Global Payroll Operations Manager (Remote)

Remote - Referral Board; South Africa; Remote; ZAR 991,000 - 1,115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work from anywhere

Flexible PTO

Flexible hours

Parental leave

Mental health support

Stock options

Learning budget

Home office budget

IT equipment

Local social events budget

Job summary

Remote is seeking a Manager, Payroll Operations to lead a distributed payroll team and ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery across multiple regions. You will translate strategy into operational expectations, manage vendor relationships, and drive improvements while collaborating with cross-functional partners.

You will guide a high-performing, async-friendly team, support global implementations, and balance autonomy with accountability in a remote-first environment.

Qualifications

• Experience owning payroll outcomes for a multi-country team.
• Proven people leadership with coaching and performance input.
• Ability to lead investigations and drive resolution.
• Ability to apply policies and controls consistently.
• Experience recommending hiring profiles and team changes.
• Strong operational judgment balancing speed, accuracy and impact.
• Clear written and verbal communication, effective async work.
• Experience in remote-first or globally distributed teams is a plus.
• Fluent in English; additional languages are advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Own payroll outcomes for a defined team, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Provide coaching and day-to-day leadership to payroll specialists.
• Lead investigations and drive resolution within authority.
• Input into performance ratings and recommend actions when needed.
• Collaborate across functions to support payroll delivery and improvements.

Skills

Payroll ownership

People leadership

Investigations

Policies & controls

Hiring recommendations

Operational judgment

Async communication

Remote teams

English fluency

Job description

Remote is seeking a Manager, Payroll Operations to lead a distributed payroll team and ensure accurate, compliant, and timely payroll delivery across multiple regions. You will translate strategy into operational expectations, manage vendor relationships, and drive improvements while collaborating with cross-functional partners.

You will guide a high-performing, async-friendly team, support global implementations, and balance autonomy with accountability in a remote-first environment.