The candidate will lead and manage all aspects of India and international payroll operations across APAC countries. The role requires a strategic and tactical leader with a proven track record of success in driving timely, accurate and compliant payroll, improving end-to-end processes and understanding payroll accounting. The position is based in Pune, India. All countries are fully outsourced to external payroll vendors.
As Team Lead Payroll, the candidate will be responsible for the daily operations of the experienced HR payroll team. Together with the team, the role is responsible for correct, timely, complete and non-disputable payroll processes across APAC countries while complying with internal and external country-specific regulations including tax, internal/external financial reporting and J-SOX. The role will prepare and further develop Vanderlande Hire2Retire (H2R) business processes and the team to support growth and a continuously changing environment.
Key Responsibilities: Coordinate and manage international payroll processes to ensure accurate and timely processing. Align with HR and Finance on ways of working, deliverables and timing. Report and analyze management information and advise the business on payroll-related topics. Lead complex international payroll-related changes and develop integrated solutions. Translate rules and policies of international assignments into home and host country payroll. Set up arrangements and SLAs with payroll stakeholders and providers abroad.
Analyze, audit and validate HR statuses for hires, terminations, transfers and other pay/deduction components before submission to payroll vendors. Process secondary payroll functions including final payroll, stop payments, balances and third-party payments, and manage employee share investment programs. Audit and review payroll outputs for accuracy. Prepare pre-authorization documents. Prepare expat salary calculations and assist tax calculations by providing relevant information to outsourced tax partners. Handle year-end audit and tax preparation/reporting. Work closely with accounting for variance queries, balance sheet reconciliation and other queries.
Identify and resolve payroll inquiries from internal and external customers, escalating where necessary. Provide backup for payroll team members. Track and review absence records such as sickness and holidays; calculate overtime, sickness and holiday payments; prepare and review accruals. Assist with ad-hoc projects such as new location/business unit setup, procedural changes and documentation. Coach, mentor, train and coordinate staff activities. Work as part of the wider Payroll team and liaise with appropriate team staff. Handle ad-hoc reporting and other duties.
Your Department: Hire to Retire (H2R) is a tower within FSSC Central Pune and a major area of business support at Vanderlande. The tower is responsible for APAC employee administration, registration and payroll across multiple countries. There is significant collaboration between International Mobility, HR and Finance and interaction with the business. FSSC focuses on professionalizing Vanderlande’s core administrative processes, supporting worldwide objectives, optimizing and embedding processes, digitalization and automation to build a sustainable service organization.
Your Profile: Bachelor's and Master's in Commerce or MBA. Extended experience in financial and payroll administration and proven international payroll processing. Flexible and adaptable to a continuously changing and growing environment. Advanced Excel and knowledge of payroll systems such as Workday and Cloudpay Safeguard. Willingness to travel overseas for training for 3–6 months. Minimum 10+ years of payroll experience in complex organizations with payroll of 2,000+ employees. Recognized Payroll Qualification/certification advantageous. Current knowledge of APAC payroll compliance and statutory legislation. Experience with payroll software and related Accounting/HR systems. Experience with Workday Payroll, Cloudpay Safeguard or similar systems. Experience controlling or assisting in controlling payrolls and working with external payroll providers. Experience in journal creation, analysis and payroll account reconciliation. Ability to work independently, strong organizational, analytical, reasoning and reconciliation skills. Ability to solve moderate-complexity problems and contribute solutions to complex issues. Ability to maintain confidentiality. Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook and intermediate Excel. Fluent English.
Industry: Material Handling / Logistics Automation / Supply Chain Technology.
