This is a remote position.
Job title : Payroll Transition lead
Position Overview : Experienced professionals to serve as Service Transition Leads for the India Payroll Center of Excellence (COE). The role will lead the transition of payroll services from regional teams and vendors into the COE, ensuring that processes, controls, documentation, knowledge transfer, and operational readiness requirements are completed before service acceptance. This role requires a strong combination of end-to-end payroll expertise, service transition experience, operational readiness, stakeholder management, and post-go-live stabilization capabilities. The selected professionals will work directly with regional payroll teams, HR, Finance, vendors, and COE leadership to ensure a smooth and controlled transition with minimal disruption to payroll delivery.
Key Responsibilities :
Service Transition & Operational Readiness: Lead payroll service transitions into the India Payroll COE, assess readiness, identify gaps and risks, and ensure all service acceptance criteria are met prior to go-live.
Payroll Process SME: Serve as the functional expert across end-to-end payroll operations, validations, controls, statutory requirements, and country-specific practices, ensuring transitioned processes align with global standards and local requirements.
Knowledge Transfer & Service Acceptance: Own knowledge transfer across regional teams, vendors, and the COE, ensuring SOPs, work instructions, process documentation, and other service artifacts are complete, accurate, and formally accepted.
Transition & Stabilization Management: Coordinate shadowing, reverse shadowing, parallel operations, cutover readiness, hypercare, and stabilization activities while proactively managing operational risks and issues.
Stakeholder Partnership: Work closely with Payroll, HR, Finance, vendors, technology teams, and COE leadership to manage dependencies, resolve transition issues, clarify ownership, and drive adoption of standardized processes.
Governance & Continuous Improvement: Monitor transition readiness, service quality, KPIs, and issue trends; capture lessons learned; and identify opportunities to strengthen controls, standardize processes, and improve future transitions.
Payroll Operations Leadership: Support the development of scalable Payroll COE operations by embedding effective governance, service management, compliance controls, escalation mechanisms, and continuous improvement practices.
Relevant experience in payroll operations, payroll transformation, HR transformation, or payroll system implementation.
Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes and associated controls.
Experience supporting implementation and post-implementation stabilization activities.
Ability to manage multiple process activities and priorities in a time-sensitive environment.
Strong stakeholder-management and client-facing skills.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication capabilities.
Ability to work independently and collaborate with geographically dispersed teams.
Flexibility to work with stakeholders across Southeast Asian time zones.
Prior experience with Strada or a similar payroll technology or managed payroll-services platform.
Experience working on regional or global payroll transformation programs.
Familiarity with process design, process mapping, testing, change management, and operational readiness.
Experience working with payroll teams in Southeast Asia.
Consulting or professional-services experience.
Primary focus: Transition of payroll services into the India Payroll COE
Required Skills:
- Relevant experience in payroll operations, payroll transformation, HR transformation, or payroll system implementation.
- Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes and associated controls.
- Experience supporting implementation and post-implementation stabilization activities.
- Ability to manage multiple process activities and priorities in a time-sensitive environment.
- Strong stakeholder-management and client-facing skills.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication capabilities.
- Ability to work independently and collaborate with geographically dispersed teams.
- Flexibility to work with stakeholders across Southeast Asian time zones.
Mandatory Skills:
- India Payroll, Global Payroll, Payroll Transition, Service Lead, Implementation and setting up COE, Functional knowledge of Payroll, PMO. Excellent Communication skills.
