Global Payroll Manager

FieldAI•Irvine, CA

3d•$100,000 - $150,000

About The Position

FieldAI is seeking a Global Payroll Manager to own end-to-end payroll for its distributed workforce across UCAN, APAC, and EMEA, including employees, contractors, and temporary workers. This builder role will establish payroll policies and scalable processes, identify and close operational gaps, and support expansion into new countries. The manager will report to the Controller and work closely with People Ops, Legal, Finance, and teams across the organization. The role covers payroll delivery through in-house operations, in-country providers, and Employer of Record partners; payroll taxes and year-end reporting; contingent-worker payments and classification; payroll systems and integrations; and payroll accounting and reconciliations. The manager will also serve as a resource for employee payroll questions across time zones, support workforce changes with People Ops, and advise leadership on payroll and tax considerations when hiring in new countries. FieldAI’s Irvine team develops and tests embodied AI systems on real robots and hardware, with deployments in unstructured environments. The company describes its work as combining engineering and learning systems to build reliable, field-ready robotics. Its headquarters is in Irvine, California, and it collaborates with colleagues across the United States and around the world.

Requirements

At least 8 years of progressive payroll experience, including 2–3 years managing multi-country payroll and meaningful experience in a startup environment.
Hands-on payroll experience across UCAN, APAC, and EMEA.
Direct experience paying contractors and temporary workers at scale, with working knowledge of worker-classification risk.
Experience with BambooHR data management, reporting, and payroll integrations.
Demonstrated ability to build and improve processes rather than only execute inherited processes.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain payroll and tax complexity in plain language to employees and leadership.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with BambooHR and TriNet.
CPP or FPC (PayrollOrg), CPM (Canada), or CIPP (UK) certification.
Experience with global payroll platforms such as Deel, Rippling, Papaya Global, or ADP Global.
Experience with equity payroll events, such as option exercises, across jurisdictions.
Experience in Series A–C companies and familiarity with being the first to formalize a process.

Responsibilities

Own accurate, timely payroll for employees across UCAN, APAC, and EMEA, whether handled in-house, through in-country providers, or through Employer of Record partners.
Manage the global payroll calendar, payroll inputs, and approvals across multiple pay frequencies and currencies.
Oversee payroll tax withholding, filings, remittances, and registrations when entering new countries and states.
Manage year-end reporting in each jurisdiction, including W-2, T4, P60, and local equivalents.
Own contractor and temporary-worker payment processes, including onboarding, invoicing, approvals, and payment runs.
Partner with People Ops and Legal on worker classification and misclassification risk, including ABC tests, IR35, and local equivalents.
Manage staffing agency and EOR relationships and reconcile invoices against timesheets and contracted rates.
Own 1099 and other non-employee tax reporting.
Maintain BambooHR as the source of truth for employee data and ensure compensation and job changes flow into payroll.
Own integrations between BambooHR, payroll providers, benefits carriers, and NetSuite.
Identify and close payroll process gaps, creating scalable policies and controls where they do not yet exist.
Prepare payroll journal entries and accruals for month-end close and reconcile payroll liability accounts.
Serve as the go-to resource for employee payroll questions across time zones.
Partner with People Ops on onboarding, offboarding, leave, relocations, and international transfers.
Advise leadership on payroll and tax implications of hiring in new countries.