Global Head of Payroll
Wise
Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.
Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.
As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.
More about our mission and what we offer.
We’re currently hiring for a Global Head of Payroll based in London to lead our Payroll Team. This is a global leadership role within the People Services team and reporting to the Global People Operations Director overseeing payroll operations, vendor strategy, compliance and transformation across all regions. You will lead a team of regional payroll leads and specialists, own the global vendor landscape (including CloudPay, Deel and Workday), and work closely with People Operations, Reward, Finance and People Technology to ensure payroll is accurate, compliant, efficient and scalable.
You’ll be accountable for transforming the function further — leveraging technology, streamlining processes & driving process improvements, strengthening controls, and preparing Wise’s payroll model for future growth and increasing complexity.
The Role:
Strategic Leadership and Transformation:
- Define and drive Wise’s global payroll strategy and organisation structure operating model, ensuring it remains fit for purpose as the business grows and evolves
- Lead transformation and automation initiatives to increase efficiency, reduce manual work and enhance data integrity
- Partner with People Tech to leverage existing systems and identify new solutions that support scale and colleague experience
Team Leadership and Capability Building:
- Lead and develop a global team of regional payroll Leads and Specialists across EMEA, AMERICAS and APAC and create global project ownership within the team to offer growth & development opportunities
- Embed a “one team” philosophy, fostering collaboration and consistency while respecting regional requirements
- Drive knowledge sharing and up-skilling across the team to increase capability, resilience and strategic impact
Vendor and Stakeholder Management:
- Own the global payroll vendor strategy, including performance management, contract optimisation and vendor selection where needed. Involving members of the wiser people / finance / procurement team as appropriate
- Manage key vendor relationships (CloudPay, Deel, Workday and others) to ensure services meet Wise’s evolving needs and continuously evaluate the landscape to ensure Wise gets value for money
- Work closely with Reward, Finance, Legal, People Operations and regional leadership to align payroll delivery with business priorities. Set up ownership models, clarify roles & responsibilities
Operational Excellence and Risk Management:
- Oversee global payroll operations, ensuring accurate, timely and compliant processing across all countries
- Strengthen the control environment, including reconciliations, statutory filings, tax remittance and audit readiness
- Act as escalation point for complex and sensitive issues, balancing compliance with colleague-centric outcomes
About You:
- Proven global payroll leader with experience managing large-scale, complex operations across multiple regions
- Track record of enhancing payroll functions through automation, process redesign and team capability building
- Deep expertise in global payroll compliance and controls within regulated environments
- Strong vendor management skills, with experience optimising external partnerships and driving performance to SLAs
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at executive level
- Passionate about developing people, embedding global ways of working and creating inclusive, high-performing teams
- Pragmatic and solutions-focused, with the ability to balance compliance, efficiency and colleague experience
- Experience working in a fast-paced, high-growth and ambiguous environment is essential
For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.
We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.
If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.
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