Payroll Manager

The Payroll Manager is responsible for accurate, compliant and timely payroll delivery across VALD’s business, including in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe, and for the employee lifecycle administration that sits alongside it. Reporting to the CFO and working closely with the Finance, Legal and IT teams, the role is VALD’s payroll subject matter expert and the first point of contact for payroll delivery, compliance, systems and providers. Payroll at VALD is a deadline-driven, zero-error function: people get paid the right amount on the right day, statutory obligations are met on time, and the numbers reconcile back to the ledger.

The role is predominantly payroll but it also owns the accurate and timely onboarding and offboarding of team members globally. That work is process driven rather than ad hoc: a defined checklist and workflow for every new starter and every exit, run the same way each time, so nothing depends on memory or goodwill. This means you will be one of the first people who new team members meet, and will be motivated to make people feel welcome.

This is a hands-on role with real ownership rather than purely a processing role. You will run the payroll calendar end to end, maintain the controls that keep VALD audit-ready, and work with the payroll providers and platforms that sit underneath it. Alongside that, you will draft contracts from approved templates, set team members up in the relevant systems on day one, and close them out cleanly when they leave.

VALD is scaling quickly, so this is a chance to help build a global payroll and people-operations function rather than inherit a finished one: you will have input into provider selection, help design the controls and support new countries coming online, working directly with the CFO. The role has one direct report — an experienced payroll team member who already works across VALD’s global employee payroll systems, so you inherit real capability and continuity from day one.

• →Manage end-to-end payroll cycles across all relevant jurisdictions, including inputs, calculations, adjustments, approvals and reconciliations, and resolve payroll queries from employees and managers.
• →Own payroll compliance in every country: payroll tax, superannuation, pension, social security and PAYG equivalents, regulatory filings, year-end obligations and employer registrations.
• →Configure and maintain payroll settings, including minimum wage and statutory pay-rate changes, award rates, leave accruals and balances, benefit deductions and employer contributions.
• →Manage pay, title and incentive changes, workers’ compensation and statutory leave payments, and terminations, severance and final pay, with correct tax treatment.
• →Maintain payroll controls, records and audit readiness, and escalate compliance risks, suspected underpayments or misapplied entitlements.
• →Coordinate payroll providers, consultants and platforms, and support payroll setup in new countries and entities, including employer of record (EOR) setup.
• →Fund and reconcile pay runs across multiple currencies, and support Finance with payroll reporting, cost analysis, accruals and month-end.
• →Run onboarding and offboarding to a defined workflow and checklist — drafting contracts and variation letters from approved templates, setting team members up in all relevant systems, and closing out access and final entitlements on exit — and keep improving that process.
• →Lead and mentor your direct report, and document and learn procedures so that you can support/be backup for the payroll and onboarding during leave and peak periods.

You will have 4+ years of experience including:

• At least two years running end-to-end payroll cycles and statutory payroll obligations for a multi-jurisdiction employer.
• Technical depth in at least one jurisdiction’s statutory payroll framework (for example Australian PAYG, superannuation and award interpretation, or US federal and state withholding and 401(k)), with the ability to learn new jurisdictions rather than relying on a provider to interpret the rules for you.
• Experience building or strengthening payroll controls — documented processes, evidenced approvals, reconciliations and audit readiness — and managing payroll providers, consultants or platforms.
• Experience administering employee lifecycle processes for a multi-country workforce: onboarding, contract generation from templates, system setup and offboarding.
• A process-driven mindset, with experience leading or coaching a payroll team member.
• Standing up payroll in a new country or entity, migrating payroll between providers, or a recognised payroll qualification, will be highly regarded.
• Meticulous, highly organised and discreet with confidential pay data, with sound judgment on when to escalate.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to explain a pay slip clearly to an employee who requires guidance.

Successful applicants will be subject to background checks (including identity and criminal record checks). It will be a condition of employment that the background checks return acceptable results.