Vice President or Director - EMEA Payroll Operations & Strategy Lead

About this role

The Global Payroll & Employment Tax function at BlackRock is a dynamic and dedicated group of professionals responsible for ensuring accurate payroll processing and tax compliance for our global employees of approximately 22,000. Our team is committed to maintaining compliance with all relevant regulations and providing exceptional service to our colleagues. We work collaboratively with various internal stakeholders to streamline operations and continuously improve our processes and value precision, efficiency, and a positive work environment.

As Vice President or Director, EMEA Payroll Operations & Strategy, you will provide strategic leadership for payroll operations across multiple countries in the EMEA region. You will drive transformation, ensure compliance, and deliver an exceptional employee experience through innovative processes and strong vendor partnerships. The countries in scope for this position will include Hungary, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Italy amongst many others which BlackRock operate within the EMEA region.

This position requires strong leadership, deep understanding of payroll processes and complexities in the EMEA region, as well as excellent analytical and problem-solving skills. You must be able to connect dots, identify patterns, generate new and improved ways of operating and fundamentally be capable of ensuring our International Payroll department in EMEA is delivering an accurate, compliant and timely payroll processing for the countries under your remit. The successful candidate will have strong technical payroll knowledge and be familiar and have experience with managing and holding external payroll vendors accountable, understanding and knowledge of various internal controls such as Sarbanes Oxley, and know the full employee cycle from end-to-end.

A customer centric focus will be a paramount skill you leverage daily from your multi-faceted skill toolbox.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic oversight for payroll operations across EMEA, ensuring compliance, operational excellence, and alignment with global objectives.
• Serve as the functional leader in the region, managing key senior stakeholders as necessary.
• Manage and develop a strong, high performing team consisting of both local Budapest based and remote employees in different EMEA countries.
• Regularly review, audit, test, and update payroll controls with an eye for enhancing controls to prevent operational errors.
• Champion automation and digital transformation initiatives to optimize payroll delivery and improve employee experience.
• Must be comfortable working within ambiguous circumstances and is capable to constantly seek out, propose, and implement process improvements and best practice initiatives as appropriate.
• Manage the payroll vendor relationships to deliver payroll effectively across the region.
• Meet regularly with payroll vendors to review performance and explore potential for improvement/enhancement of operations.
• Develop and manage metrics that indicate operational optimization and are within the payroll vendors’ Service Level Agreements.
• Oversee various audits, such as internal audits, employment tax audits, and social security audits as necessary.
• Ensure compliance with the firms Sarbanes Oxley (SoX) control framework.
• Partner with the HR integrations team to design optimized and standardize system interfaces to minimize data control issues that support a better control structure.
• Maintain strong cross-functional relationships between teams such as HR Benefits, HR Talent Mobility, Compensation Accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis, Tax and Controllers to ensure their information needs and Payroll processes are aligned for maximum effectiveness.
• Maintain and test the Disaster Recovery Plan as agreed with the Head of International Payroll.
• Lead the team through legal entity acquisitions, divestitures, and other firm initiatives such that implementations are a success with no compliance issues.
• Lead, participate and deliver upon department projects as required.
• Lead continuous improvement projects to strengthen controls and reduce operational risk.

Skills Required:

• 10+ years of payroll leadership experience, including regional oversight and team management within a complex, multinational environment.
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills, with proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross-functional collaboration.
• Financial services and/or investment banking industry experience is preferable.
• Knowledge and experience with employment tax and other regulations in the EMEA
• Knowledge of withholding tax, related tax filings, tax policy and regulations as they relate to EMEA
• Knowledge of accounting, with a focus on compensation accounting.
• Experience in designing, implementing, and reviewing internal controls aimed at reducing operational risk.
• Ability to effectively manage vendors, ensuring adherence to contracts and Service Level Agreements.
• Strong client service mentality and able to develop strong working relationships with your team, internal partners, and vendors to deliver a high-quality service.
• Strong strategic thinking and prioritization skills to manage complex initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical skills that enable candidate to recognize and resolve problems
• Ability to adapt to fast paced working culture.
• Discretion in dealing with confidential information.
• Bachelor’s Degree preferred.

Additional skills that would enhance performance in the role:

• A recognized payroll qualification is a plus
• A degree of attention to detail.
• A positive and ‘can-do’ attitude.
• Risk management mindset.
• Teamwork including collaborating with remote team members.
• Strong problem-solving acumen.
• Strives to provide outstanding service to internal clients.
• Adaptable, resilient and embracive of change.
• Capable of communicating with impact.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities and meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to identify, analyze and develop improvements to processes and/or procedures.

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of employee benefits including: retirement investment and tools designed to help you in building a sound financial future; access to education reimbursement; comprehensive resources to support your physical health and emotional well-being; family support programs; and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law.