Payroll Operations Services Manager

Join us on a journey of endless possibilities

At Strada, possibility isn’t just a promise – it’s the foundation of everything we do. We believe in unlocking potential for every colleague, creating a journey of growth, discovery, and impact.

With the support, resources, and opportunities we provide, you’ll build a fulfilling future – working on meaningful projects that span industries and regions, contributing to outcomes that matter.

Strada is a people, payroll, and technology leader simplifying international workforce management. Operating in 180+ countries, we design and deliver people-first solutions powered by cloud-based technology – helping organizations grow and enabling workforces to perform at their best.

Learn more at

The Payroll Operations Services Manager (OSM) provides end-to-end oversight of payroll operations for assigned clients and serves as the primary operational escalation point. The OSM coordinates delivery teams, third-party providers, Client Service Leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders to meet contractual obligations and service commitments. The OSM leads operational health, service-level performance, payroll change execution, audit readiness, financial and resource management, service recovery, and continuous improvement. The OSM is also a people leader who develops aligned payroll colleagues to deliver consistent, compliant, and client-focused outcomes.

Core Accountabilities

• Payroll Service Delivery Oversight

· Provide oversight for day-to-day payroll delivery across service locations, platforms, internal teams, and third-party providers.

· Monitor payroll workload, critical processing activities, capacity, dependencies, risks, and open items to ensure business-as-usual work and projects meet required deadlines and quality standards.

· Lead payroll status calls and key client-event planning, including annual and recurring payroll activities including Union agreement changes, bonus cycles, year-end operations, legislative changes, mergers and acquisitions, and changes in scope.

· Ensure consistent execution of operating procedures, controls, contractual requirements, and approved service delivery practices.

· Evaluate orphaned or unclear work to define the process, establish ownership, or eliminate unnecessary activity.

· Lead operational readiness and stabilization activities for new services, transitions, vendor changes, and material payroll initiatives.

• Client Delivery and Service Partnership

· Partner with the CSL to ensure governance actions, service priorities, and client commitments are completed accurately and on time.

· Build trusted relationships with key client contacts and serve as the secondary operational contact for payroll delivery matters.

· Participate in and, as appropriate, lead client governance meetings, operational reviews, and status calls, presenting payroll performance, risks, actions, and recommendations.

· Provide payroll operational consultation, recommendations, and best-practice guidance to support changes, releases, and legislative or tax updates.

· Coordinate timely client communications regarding payroll operations, delivery risks, service improvements, resource changes, and other business initiatives impacting payroll delivery.

• Governance, Metrics, and Operational Health

· Monitor payroll operational health and performance across aligned clients and teams, driving achievement of established service and operational targets.

· Analyze dashboards, productivity data, operational metrics, open-item reporting, and service results to identify trends, emerging risks, performance gaps, and improvement opportunities.

· Prepare payroll governance materials, service metrics, and operational scorecards, ensuring assigned content is accurate, complete, and ready for stakeholder review.

· Develop and coordinate mitigation and recovery plans for missed targets, operational risks, escalating concerns as appropriate.

• Escalation Management, Service Recovery and E&O

· Serve as the primary escalation point for payroll service delivery issues and high-impact or highly visible service failures.

· Coordinate issue investigation to determine root cause, impacted population, operational and client impact, risk exposure, and required corrective actions.

· Develop and coordinate service recovery and mitigation plans, ensuring actions are tracked through completion and appropriate stakeholders are engaged.

· Coordinate Root Cause Analysis documentation and coordinate required internal review, approval, and client delivery.

· Initiate and support Errors and Omissions processes, ensuring required documentation is completed and coordinating with the CSL and applicable stakeholders to mitigate financial and client impacts.

· Review and track service recoveries, corrective actions, and recurring issues to identify trends and drive process improvement and risk-reduction opportunities.

• SLA, Contract, Risk and Compliance Management

· Serve as the payroll operational subject matter expert for aligned Statements of Work, service commitments, SLA definitions, calculations, targets, and contractual obligations.

· Monitor SLA, KPI, and other contractual performance, coordinating root cause analysis, remediation, recovery actions, and reporting when performance targets are not met.

· Ensure payroll delivery remains within contractual scope and identify potential scope creep or work requiring a Change Request.

· Conduct applicable risk-based audits and ensure required payroll controls are executed, monitored, and maintained in accordance with established control requirements.

