Payroll Project Manager

About the role

An experienced Payroll Project Manager is sought to lead the planning, implementation and delivery of payroll projects. The role covers the full project lifecycle, coordinates business and technical teams, ensures accurate delivery of payroll requirements and oversees system integrations, testing, compliance and go-live.

Key responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end payroll projects from planning and requirements gathering through implementation, go-live and post-implementation support.
• Develop and maintain project plans, milestones, timelines, dependencies and deliverables.
• Coordinate payroll process design, system configuration, testing and implementation.
• Manage integrations between HRIS, payroll, time and attendance, finance, banking, benefits and other third-party systems.
• Oversee data migration, employee data validation, payroll configuration and reconciliation.
• Lead SIT, UAT, parallel payroll runs, payroll validation and production readiness checks.
• Ensure payroll calculations, earnings, deductions, benefits, taxes, leave and overtime are correctly configured and validated.
• Collaborate with Payroll, HR, Finance, IT, vendors and implementation partners; identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies and change requests.
• Monitor progress, report on milestones to senior management and incorporate compliance and statutory requirements into the project.
• Maintain project documentation (RAID logs, action trackers, requirements, test results, status reports) and coordinate knowledge transfer after go-live.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in payroll, HRIS, payroll transformation or payroll implementation projects.
• Proven experience managing payroll system implementations, upgrades or transformation initiatives.
• Experience managing payroll projects across multiple countries, legal entities or business units.
• Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional teams, external vendors, project timelines and stakeholder expectations.

Required skills

• Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes, including calculation, validation, reconciliation and reporting.
• Experience with payroll systems, HRIS platforms and payroll-related integrations.
• Knowledge of payroll compliance, statutory requirements and data privacy.
• Project management tools and documentation practices; PMP, PRINCE2, Agile or an equivalent certification preferred.