Senior Payroll Manager

Job Description

As Senior Payroll Manager, you will play a key role in ensuring our payroll operations across multiple countries run accurately, compliantly, and efficiently. You combine deep payroll expertise with strong leadership skills and know how to bring structure, consistency, and continuous improvement to a complex international environment.

In this role, although not directly managing a team yourself, you will lead and develop local payroll teams, oversee both insourced and outsourced payroll operations, and help shape a standardized global way of working. The role has a strong focus on supporting countries from a financial payroll perspective, helping them understand payroll-related bookings, balances and reconciliations, and guiding them where needed. You understand the importance of payroll as a critical employee process and business foundation, and you know how to connect payroll topics across HR, Finance, Tax, Technology, and external providers.

Share your talents

As Senior Payroll Manager, you are responsible for driving accurate, timely, and compliant payroll operations across multiple countries. You support the execution of the global payroll strategy while ensuring local teams are equipped, aligned, and continuously improving.

You combine operational oversight with leadership and coaching. You know how to balance detail with the bigger picture, distinguish priorities, and drive action where it matters most. With your international payroll knowledge and hands-on approach, you help ensure that processes, controls, and documentation are consistent across countries, while remaining compliant with local regulations.

You will work closely with local payroll specialists, HR, Finance, Tax, Business Technology, Internal Control, and external payroll providers. Regular travel to local offices is part of the role to support, train, and align local teams.

In this role, you will:

• Lead, coach, and develop local payroll teams across multiple countries
• Oversee both insourced and outsourced payroll operations
• Ensure payroll processes are executed accurately, on time, and in line with local legislation and global policies
• Drive standardization in payroll processes, controls, checklists, sign-off sheets, and documentation
• Support local payroll teams in understanding the financial impact of payroll, including payroll-related journal entries, balance sheet items and accruals. You ensure country-specific payroll knowledge is documented, maintained, and consistently applied  
• Support strong collaboration between Payroll, HR, Finance, Tax, Internal Control, and external vendors
• Monitor payroll data quality, compliance, and governance.
• Support payroll reconciliations and ensure strong connection between payroll and financial postings
• Identify risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for process improvement and drive optimization initiatives, including automation and smarter ways of working
• Support system and process improvements within platforms such as ADP GlobalView, SAP, or similar payroll systems
• Travel regularly to local offices to support, train, and audit payroll teams

Qualifications

For this role, we are looking for a senior payroll professional who brings strong international expertise, sound judgement, and the ability to connect the dots across multiple stakeholders and countries. You are structured, critical, pragmatic, and comfortable operating in an international and fast-moving environment.

You bring:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in payroll within an international, complex and preferably fast-growing environment
• Proven experience in leading, coaching, and developing teams
• Strong expertise in managing multi-country payroll operations
• Solid knowledge of both in-house and outsourced payroll models
• In-depth understanding of payroll taxes, social security, pensions, and statutory compliance requirements
• Experience with ADP GlobalView, SAP Payroll, or similar payroll systems
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and prioritization skills, with the ability to focus on business-critical topics
• Hands-on, accurate, and ownership-driven approach, combined with a continuous improvement mindset
• Strong stakeholder management skills and excellent communication skills in English, both written and verbal
• Advanced Excel skills, with a strong affinity for automation and AI tools such as Copilot or ChatGPT

Your path to a new career

At Rituals, your expertise helps create a solid foundation for our people and our growth. In return, we offer you a role with impact in an international organization where collaboration, entrepreneurship, and continuous improvement are part of our way of working.

Grow with us! The next steps are:

• Frederik van Zeggeren (Talent Acquisition) will contact you within 10 working days
• 2 Interviews with the business follows including an online assessment
• In the event of a positive outcome, we are good to go!

Any questions about the procedure/role? Let Frederik know via [email protected].

Additional Information