Senior Payroll Specialist (Italy)

Right now, the best jobs are limited to people in a handful of the world’s wealthiest cities, yet brilliant people are everywhere. Driven to overturn the status quo and distribute opportunities equally around the world, Oyster launched its global employment platform to help companies hire, pay, and care for talent anywhere.

When it comes to global employment, we walk the walk. We’re proof that companies don't need an office to create a highly-engaged culture. Since the company’s inception in January 2020, Oyster has:

🌏 Created a fully-distributed, vibrant team of 400+ employees across 60+ countries

👩‍💻Featured in Forbes having ranked #9 in Flexjobs Top 30 Companies for remote jobs

🌈 Established a diverse leadership team and an employee base that’s 60% female

🏆 Achieved one of the highest employee engagement scores in its class

🦄 Raised $286 million to date, with a current valuation of $1.2 billion!

💚 B Corp status achieved in 2023

Our momentum speaks to the power of global employment—and we’re just getting started! If you want to change the world with Oyster and be empowered to work remotely while doing so, we’d love for you to apply!

Location: To create the best experience for this employee and to meet the business needs, this role requires you to be based in Italy with the right to work in this location.

Are you a payroll professional who believes that the best operational support is proactive, empathetic, and client-focused? Do you thrive on untangling complex issues and acting as a trusted advisor? We invite you to join our Payroll Operations Team at Oyster as a Sr. Payroll Specialist.

The Payroll Operations team is the engine behind Oyster's promise to deliver a seamless global employment experience through accuracy, compliance, and outstanding support. As a Sr. Payroll Specialist, you will be a vital contributor to this mission. This is more than a traditional payroll role; you will be the voice of our expertise, playing a pivotal part in resolving complex client challenges and building lasting trust in our platform.

Your deep knowledge, particularly your mastery of local payroll software, is the foundation of this role. However, your ability to build strong relationships and communicate with clarity will be the key to your success and impact at Oyster. You will be empowered to ensure our clients feel understood, supported, and confident at every step of their journey with us.

• Own and manage the end-to-end native payroll processing in Italy, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and an exceptional experience for clients while meeting all service delivery targets and KPIs.

• Serve as a subject matter expert for payroll-related inquiries from customers and internal teams, providing clear, consultative, and timely resolutions in line with company SLAs.

• Actively collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., Payroll Transformation, Product) to support, enhance, and continuously improve Oyster's automated native payroll processes.

• Proactively monitor local payroll regulations and legislative changes, partnering with the HR Advisory team to implement required changes and ensure 100% compliance.

• Take ownership of local payroll and related HR procedures, including managing deductions and supporting employee lifecycle events (onboarding/offboarding) in your assigned region, Italy.

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of payroll-related knowledge bases, playbooks, and guides to empower internal teams and enhance the overall client experience.

• Perform rigorous pre- and post-payroll audits and reconciliations (covering salaries, benefits, pensions, time off, etc.) to ensure the highest level of data integrity and accuracy.

• Ensure timely and accurate submission of all payroll records and reports to relevant government agencies.

• Participate in and contribute to special payroll projects and initiatives as needed to support the team's strategic goals.

• 5+ years of hands-on payroll experience, with deep, end-to-end expertise in managing the native (in-house) payroll process for Italy, including in-depth knowledge of local taxation, compliance, and labor laws.

• Demonstrated expertise in enterprise-level payroll software, including hands-on experience with system implementation, configuration, and day-to-day management. This is a fundamental requirement for the role.

• Prior experience working with Zucchetti Italian payroll software is highly desirable, with strong preference given to candidates who can demonstrate hands-on use and knowledge of its functionality.

• A proven track record of collaborating with cross-functional teams like finance transformation, automation (RPA), or process improvement to enhance payroll efficiency.

• Superb communication and interpersonal skills (in English and Italian) with the ability to act as a trusted advisor and explain complex payroll matters with clarity and empathy.

• Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets for reporting and data reconciliation.

• Excellent organizational skills, with a proven ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines accurately in a fast-paced, fully remote environment.

• A recognized local payroll qualification or certification.

• Experience in processing payroll across multiple countries and jurisdictions.

• Broader HR administration experience beyond pure payroll.

• Previous experience in a high-growth, global technology company.

• A reliable home internet connection (or be able to get one)

• Fluent English language skills

Our values guide the work we do, the decisions we make, and the culture that makes us special. We elevate talent. 🙌  We build trust. 🤝 We thrive together. 🌍

Our mission is to create a more equal world—one global hire at a time. Everything we do ladders up to our mission—and that doesn’t just mean building software. We develop programs, participate in workshops, and create dedicated teams to ensure we successfully support companies and knowledge workers in this new world of work. 

We embrace asynchronous communication and collaborative work—and we share how we work in the Oyster Public HQ —to help other global teams learn from our experiences.

Different countries have different statutory benefits, different cultures have different norms, and different people have different needs! In order to best support and encourage our diverse team, we’ve created How YOU Work; a program of policies, practices, and perks to support your whole human experience as an employee at Oyster.

• Work from anywhere: Oyster is a borderless, HQ-less company. As long as your work gets done on time, your team has the support they need, and you're authorized to work where you live, the world is truly your Oyster.

• Paid time off: We’re all about taking breaks—we all need it. Oyster provides employees with 40 days off each year, which includes public/bank holidays and vacation/holiday leave (unless your country mandates more).

• Mental health support: We consider your mental health a top priority. We offer access to Plumm, a mental well-being service, to support your mental health.

• Wellbeing allowance:  Each month, Oyster will top up your ThanksBen wallet with a wellbeing allowance. You can get pretty much anything that your heart desires! ThanksBen offers a wide array of options for spending your wellbeing allowance. Check out their benefits catalogue here for inspiration.

• Flexible parental leave: Families are created in lots of different ways. Our parental leave policy applies to all employees who are becoming parents, regardless of how they become a parent. Oysters are eligible for a minimum of three months of paid parental leave and your job will be held for 12 months (or longer if required by local jurisdiction).

• WFH stipend: Stipend to spend on your laptop and any other equipment you need for your home office; we'll get you up and running in no time!

At Oyster, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences and we’ve intentionally built our product and our company with an inclusive, global mindset. We know from experience that people from underrepresented groups often don’t apply for roles they don’t feel they meet all the criteria for. We’re committed to elevating talent by creating a trust-based environment where we can all thrive together. So if you think you have what it takes, but don’t necessarily check every single box, please consider applying. We’d love to hear how you might contribute to our mission and our team.

Oyster is committed to ensuring equal opportunity of employment for qualified persons with disabilities and actively fosters an inclusive work environment. If you require reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process, please email [email protected] with the subject line: Interview Accommodations.

Our available positions are published on our careers page and should you be invited to interview with us, our recruitment team will only ever contact you directly from an @oysterhr.com email address. We will never ask you to send us money as part of a job offer. If you receive a suspicious email relating to opportunities at Oyster from any other email domain where someone is claiming to be a part of our recruitment team, or are directed to anywhere other than www.oysterhr.com/careers to view our available jobs we encourage you to submit a report through our Compliance and Ethics Helpline.