Senior Manager, Payroll Operations

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Job Description:

Reporting directly to the Director of Payroll, you are a payroll expert. You utilise your in-depth expertise across all areas of payroll, accountable for all Payroll processing, operations and projects for Activision Blizzard in the APAC & Greater China regions & globally. Working closely across multiple complex key stakeholder groups internally and externally, you will lead partnerships with HR and your finance colleagues, owning payroll related matters and compliance. 

You are accountable for delivering on processes to ensure the execution of payroll. You will provide best insights, market practice and new perspectives to solve multifaceted problems. Success in this role is defined by continuously driving for process improvement and leads future optimizations of the payroll area.

You are a true people leader with direct responsibility for managing the day-to-day management of the Payroll Operations, as well as the success of the Payroll specialists.

Responsibilities:
 

• End-to-end accountability for all payroll processes & projects for ABK APAC & Greater China entities.
• Hands-on mentality & delivery on the daily Payroll Operations, together with the Payroll specialist(s).
• Liaise with internal stakeholders (e.g. employees, HR teams etc.) and external payroll providers (e.g. EY, FESCO, CIIC etc.) to complete timely and accurate full payroll calculation and payment.
• Reviews and approves pay period results according to the established deadlines, responsible for ensuring the timely submission of payroll inputs to the third-party payroll provider.
• Accountable for delivering against all global payroll compliance, efficiencies & timeliness.
• Utilize your extensive project management skills to lead & support on global, APAC & GC projects, leveraging your payroll and tax expertise
• Responsible for team reporting and data is managed on both a recurrent & ad hoc basis.
• Execute superior stakeholder management skills with internal and external clients: e.g. HR teams, Finance teams, ABK.
• Operate to one global standardized way of working across the Payroll team as a whole, and operate to achieve the overall team goals and objectives
• Lead and maintain partnerships with payroll and tax vendors providing oversight, monitoring and approvals of all payroll related processes and compliance.
• Responsible for regulatory agency enquiries (such as Tax offices), ensuring payroll vendor requirements are compliant with applicable regulations.
• Delivers on key process improvements and foresees future optimizations of the payroll area, sponsoring team projects and takes an active role supporting the team in their SMEs.

• Stays abreast of regulation changes to ensure accuracy and service to customers. Maintain compliance with all local regulations regarding payroll and benefits.
• Defines approaches, delivers policies and innovates on procedures, ensuring continual improvements in the efficiencies of the department.
• Serves as an escalation point of contact for Payroll service delivery.
• Accountable for correct accounting via our payroll journals, maintaining accuracy of transactions to ensure high quality outputs are maintained at all times
• Accountable for the monthly and annual returns and their accuracy
• Responsible for all employee income related tax reports, including monthly tax verification, annual tax filing process, and equity tax plan withhold and reporting.
• Familiar with expat payroll and mobility tax related matters
• Look for opportunities to standardize and consolidate payroll processes across APAC region, in alignment with global processes and policies

Team management

• You are a passionate People manager, will lead by example, develop and coach the team.
• Set KPIs and Objectives for the team, measuring and ensuring these are being delivered, based upon Payroll team goals
• You are responsible for providing any training, development and learning needs that team members require, providing best in practice working ways.
• Monitor team members' participation to ensure the training they provide is being put into use, and also to see if any additional training is needed.
• Manage the task, work and project allocation and flow of day-to-day operations, including team & task planning and regular status updates to the team.

Requirements

• Experienced & technical skillset in APAC Payroll Operations (+5 years) for mainland China, Taiwan, Korea. Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Australian is a plus.  
• Experienced People manager (+5 years)
• Experienced in payroll journals, cost analysis and budget plan.
• Experienced working in a project environment and contributing to payroll change projects.
• Experienced in leading, managing and developing a small team of specialists.
• Experienced in stock related work, such as the tax filing for RSU/ESPP, SAFE registration and ongoing payment in China
• Excellent communication skills, both internal & externally.
• Excellent time planning skills
• Willing & able to learn, develop and focus on continuous improvement.
• Fluent in English, both written and verbal.
• Excellent IT skills – particularly PowerPoint and Excel.
• Experienced with outsourced Payroll. EY PCC/IP tool experience is a plus.
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, ambitious and matrix organization.
• Accuracy should be a consistent trademark for all deliverables.
• Knowledge of local tax/labor legislation of APAC & GC region is a plus.