trail are yours.

Which means that on a day-to-day basis, you will:

Global Payroll Accounting and Financial Reporting

• Oversee the monthly, quarterly, and annual accounting close process for all compensation-related accounts globally — ensuring accurate accrual, recognition, and reporting of payroll, bonuses, commissions, equity, and benefits in compliance with US GAAP and local statutory requirements
• Manage the reconciliation and substantiation of compensation-related balance sheet accounts across all entities — ensuring audit readiness and resolving discrepancies between payroll systems, general ledger, and statutory filings
• Direct the accounting treatment of complex compensation structures including sales commissions, performance bonuses, equity-based compensation, and multi-country benefit programs — translating operational complexity into compliant financial reporting

Payroll Process Ownership and Cross-Functional Coordination

• Manage the finance components of the global payroll process — coordinating with the Talent Team and external payroll providers to ensure payroll is delivered on time, accurately, and with complete accounting inputs across all jurisdictions
• Oversee the collection, validation, and accounting treatment of payroll inputs including commissions from internal and external sources, bonuses, equity vesting, and benefit deductions — ensuring data integrity and timely processing
• Ensure payroll tax registrations, filings, and regulatory communications are accurate and compliant — serving as the primary finance point of contact for payroll tax authorities and external advisors

Standardization and Process Improvement

• Standardize payroll accounting processes — harmonizing practices across acquired businesses and new country operations to ensure consistency, scalability, and control effectiveness
• Evaluate and strengthen internal controls over payroll accounting and reporting — identifying risks, implementing mitigating controls, and ensuring SOX compliance where applicable
• Drive process improvements and automation in payroll accounting workflows — reducing manual effort, improving data accuracy, and enabling faster close cycles as the organization scales

Team Leadership and Development

• Manage the payroll accounting team — setting priorities, allocating work, coaching team members, and conducting performance reviews to build capability and ensure delivery against close timelines and audit requirements
• Develop team expertise in multi-country payroll accounting, compensation structures, and regulatory compliance — ensuring the team can operate with increasing independence as Trilliad expands geographically

Audit and Compliance Support

• Partner with external auditors during quarterly reviews and year-end audits — providing documentation, reconciliations, and explanations for all compensation-related accounts and ensuring timely resolution of audit inquiries
• Monitor changes in payroll tax regulations, accounting standards, and statutory reporting requirements across all jurisdictions — assessing impact and implementing necessary changes to accounting policies and processes

How you’ll do it

Because how we do things matters just as much as what we do at Trilliad, our Leadership Principles should act as a compass directing the everyday behavior of every teammate across the organization:

Growth Obsessed. For our business, our clients, and our Selves.

Create Client Value. Become irreplaceable

Business is Personal. Cultivate relationships. Make space for connection. Care about each other.

Tighten-Up. Focus, discipline, and rigor count.

Strategy Without Execution Is Just Dreaming. Hope is not a strategy.Vision matters—so does execution.

You Have the Ball. Be accountable. Take action. Go the distance.

Be One Team. No lone wolves. Have each other’s back and help each other out.

Run Towards Problems. Symptoms signal deeper causes. Find the root.

Raise The Bar. Good is the enemy of great. Better never stops—be a Difference-Maker!

Have the Hard Conversation. Be direct and empathetic. Speak the truth, kindly. Feedback is a gift.

Confusion Is a Choice. Stay curious—Seek to understand. Share context—seek to be understood.

Celebrate Results. Make recognition a habit. Shine a light on what’s working, big or small.

The Journey Matters. Meaningful work takes time. Be patient. Think: the next 90 days and the next 10 years.

Think “We” not “Me.” Prioritize what’s best for the business, the team, and the journey.

What You’ll Bring – Skills, Knowledge, and Experience

All Difference-Makers are expected to meet the Trilliad Standard for Transferable Skills and Knowledge, which defines the core capabilities every teammate must bring—regardless of role, function, or level.

Trilliad transferable skills

Critical Reasoning and Thinking

Data/Analytic Acumen

Judgment and Discernment

Pattern Recognition and Systems Thinking

Responsible and Effective AI Use

Trilliad’s Business and Commercial Context

Trilliad transferable knowledge

Domain-specific skills

Domain-specific knowledge

The following domain-specific Skills, Knowledge, and Experience are additionally required in order for you to be great in this role.

Domain-specific skills

• Multi-country payroll accounting and reconciliation — You manage the accounting treatment of payroll across multiple jurisdictions with different statutory requirements, tax regimes, and reporting standards, ensuring accurate consolidation and compliance in each location
• Complex compensation accounting — You translate operationally complex compensation structures including tiered sales commissions, performance bonuses, equity-based compensation, and multi-currency benefit programs into accurate accruals, journal entries, and financial statement disclosures
• Balance sheet reconciliation and substantiation — You prepare and review detailed reconciliations of compensation-related balance sheet accounts, identify and resolve discrepancies between source systems and the general ledger, and ensure accounts are audit-ready at all times
• Internal controls design and assessment — You identify control gaps in payroll accounting processes, design and implement mitigating controls, and ensure compliance with SOX requirements and internal control frameworks
• Cross-functional coordination with non-finance stakeholders — You work effectively with Talent Operations, payroll providers, and external tax advisors to ensure payroll processes meet both operational delivery requirements and financial reporting standards

Domain-Specific Knowledge

• US GAAP accounting for compensation and benefits — You must understand the recognition, measurement, and disclosure requirements for payroll, bonuses, commissions, equity-based compensation, and employee benefits to ensure financial statements are compliant and audit-ready
• Multi-country payroll tax and statutory reporting requirements — You need working knowledge of payroll tax obligations, withholding requirements, and statutory reporting across the jurisdictions where Trilliad operates so that accounting entries reflect actual liabilities and compliance obligations
• Payroll systems and data flows — You must understand how payroll data moves from source systems through processing platforms to the general ledger so that you can identify data integrity issues, design effective controls, and troubleshoot discrepancies
• Equity compensation accounting and administration — You need to understand how equity grants, vesting schedules, and exercise activity translate into accounting entries and tax obligations so that equity-based compensation is accurately reflected in financial statements

Domain-specific experience

• 7+ years in accounting roles with at least 3 years focused on payroll accounting, compensation accounting, or employee-related financial reporting in a multi-entity or multi-country environment
• 3+ years managing or leading a team responsible for payroll accounting, close processes, or balance sheet reconciliations — with direct accountability for team performance, development, and delivery against deadlines
• Experience managing payroll accounting for a company operating in at least 5 countries, including coordination with external payroll providers and navigation of differing statutory and tax requirements
• Demonstrated experience accounting for complex compensation structures including sales commissions with multiple tiers or accelerators, performance-based bonuses, and equity-based compensation programs
• Experience supporting external audits of compensation-related accounts — including preparation of audit documentation, reconciliations, and resolution of auditor inquiries
• Experience implementing or improving payroll accounting processes during periods of organizational growth, acquisition integration, or geographic expansion

Pay Range

$105,000 - $130,000 USD

The Trilliad Agreement

If you want to be part of building a truly great growth company—and help cultivate a culture that is differentiated and creates value for customers and colleagues alike—then you might be a fit for Trilliad. Accepting that invitation means more than bringing your skills, knowledge, and experience to bear in your role. It also means working in alignment with our Leadership Principles, which guide how we show up for each other, our customers, and the work. Because at Trilliad, how we do things matters just as much as what we do.

When you show up in this way—bringing your best and living our Leadership Principles— you can expect Trilliad to uphold its side of The Trilliad Agreement: a workplace in which we grow, connect, and thrive.

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As set forth in Trilliad’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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