Senior Director Global Payroll Operations

Work location:

• This position may be based anywhere in the United States and includes travel as part of the responsibilities.

Job Summary

The Senior Director, Global Payroll & Time is responsible for the strategy, operating model, transformation, and end-to-end delivery of payroll and time services across the global enterprise. This leader will establish and execute a multi-year strategy that delivers accurate, timely, compliant, and scalable services while creating a consistent experience for associates and leaders across countries. This role requires more than deep payroll knowledge or implementation experience. The Senior Director must be an enterprise leader who can translate business strategy into a global payroll and time roadmap, influence senior executives, lead through organizational complexity, and create accountability across internal teams, business stakeholders, technology partners, and third-party providers. The role requires practical knowledge of artificial intelligence and the ability to apply AI, automation, and emerging technologies to simplify processes, improve efficiency, strengthen controls, and enhance the payroll experience. The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience leading payroll and time operations within a large, complex multinational organization. This individual will bring a proven record of scaling services, simplifying fragmented processes, strengthening compliance and controls, improving vendor performance, and establishing a globally consistent operating model while appropriately addressing country-specific requirements.

Open to applicants residing anywhere in the United States. Travel may be required as business needs dictate.

Key Tasks & Responsibilities (Essential Functions)

Global Strategy and Operating Model: Define and execute the global payroll and time strategy, operating model, governance framework, and transformation roadmap. Establish scalable global standards that support business growth, acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and evolving workforce needs.

Global Service Delivery and Operational Excellence: Lead end-to-end global payroll and time operations, ensuring accurate, timely, compliant service delivery. Drive continuous improvement through performance metrics, operational excellence, risk management, and service quality enhancements.

Executive and Business Partnership: Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on payroll and time strategy, performance, compliance, and investments. Build strong partnerships across HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, Technology, and business leaders to align solutions with enterprise priorities.

Regulatory Compliance, Tax, and Controls: Provide oversight of global payroll compliance, tax administration, statutory reporting, and internal controls. Ensure regulatory requirements are met, risks are proactively managed, and audit readiness is maintained.

Governance and Enterprise Accountability: Establish governance, performance management, escalation protocols, and accountability frameworks. Monitor operational, financial, compliance, and technology risks while driving transparency and measurable outcomes.

Vendor and Commercial Management: Lead relationships with payroll, time, technology, and managed-service providers. Oversee vendor performance, service delivery, contract management, negotiations, and value realization.

Transformation and Technology Enablement: Sponsor and lead global transformation initiatives, including process standardization, automation, technology implementation, vendor transitions, and operating model enhancements that improve efficiency and scalability.

Organizational and Talent Leadership: Build and develop a high-performing global team. Foster accountability, leadership capability, succession planning, collaboration, and a culture of continuous improvement and inclusion.

Skills and Minimum Experience Required

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field. Masters Degree preferred.
• PMP Certification
• 15+ years of progressive global payroll and time-management experiences, including the past 7 years leading muli-country operations, transformation, compliance and senior level teams
• Experience leading payroll and time operations in a large, complex multinational organizations, including global transformation, multi-country vendor mangaement, acquistions or divestiures, and highly regulated environments. Experience with shared-services or outsourced delivery models preferred.
• Global Payroll Leadership: Proven ability to lead complex, multi-country payroll and time operations, set enterprise direction, and create accountability across global, regional, and local teams.
• Strategic and Operating-Model Design: Ability to translate business and workforce strategies into a scalable global payroll roadmap, service-delivery model, governance structure, and clearly defined decision rights
• Executive Communication and Influence: Ability to explain complex payroll, tax, compliance, technology, and vendor issues in clear business terms and influence senior leaders across HR, Finance, Tax, Legal, Technology, Audit, and Procurement.
• Transformation and Change Leadership: Demonstrated success leading global operating-model redesign, process standardization, platform implementations, vendor transitions, country deployments, adoption, and sustainable change.
• Vendor and Commercial Management: Ability to establish service levels and performance measures, lead executive escalations and contract negotiations, evaluate sourcing models, and hold third-party providers accountable for outcomes.
• Global Talent and Stakeholder Leadership: Ability to build high-performing, culturally diverse teams, develop leaders, manage through influence, and align stakeholders around shared standards, decisions, and service outcomes.
• Operational Resilience and Crisis Leadership: Ability to manage high-risk payroll disruptions with sound judgment and composure and to maintain effective business-continuity, disaster-recovery, escalation, and recovery plans.
• Ability to travel up to 20% for business.

The range for this position is $164,900.00 to $356,100.00 USD. Placement within this range may vary, depending on the applicant's experience and geographic location. Acuity offers generous benefits including health care, dental coverage, vision plans, 401K benefits, and commissions/incentive compensation depending on the role. For a list of our benefits, click here.