Senior Payroll Specialist (US & Canada)

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Objective / Purpose:

The Senior Payroll Specialist is a senior professional role responsible for supporting payroll operations across an assigned payroll portfolio with greater independence and complexity. The role is accountable for end-to-end payroll operations across an assigned portfolio of US & Canada, subject to evolving business needs. This role manages complex transactions, performs deeper validations and reconciliations, resolves operational issues, supports projects and change activities, and provides day-to-day technical guidance to colleagues. The role contributes to accurate, timely, compliant, and employee-focused payroll delivery while helping improve process quality and resilience. It covers an assigned regional, multi-entity, or multi-market payroll portfolio, with no budget ownership and no direct reports.

Key objectives also include managing equity transactions, domestic relocation reporting, and international mobility payments and reporting for the expat and inpat population, and liaising with People Solutions teams, including Compensation & Benefits, Equity, Mobility, People Solutions Advisors (PSA), and the People Experience Partners (PEP), to ensure a consistent and accurate flow of information and timely issue resolution.

Accountabilities:

• Coordinate end-to-end payroll activities through approved systems and external providers for an assigned portfolio.
• Validate complex earnings, deductions, taxes, statutory contributions, benefits, equity-related transactions, time data, and employee changes.
• Perform reconciliations, controls, corrections, off-cycle transactions, and year-end support with increased independence, and prepare and maintain audit-ready evidence, documentation, and process records.
• Investigate complex issues, identify root causes, implement corrective actions within authority, and escalate material risks where appropriate.
• Serve as an operational contact for payroll providers, and partner with Payroll COE, HR, Finance, Total Rewards, Mobility, Technology, Risk, Audit, and other stakeholders to resolve issues, support service quality, and ensure follow-through.
• Use approved digital, AI, and automation tools responsibly with human review and validation, and support system changes, testing, transitions, implementations, and process updates related to payroll and connected processes.
• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate recurring work and reduce manual effort or recurring errors, and provide day-to-day guidance, peer coaching, and knowledge sharing to colleagues.
• Coordinate with relocation vendors to manage quarterly and annual relocation reporting, ensuring mobility data is reconciled and processed accurately and on time.
• Partner with the Equity team to ensure all equity transactions are processed in accordance with plan requirements and advise third-party vendors on the correct recording of cross-country equity transactions for employees on international assignments and transfers.
• Oversee the schedule of expat and inpat international assignments and transfers for employees home-based in the US & Canada, partnering with vendors to provide all data needed to correctly record assignment expenses.
• Partner with the Payroll Compliance team to ensure all quarter-end and year-end tax adjustments are processed correctly, and actively engage on multiple, parallel projects as needed.