Payroll Project Manager

We are looking for an experienced Payroll Project Manager to lead the planning, implementation, and successful delivery of payroll projects. This role involves managing the entire payroll project lifecycle, coordinating between business and technical teams, and ensuring payroll requirements are met accurately. The Payroll Project Manager will oversee system integrations, testing, compliance, and go-live activities, working closely with multiple stakeholders to achieve seamless project execution.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead payroll projects from initial planning and requirements gathering through implementation, go-live, and post-implementation support.
- Develop and maintain detailed project plans, including milestones, timelines, dependencies, and deliverables.
- Coordinate payroll process design, system configuration, testing, and deployment activities.
- Manage integrations between payroll, HRIS, time and attendance, finance, banking, benefits, and other third-party systems.
- Oversee data migration, employee data validation, payroll configuration, and reconciliation processes.
- Lead System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), parallel payroll runs, payroll validation, and ensure production readiness.
- Ensure accurate configuration and validation of payroll components such as calculations, earnings, deductions, benefits, taxes, leave, and overtime.
- Collaborate with Payroll, HR, Finance, IT teams, vendors, and implementation partners to ensure project success.
- Identify, assess, and manage project risks, issues, dependencies, and change requests.
- Monitor project progress, track key milestones, and provide regular status updates and reports to senior management.
- Ensure compliance with payroll regulations, statutory requirements, and relevant standards throughout the project lifecycle.
- Maintain comprehensive project documentation, including RAID logs, action trackers, requirements, test results, status reports, and implementation decisions.
- Manage stakeholder expectations and facilitate timely resolution of project challenges.
- Coordinate knowledge transfer and ensure smooth transition to payroll and HR operations teams post-implementation.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience in payroll, HRIS, payroll transformation, or payroll implementation projects.
- Proven track record managing payroll system implementations, upgrades, or transformation initiatives.
- Strong understanding of end-to-end payroll processes, including calculation, validation, reconciliation, and reporting.
- Experience working with payroll systems, HRIS platforms, and payroll-related integrations.
- Demonstrated ability to integrate payroll systems with HRIS, Finance/ERP, time management, benefits, banking, and third-party applications.
- Experience managing payroll projects across multiple countries, legal entities, or business units.
- In-depth knowledge of payroll compliance, statutory requirements, and data privacy considerations.
- Skilled in managing cross-functional teams, external vendors, project timelines, and stakeholder expectations.
- Excellent project planning, risk management, problem-solving, communication, and organizational skills.
- Proficiency in project management tools and documentation standards.

Preferred Qualifications

- Certification in project management such as PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, or an equivalent credential is highly desirable.

This role offers the opportunity to lead critical payroll initiatives in a dynamic environment, working with diverse teams and stakeholders to drive successful project outcomes.