Program Manager, International Payroll Implementation

ALO•Beverly Hills, CA

2d•$125,000 - $145,000

About The Position

The Program Manager, International Payroll Implementation leads end-to-end coordination of payroll-impacting activities for new country launches, payroll implementations, and related global transformation initiatives. The role ensures that inputs, decisions, dependencies, approvals, and deliverables across Legal, HR, Benefits, Finance, IT, Payroll, local business stakeholders, and external vendors are identified, sequenced, tracked, and delivered in time to support successful payroll go-live. The role is accountable for the integrated implementation plan, governance, risk management, stakeholder alignment, and overall payroll readiness for each rollout. The position requires a strong understanding of payroll and the upstream and downstream processes that affect it. It does not own functional payroll configuration, completion of provider implementation workbooks, or payroll processing; those activities are led by the Payroll team and implementation partners. The Program Manager connects the work, keeps it on track, and ensures readiness for implementation milestones and go-live.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Human Resources, Finance, Operations, Project Management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
At least 5 years of experience leading complex, cross-functional projects or programs, including demonstrated experience managing global or multi-country payroll implementations across countries with differing payroll, regulatory, and operational requirements.
Demonstrated experience managing multi-workstream initiatives with interdependent deliverables, competing priorities, external vendors, and senior stakeholder groups.
Working knowledge of the end-to-end payroll lifecycle and processes affecting payroll, including HR data, employment terms, working time, leave, benefits, integrations, banking and payment processes, and statutory employer requirements.
Experience working with or supporting implementations involving global payroll platforms, time and attendance platforms, HRIS/HCM systems, and related integrations.
Experience developing and managing integrated project plans, governance structures, milestone tracking, risk and issue logs, and executive-level status reporting.
Experience building scalable implementation playbooks, templates, readiness assessments, and governance processes.
Ability to influence and drive accountability across teams without direct authority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex cross-functional dependencies into clear actions, decisions, and implementation plans.
Highly organized, detail-oriented, proactive, and comfortable working across countries, cultures, and evolving local requirements.
Flexibility to adjust working hours periodically to collaborate across global time zones, based on the countries and projects being supported.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Workday, ADP Celergo, UKG Dimensions, and related payroll and timekeeping integrations.
Experience supporting retail, hourly, or multi-location workforces.
Knowledge of project management methodologies and tools; PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, or similar certification is a plus.
Familiarity with change management, operational readiness, process standardization, and continuous-improvement approaches.

Responsibilities

Lead global payroll implementations and country rollouts from initial planning through go-live, stabilization, and transition to ongoing operations.
Apply a consistent global implementation approach while coordinating country-specific payroll requirements, stakeholders, vendors, dependencies, and readiness considerations.
Establish and manage a repeatable implementation methodology, including templates, governance routines, readiness criteria, escalation paths, and post-implementation lessons learned.
Develop and maintain integrated project plans covering milestones, deliverables, owners, dependencies, risks, decisions, and critical paths across workstreams.
Coordinate payroll-impacting dependencies across Legal, HR, Benefits, Finance, IT, Payroll, Treasury, local business stakeholders, and external implementation partners.
Ensure requirements, decisions, and deliverables are owned, handed off across workstreams, and delivered in time for implementation and go-live.
Coordinate with payroll providers, systems vendors, and implementation partners to align delivery plans, dependencies, timelines, and readiness requirements with the country rollout plan.
Coordinate data readiness and testing milestones with Payroll, IT, and implementation partners, ensuring migration and validation, integration testing, user acceptance testing, and parallel payroll testing have clear owners, completion criteria, issue-resolution plans, and sign-offs where applicable.
Facilitate cross-functional working sessions and governance forums; drive timely decisions, clarify ownership, and escalate risks or blockers affecting timelines or go-live readiness.
Monitor progress against agreed milestones and provide status reporting to project teams and senior stakeholders, including risks, decisions needed, and recommended mitigation plans.
Coordinate cutover and go-live planning, including final approvals, payroll processing deadlines, production transition activities, contingency plans, and initial hypercare coverage.
Support change management and operational readiness, including process documentation, handoff planning, communications, training coordination, and post-go-live stabilization.
Identify opportunities to improve implementation controls, cross-functional ways of working, manual-effort reduction, and standardization of the global payroll rollout approach.