Global Payroll Manager

Safeguard Global; United States; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Safeguard Global is seeking a Global Payroll Manager to unite payroll delivery across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. You will lead Regional Payroll Leaders, ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll for global payroll and EOR clients, and translate standards into regional practice while surfacing risks.

The role reports to the Global Head of Payroll and focuses on cross-functional collaboration, tooling initiatives, and continuous process improvements to optimize service delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Human Resources, or related field or equivalent.
• 8+ years of progressive payroll experience, including multi-country or global payroll.
• 3+ years of experience managing managers or leading geographically distributed teams.
• Direct experience with Employer of Record payroll models; Global Pay exposure is a plus.
• Solid understanding of multi-country payroll compliance and cross-border structures.
• Global payroll certification (GPP/CPP or equivalent) is preferred but not required.
• Experience with KPI or control-register frameworks; familiarity with Power BI, Power Apps, SharePoint reporting is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop Regional Payroll Leadership for Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
• Standardize payroll operations across regions for consistent service quality.
• Serve as Tier 3 escalation owner for complex payroll issues.
• Partner on Payroll KPI program and drive corrective actions when targets are missed.
• Ensure multi-country compliance and keep pace with statutory changes.
• Support EOR and Global Pay payroll delivery per country requirements.
• Lead payroll transformation and tooling initiatives and drive adoption.
• Collaborate with Implementation, CS, Sales and Governance for client onboarding and service delivery.
• Contribute payroll operating costs and delivery input into pricing discussions.
• Report regional performance, risks and capacity to Global Head of Payroll.

Skills

People leadership

Compliance and risk

Cross-functional communication

Ambiguity tolerance

Analytical mindset

Process improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, HR or related field

Tools

Power BI

Power Apps

SharePoint reporting tools

Job description

Ready to join the future of work?

Become part of a remote and hybrid first*, global company spanning across the Americas, Europe, and Asia for A Job That Works for You. You will become among 2000+ Guardians worldwide, embracing YOUR unique approach to work.

Our vision of the future of work is “Work In Any Way” which offers flexibility for where you work, it empowers you to define your ideal work environment, unbound by the traditional notions of what work should look like. Most importantly, it puts people first!

Global Payroll Manager

Job Summary

The Global Payroll Manager is a newly created role sitting between the Global Head of Payroll and Safeguard Global’s regional payroll organizations. This role provides the day-to-day operating layer that unifies payroll delivery across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC — managing the three Regional Payroll Leads directly and holding their teams accountable for accurate, compliant, and timely payroll for both global payroll and EOR clients. The Global Payroll Manager acts as the connective tissue between regional execution and global strategy: translating company-wide standards, KPIs, and transformation initiatives into consistent regional practice, and surfacing regional risk, capacity, and performance issues up to the Global Head of Payroll.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and develop the Regional Payroll Leadership for Americas, EMEA, and APAC, ensuring each region has the structure, staffing, and processes to deliver accurate and on-time payroll.




• Own global consistency of payroll operations across regions — standardizing processes, controls, and escalation paths so clients receive the same quality of service regardless of geography.




• Serve as Tier 3 escalation owner for complex payroll issues (input/output processing, invoicing, benefits administration, EOR entity management) that regional teams cannot resolve independently.




• Partner with the Global Head of Payroll on the Payroll Shared Services KPI program — monitoring accuracy rates, error attribution, and SLA performance across all regional teams, and driving corrective action where targets are missed.




• Ensure multi-country compliance across all supported jurisdictions, working with Governance and regional leads to keep pace with changing statutory, tax, and labor requirements.




• Support EOR and Global Pay payroll delivery, ensuring regional teams correctly execute entity-specific payroll, statutory filings, and worker payments in line with each country’s requirements.




• Act as a key stakeholder in payroll transformation and tooling initiatives (e.g., system migrations, process automation), representing regional operational needs and driving adoption once changes go live.




• Collaborate cross-functionally with Implementation, Client Support Services (CS), Sales, and Governance to ensure smooth client onboarding, ongoing service delivery, and issue resolution.




• Contribute payroll operating cost and delivery input into pricing and margin discussions for new and existing client engagements.




• Report regularly to the Global Head of Payroll on regional performance, risks, capacity, and resourcing needs; recommend organizational or process changes to improve service delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Human Resources, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.




• 8+ years of progressive payroll experience, including multi-country or global payroll operations.




• 3+ years of experience managing managers or leading geographically distributed teams.




• Direct experience with EOR (Employer of Record) payroll models; Global Pay exposure a plus.




• Demonstrated understanding of multi-country payroll compliance, statutory requirements, and cross-border employment structures.




• Global payroll certification (e.g., GPP, CPP, or equivalent) preferred but not required.




• Experience working with payroll KPI or control-register frameworks; familiarity with Power BI, Power Apps, or SharePoint reporting tools is a plus.

Skills & Attributes

• Strong people leadership — able to manage and develop managers, not just individual contributors.




• Sound judgment on compliance and risk issues, with the ability to elevate appropriately.




• Excellent cross-functional communication and stakeholder management, particularly with Sales, Implementation, and CS.




• Comfortable operating in ambiguity while a role and reporting structure are still being stood up.




• Analytical mindset — comfortable working with KPI dashboards, error attribution data, and pricing/margin inputs.




• Process-improvement orientation, with experience standardizing operations across regions or business units.

At Safeguard Global, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and Guardians.