Director, Payroll EMEA

Role overview:

The Director, EMEA Payroll is a strategic and key transformational role, designed to provide leading payroll, process improvement, scale and vendor management services support to Sony Interactive Entertainment in delivering best in class Payroll for EMEA.

This role is positioned within the People Experience team in HR. As Director, you will be responsible for building internal capacity and capability across the Payroll function as well as ensure that the end to end delivery of services connects with the COE teams in a complex matrix environment.

You'll be responsible for designing and implementing transformation change within the organisation, from team structures through to operating and governance models of the future, initially UK/ROI with application to EMEA and beyond. This individual will lead change aligned to SIE’s strategic objectives, inputting and driving the direction of the strategy, reporting to senior HR leadership, alongside key partners across Finance, COE, Global Tax and group companies. The Director is expected to maintain up-to-date awareness of current trends and technologies in HR and Payroll to fully assess vendor requirements and scalability.

The Payroll team EMEA doesn’t currently exist (it is outsourced) and one of the first requirements is to source and select talent for the open roles and to continue the Compliance and Governance improvement framework that is already in process with Deloitte. This will continue to evolve as the territories will merge into the Center and requires the strategic and operational handholding from the Director for and with the team.

What you'll be doing:

Transformation, Change and Vendor Management:

• Be the strategic voice for Payroll services across HR and People Experience Team, developing and owning the Payroll Roadmap and advocating for Payroll needs
• Inspire change across the EMEA landscape, developing a new SIE Payroll team and function, assessing opportunities for scalability and automation. Aligning it to future location strategies and business partnering with the business to identify those needs.
• Develop integrated relationships across the SIE organisation and collaborate with HR, Benefits, Compensation, Business, Global Tax, alongside external parties.
• Network with third party providers and review key offerings, assess offerings to align strategic objectives and scale (e.g. outsourcing, location strategy, growth).
• Solicit customer feedback from across teams downstream and upstream to understand potential areas of vendor services improvement.
• Review appropriate responsibilities to the vendor management team and call out issues and results to executive management with a solution driven mind-set.

Project Management and Strategic Initiatives:

• Ensure contract agreements are being fulfilled/leveraged and monitor relevant metrics and growth needs as part of location strategy roadmap.
• Direct project management for initiatives in HR and Payroll special projects
• Lead meetings to set end-to-end pay processes expectations and drive agreeable outcomes; ensure the team implements those in a timely and consistent manner
• Develop vendor governance model, review end-to-end processes and adapt the model to the changing needs of the business.
• Experience of shared service Payroll functions and location strategy
• Produce performance scorecard and coordinate service improvement initiatives.
• Report project progress to executive management and manage reporting
• Ability to identify data trends and Payroll and Time technology architecture and articulate recommendations with IT, HRIS, Operations and outsource services on SIE’s ongoing payroll requirements.
• See opportunities for process improvement, contract updates, and new initiatives

Payroll Services Account Governance and Risk:

• Audit the inherited functions and the Governance models, to ensure delivery of the payroll processes and results (currently UK, Ireland and Modified payroll, soon to be expanding to incorporate other EMEA jurisdictions and beyond) to adhere to compliance requirements
• Lead the coordination of Payroll vendor responsibilities
• Review and approve necessary additional services payments against contractual obligations and see opportunities for reducing occurrences
• Oversee payroll governance infrastructure comprised of policies, controls and other risk management tools
• Directly accountable to ensure that Payroll service meets all applicable service level agreements
• Responsible to ensure the application of a strong governance model across the payroll operations and build in sufficient controls
• Provide consultation support of multi-country tax administration services, including monitoring for latest tax requirements at the UK, EMEA level and defining requirements for all applicable payroll tax jurisdictions
• Sign-off the international assignees shadow payrolls and audit pay to ensure results agree with recommendations from mobility services
• Assess and implement payroll sign-off and governance structures across all regions

What we're looking for:

• 15+ years (or equivalent) of demonstrable track record of leading Payroll strategically within a large, complex international organisation and extensive project management experience
• Experienced in managing outsourced payroll providers and developing a vendor governance model
• Background in multi-tier support structure and dealing with external outsource support model
• Possess a deep understanding and experience of UK and EMEA payroll and tax law
• Proven expatriate and repatriate processing experience and mobility understanding
• Experience leading multiple teams, developing and inspiring others in matrix environments
• Experience in developing team members, succession planning and directing training initiatives
• Issue resolution, solution oriented, future proofing models and accountability
• Solid understanding of general HR processes and data, including eligibility and procedures, to provide expected correct downstream pay result outcomes.
• Analytical skills with ability to produce and effectively articulate recommendations to leadership.
• General understanding of HR and Payroll system databases, functions and processes, specifically multi-functional touchpoints
• Experience of scaling, process improvement and designing service solution to match location strategy and business needs
• Outstanding leadership quality, project management skills and business commercial awareness.

Benefits:

• Discretionary bonus opportunity
• Hybrid Working (within Flexmodes)
• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Scheme
• 25 days holiday per year
• On Site Gym
• Subsidised Café
• Free soft drinks
• On site bar
• Access to cycle garage and showers