Senior Payroll Manager

Description:
Amazon is looking for an energetic and enthusiastic candidate to join the fast-paced world of EMEA Payroll Operations. We are not an average retailer and this is definitely not your average Payroll Management position. We will give you the opportunity to make a real difference to our business by working on and initiating projects in a fast-paced environment and ultimately deliver results. It is critical to Amazon's on-going success that we provide the highest service to our employees. If you are motivated to dive into the detail and take ownership, we have the career you are looking for!

We are looking for a strong operational leader with excellent communication skills and a strong proven background in delivering multiple payrolls. The role is a fantastic opportunity for a leader, who wants to raise the bar for the payroll team and set the team up for success. The successful candidate will lead one of the sub-regional Payroll teams located in Bratislava. He/she will be responsible to be the payroll operational leader of several countries and more than 40 Amazon employees + payroll vendors.

This position will be responsible for all aspects of the team's operations including: hiring, training, and employee development; managing group workload and establishing priorities; ensuring existing policies and procedures are followed; managing annual performance targets and operating budget; creating and monitoring appropriate performance metrics. This position will also act as an escalation point in resolving complex outstanding issues with internal and external business partners. Overall responsible for Audit compliance and Business controls. The role requires a candidate with ability to manage and improve the payroll operations (performance metrics, internal controls, compliance, automation...) as well as to manage regional projects. The candidate will interact with senior and executive stakeholders worldwide.

Key job responsibilities

• Contributes to the strategic direction of the company based on internal and industry knowledge
• Responsible for developing and communicating team or department vision and goals
• Build and monitor a consolidated Payroll Operations annual operating plan to forecast headcount needs with detailed analysis of budget to actual results on a monthly and quarterly basis
• Partner with external stakeholders HR, HRS, Accounting, Treasury (external to the Payroll department)
• Partner with internal stakeholders Compliance, Controllership, Payroll Transformation, Payroll Academy
• Responsible to develop and implement systems to support rapid growth Performs autonomously and initiate and manages complex, departmental and/or cross- company work
• Build scalable processes to recruit, train and develop business professionals to support business expansion in EMEA
• Lead performance review processes with VPs, Directors and senior leaders across functions in the region

People Management Leading and developing a team, including:

• hiring, training and employee development;
• managing group workload and establishing priorities;
• ensuring existing policies and procedures are followed;
• managing annual performance, targets;
• creating and monitoring appropriate performance metrics;
• succession planning; resource planning.
• Coaching junior first time people managers.
• Responsible for 50+ team members including second line managers, first line managers and individual contributors

Basic Qualifications:
-Payroll Experience
- more than 15 years
-Experience of leading and managing teams - more than 10 years
-A minimum of 10 years in a role with a similar scope
-Strong vendor management skills and experience Strong in-house payroll experience, including application change management
-Previous experience within a control or audit environment
-Able to develop a professional payroll function which is scalable & flexible to meet the company's rapid growth
-Experience working with SOX compliance
-Fluent English + another EU language C1/C2
-Vast knowledge in Payroll Accounting
-Vast knowledge of EMEA Labor law and local legislation

Professional traits that are not unique to this position, but necessary for Amazon leaders:

-Absolutely obsessed to provide a best of class customer experience to Amazon's employees and managers
-Build, inspire and motivate the teams to raise the bar
-Liaise with key stakeholders for procedural changes
-Maintain relationship with key internal and external partners
-A strong passion for hiring and developing people
-Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines while managing multiple projects
-Ability to work independently in a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment
-Strong analytical skills to identify potential impact and implications of issues and takes appropriate action to avoid future recurrences
-Exhibits excellent judgment
-Leads with data and develops audit mechanisms to stay close to the data -Has relentlessly high standards
-Superior written and verbal communication
-Thinks strategically, but stays on top of tactical execution
-Expects and requires innovation of her/his team
-Thinks big and has convictions
-Results oriented -Has the innate ability to inspire passion in others -Deals well in ambiguous environments

Preferred Qualifications:
-Global ERP for Payroll and Workday HCM knowledge are a plus
-Six/Lean Sigma Certified
-CIPP, MSCC or other payroll / accounting / tax qualification
-PMI, Prince2, Agile or other Project Management Certification
-Expat Payroll/shadow payroll knowledge