Director, Payroll Strategy and Operations

Clark & Enersen; United States; Remote; USD 175,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ELIQUENT Life Sciences seeks a Director of Payroll Strategy & Operations to lead governance, future-state operating model, and continuous improvement across global payroll. You will collaborate with HR, Finance, and external providers to ensure scalable, compliant payroll operations for a growing organization.

The role emphasizes transforming governance, simplifying processes, and building scalable, risk-managed payroll capabilities with clear ownership and documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain global payroll governance and control framework with clear roles, approvals and audit trails.

Job description

Director, Payroll Strategy and Operations

CST: Human Resources Full-time Regular Remote, US

3 days ago Requisition ID: 1350

Salary Range: $175,000.00 To $190,000.00 Annually

Company Overview

ELIQUENT Life Sciences is a leading global consulting firm providing regulatory, quality, and compliance solutions to life sciences companies researching, developing, and manufacturing innovative products. ELIQUENT combines deep technical expertise, integrity, and strategic insight to support safe, effective, and high-quality drugs, biologics, medical devices, and diagnostics around the world.

Position Overview

The Director, Payroll Strategy & Operations is responsible for the strategic leadership, transformation, governance, and scalability of ELIQUENT's global payroll function. The role partners closely with Human Resources, Finance, Payroll, Technology, and external providers to ensure payroll operations are positioned to support organizational growth, operational efficiency, and transaction readiness. Unlike a traditional payroll leadership role focused primarily on payroll execution, this position is responsible for:

• Governance & Controls: Stabilize and strengthen payroll governance, controls, risk management, audit readiness, and business continuity.
• Future-State Operating Model: Define and execute a practical global payroll operating model with clear roles, decision rights, service expectations, and priorities.
• Simplification & Efficiency: Reduce fragmentation and manual work through targeted systems, vendor, data, and process simplification.
• Transaction Readiness: Build transaction-ready documentation, scalable capability, and visibility into payroll risks, dependencies, and progress.

The role leads payroll transformation initiatives while working in partnership with the Sr. Payroll Manager and payroll team, who retain day-to-day payroll execution responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Governance, Controls & Stability

• Establish and maintain a proportionate global payroll governance and control framework, including decision rights, approvals, reconciliations, audit trails, segregation of duties, issue escalation, evidence retention, and business continuity.
• Partner with the Sr. Payroll Manager to identify key operational, compliance, data, system, vendor, and key-person risks and prioritize practical remediation plans.
• Create an operating cadence for payroll performance, risk, controls, issues, and decisions, with clear reporting to the Vice President and relevant stakeholders.
• Coordinate payroll audits, control reviews, and corrective actions with Finance, Tax, Legal, HR, Technology, and external experts as appropriate.

Future-State Global Payroll Operating Model

• Assess the current payroll operating model across supported employee populations, countries, providers, systems, roles, and cross-functional handoffs.
• Define and execute a practical future-state operating model with clear responsibilities, service expectations, escalation paths, controls, and partnership requirements.
• Develop a phased payroll roadmap that distinguishes immediate stabilization needs from longer-term transformation opportunities.
• Ensure the operating model can support geographic growth, integrations, and changing business needs without compromising payroll accuracy or continuity.

Simplification, Systems & Process Improvement

• Identify the highest-value opportunities to reduce payroll fragmentation, duplicate work, manual steps, avoidable corrections, and inefficient handoffs.
• Evaluate targeted opportunities to simplify or consolidate payroll systems, providers, interfaces, reporting, and processes while preserving local compliance and business continuity.
• Partner with HR Operations and Technology to improve payroll-related data flows, integrations, ownership, reconciliations, and reporting visibility.
• Lead selected automation and approved AI-enabled improvements where there is a clear business case, appropriate controls, available resources, and measurable benefit.
• Establish a manageable set of payroll KPIs focused on accuracy, timeliness, adjustments, controls, service, provider performance, risk, and roadmap progress.

Transaction Readiness & Scalable Capability

• Build and maintain due-diligence-ready documentation for payroll processes, controls, systems, providers, country arrangements, key dependencies, risks, and business-continuity plans.
• Identify capability, documentation, cross-training, succession, and resource gaps that could limit payroll scalability or continuity and recommend practical solutions.
• Support payroll planning for geographic expansion, employee population growth, integrations, acquisitions, or other organizational changes.
• Ensure transformation initiatives are sequenced realistically and transferred to named operational owners with documented controls and sustainable support.

Leadership & Partnership

• Provide strategic leadership to the payroll function and direct leadership to the Sr. Payroll Manager, with payroll specialists continuing to report through the Sr. Payroll Manager.
• Partner with the Sr. Payroll Manager to protect day-to-day payroll delivery while creating appropriate capacity for controls, documentation, reporting, and improvement work.
• Develop payroll capability through clear expectations, cross-training, succession coverage, process ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Communicate payroll priorities, progress, risks, decisions, constraints, and resource needs clearly to senior leadership.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of progressive payroll experience, including meaningful multi-country or global payroll leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience improving payroll governance, controls, operating models, systems, vendors, or processes.
• Experience leading focused transformation, implementation, consolidation, or continuous-improvement initiatives while maintaining reliable payroll delivery.
• Knowledge of payroll controls, compliance, audit readiness, data privacy, vendor management, and business continuity.
• Strong program leadership, prioritization, communication, stakeholder alignment, risk management, and change-management skills.
• Ability to translate complex payroll and operational matters into clear, pragmatic recommendations for senior leadership.
• Demonstrated people leadership and ability to build capability through existing payroll team.
• Ability to recognize where specialist legal, tax, accounting, technology, or country expertise is required and coordinate that support effectively.
• Experience with payroll automation, analytics, workflow tools, or responsible AI enablement.
• Experience supporting payroll due diligence, M&A integration, divestiture, or transaction-readiness programs preferred.
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP), Global Payroll Management Certificate, PMP, Lean/Six Sigma, or comparable credential preferred.

What We Offer

A collaborative global environment, meaningful work, opportunities to grow, and the ability to contribute to the continued evolution of ELIQUENT’s HR function.