· Coordinate and actively participate in SOC1 audits, control assessments, evidence collection, remediation activities, and other applicable compliance reviews.

· Maintain payroll Business Continuity plans for aligned clients and coordinate required testing, recovery exercises, and execution during business continuity events.

6. Change Requests, Projects, and Continuous Improvement

· Provide oversight for payroll Change Request activities, including intake, operational scoping, assumptions, work estimates, testing requirements, and implementation readiness.

· Validate detailed payroll scope, requirements, and estimates for work owned by the aligned service area, including estimates prepared by delivery teams.

· Coordinate with the CSL, impacted domains and service areas, vendors, Finance, and project resources to support end-to-end Change Request delivery.

· Manage payroll-specific projects when a dedicated project manager is not assigned, maintaining appropriate plans, risks, issues, actions, and status reporting.

· Identify and implement opportunities for standardization, automation, global sourcing, demand reduction, capacity creation, and process improvement.

· Ensure process documentation, training, knowledge transfer, and appropriate monitoring are completed to support the effective transition and sustainability of new or improved processes.

7. Financial and Resource Management

· Monitor variable charges, resource utilization, headcount and cost for Global team, time recording, non-colleague costs, project hours, and other financial drivers for assigned clients, identifying variances and taking appropriate action.

· Identify and implement cost-management, global sourcing and efficiency opportunities while balancing client commitments, control requirements, colleague capacity, and service quality.

· Manage global sourcing partner performance through regular scorecard reviews, service oversight, root cause analysis, and implementation of opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs

· Develop and maintain resource and staffing plans based on delivery requirements, anticipated demand, workload, risk, and required skills and capabilities.

· Identify talent, capacity, and coverage risks and implement appropriate mitigation plans, including cross-training, succession, and continuity planning.

· Support functional estimation, sales, renewal, and growth activities by providing payroll operational expertise and input as required.

8. People Leadership

· Lead, coach, and develop aligned payroll colleagues through clear expectations, accountability, performance management, development and succession planning, effective workload assignment, and capability building, while connecting individual goals to business outcomes.

· Lead change management and drive consistent communication of key priorities, standards, decisions, and expectations across payroll operations.

· Build strong cross-functional partnerships across Payroll, Tax, Treasury, Year-End, AMS, Implementation, Technology, Finance, Client Services, and third-party delivery teams to enable effective end-to-end delivery.

· Champion a one-team culture centered on client outcomes, quality, compliance, collaboration, continuous improvement, and ownership.

At Strada, our values guide everything we do:

• Anticipate Customer Needs – We stay ahead of trends so our customers can grow and succeed.
• Own the Outcome – We take responsibility for delivering excellence and ensuring things get done right.
• Challenge Ourselves to Work Smarter – We move faster than the world around us to drive change and accomplish more.
• Empower Each Other to Solve Problems – We tackle challenges head on, ask tough questions, and collaborate to find the best solutions.
• Care About Our Work and Our People – We understand that what we do impacts millions, and we have a responsibility to get it right.

Benefits

At Strada, we support your whole self—offering a range of benefits for your health, wellbeing, finances, and future. These include health coverage, wellbeing programs, paid leave (vacation, sick, parental), retirement plans, learning opportunities, and more.

All offers are contingent on successful completion of background checks, where permitted by law and as appropriate for the role. These may include identity, education, employment, and in some cases, criminal history verification, checks against global watchlists, credit reports, and/or drug testing. You’ll be informed of the specific checks applicable to your role and location during the recruitment process.

Our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Strada is dedicated to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. We believe that embracing differences strengthens our teams and drives innovation and success.

Diversity Policy Statement

Strada is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination based on legally protected characteristics. We actively support the advancement of underrepresented groups and provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities and religious practices. Applicants may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting their recruiter.

Authorization to work in the Employing Country

To be considered, you must have current and future work authorization in the country where you're applying, without the need for visa sponsorship by Strada.

Please note: This job description does not limit Strada’s right to assign or reassign responsibilities, including to subsidiaries, partners, or future business purchasers.

We offer you a competitive total rewards package, continuing education & training, and tremendous potential with a growing worldwide organization.

DISCLAIMER:

Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities of this job to other entities; including but not limited to subsidiaries, partners, or purchasers of Strada business units.