Payroll Support Manager, US, EMEA

Neara; United States; On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Neara is seeking a Payroll Support Manager to lead a team addressing payroll queries across the US and EMEA. In this on-site role, you will ensure response quality and oversee the daily operations of a high-volume support team.

The ideal candidate has over 8 years in payroll support, understands payroll mechanics, and possesses proven leadership experience. Key responsibilities include managing SLAs, building team capacity, and resolving complex payroll issues.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in payroll support or customer support.
• Strong knowledge of payroll mechanics across multiple regions.
• Experience managing a payroll support or operations team.

Responsibilities

• Manage a payroll support team across EMEA and US.
• Define and track payroll support SLAs and KPIs.
• Resolve complex payroll queries and focus on root-cause fixes.

Skills

8+ years in payroll support, payroll operations, or customer support

Strong understanding of payroll mechanics

Proven people leadership

Track record owning SLAs, KPIs

Hands-on experience with Salesforce and Zendesk

Excellent written and verbal communication

Calm, organised, and decisive under pressure

Experience in EOR, PEO, global payroll, or HR tech

Familiarity with multi-country payroll

Experience improving follow-the-sun support models

Tools

Salesforce

Zendesk

Job description

Payroll Support Manager, US, EMEA

Job type: Full Time - Department: Customer Experience - Work type: On-Site

Location: Europe (Remote)

About Job

As Payroll Support Manager, EMEA & US, you lead the team that resolves customer and employee payroll queries across both regions. You own response and resolution quality, the SLAs behind it, and the day-to-day rhythm that keeps a high-volume support operation running across multiple time zones.

You're a hands-on leader: close enough to the cases to know what's really happening, and strategic enough to fix the root causes - process gaps, knowledge gaps, recurring issues - so the same problems stop coming back. You partner with Payroll Operations, in-country partners, Product, and the wider Support org to keep payroll support tight as we scale.

Skills & Qualification

• 8+ years in payroll support, payroll operations, or customer support - with real payroll depth, ideally across EMEA and US markets.
• Strong understanding of payroll mechanics - gross-to-net, statutory deductions, corrections, off-cycle processing - and the differences across EMEA countries and US states.
• Proven people leadership: you've managed and grown a support or operations team.
• Track record owning SLAs, KPIs, and escalation management in a high-volume environment.
• Hands-on experience with Salesforce and a support platform such as Zendesk.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you set the bar for clear, customer-friendly answers.
• Calm, organised, and decisive under pressure and during peak payroll periods.
• Experience in an EOR, PEO, global payroll, or HR tech environment.
• Familiarity with multi-country payroll and in-country partner models.
• Experience standing up or improving a follow-the-sun support model.
• Exposure to knowledge base operations and support tooling/automation.

Responsibilities

Lead payroll support across EMEA & US

• Manage a payroll support team spanning EMEA and US coverage, ensuring the right capacity at the right hours.
• Own queue health, response and resolution times, and quality across both regions.
• Build a coverage model that keeps service consistent across time zones and peak payroll cycles.

Own SLAs, quality & escalations

• Define and hold the team to payroll support SLAs and KPIs, tracked with RYG scorecards.
• Own the escalation path - including the P1-P4 severity model - and drive issues to resolution before they affect customer trust.

  Drive resolution & root-cause fixes

  • Resolve complex EMEA and US payroll queries - gross-to-net, statutory deductions, off-cycle runs, corrections, and country-specific nuance.
  • Identify recurring issues and partner with Payroll Operations, Product, and partners to fix the cause, not just the symptom.
  • Keep the knowledge base current so the team - and customers - can self-serve common questions.

  Systems, reporting & cross-functional work

  • Manage payroll support workflows in Salesforce and Zendesk - routing, case lifecycle, data integrity, and reporting.
  • Produce clear reporting on volume, performance, and trends for leadership.
  • Work closely with Payroll Operations and in-country partners to close the loop between support and delivery.

  Build & grow the team

  • Hire, coach, and develop payroll support specialists.
  • Set clear standards, run regular 1:1s and reviews, and build a culture of ownership and care.