Interim Global Payroll & Benefits Manager

Role Overview

The Global Payroll & Benefits Manager leads IG's payroll and benefits function across 14+ countries, sitting within the People Services team and reporting to the Head of People Services. This is a 12-month fixed-term contract position based in London, requiring 3 days a week in office.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations:

• Oversee the accurate and timely delivery of payroll across 14+ countries, managing a mix of insourced and outsourced payroll models
• Own the end-to-end payroll calendar, ensuring all country payrolls are processed within defined SLAs and in compliance with local legislation
• Act as the escalation point for complex payroll queries and cross-country issues, driving prompt and effective resolution
• Establish and maintain robust payroll controls, reconciliation processes, and audit trails to ensure data integrity and regulatory compliance
• Ensure all payrolls are processed in line with local legislative requirements, tax obligations, and IG's internal policies

Benefits Administration:

• Oversee the administration of employee benefits programmes across 14+ countries, ensuring each market's benefits are accurately maintained, communicated, and delivered
• Act as the operational owner of benefits enrolment, renewals, and changes, coordinating with local HR contacts, brokers, and benefits providers to ensure seamless employee experience
• Maintain accurate benefits data and records, ensuring alignment between benefits systems, payroll, and HR platforms
• Support the review and benchmarking of country-level benefits offerings in partnership with the broader People team, ensuring programmes remain competitive and compliant with local requirements
• Manage relationships with benefits brokers and third-party providers, holding them to account on service quality and cost

Team Leadership:

• Lead, develop, and performance-manage a team of 7+ payroll & benefits specialists, building individual capability and overall team effectiveness
• Foster a high-performance team culture focused on accuracy, continuous improvement, and colleague service
• Drive workload planning and prioritisation across the team to ensure resilience and consistent service delivery

Vendor Management:

• Manage relationships with outsourced payroll vendors, holding them to account against agreed SLAs and quality standards
• Lead or contribute to any vendor review or consolidation activity, including scoping, selection, and transition planning

Process Improvement & Compliance:

• Identify and drive improvements to payroll processes, controls, and tooling — reducing manual effort, improving accuracy, and increasing scalability
• Lead the stabilisation of current payroll operations, building a clear baseline and roadmap for ongoing improvement
• Leverage ADP and Workday effectively, partnering with HR Technology colleagues to ensure platforms support operational needs
• Maintain a strong controls framework and provide clear, accurate reporting to senior stakeholders on payroll performance and risk
• Support internal and external audits, ensuring documentation and processes meet required standards

Cross-functional Collaboration:

• Partner closely with Finance and Tax teams to ensure payroll outputs are accurate, well-reconciled, and aligned with statutory obligations

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Proven experience managing multi-country payroll operations, ideally across both insourced and outsourced models
• Experience overseeing benefits administration across multiple countries, including working with brokers, providers, and local HR contacts
• Strong people leadership skills with experience managing and developing a team of payroll professionals
• Hands-on experience with ADP in a multi-country payroll environment
• Solid understanding of payroll compliance, statutory requirements, and audit/controls frameworks across multiple jurisdictions
• Track record of improving payroll processes, controls, and service quality in a complex organisation
• Demonstrated ability to manage and hold to account external payroll vendors against defined SLAs
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, particularly with Finance and Tax stakeholders
• Comfortable operating in an environment where structure and process improvements need to be built, not inherited

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience working in a fintech, financial services, or similarly regulated industry
• Familiarity with Workday in an HR/payroll or benefits context
• Exposure to benefits benchmarking or renewal processes across multiple geographies
• Exposure to payroll vendor consolidation or re-procurement exercises
• Experience working within a matrix-structured, globally distributed People or HR function
• Knowledge of payroll requirements across European, APAC, or North American jurisdictions

Work Arrangement

• Location: London
• Office: 3 days a week in office
• Contract: 12 months fixed-term
• Level: Senior and Expert level
• Salary: Not provided