Regional Payroll Director, Americas

NielsenIQ•Chicago, IL

5d•$132,000 - $182,000•Remote

About The Position

As part of NIQ’s Global Payroll Center of Excellence, the Regional Payroll Director, Americas has end-to-end accountability for accurate, timely, compliant, and controlled payroll delivery across 32 countries and approximately 8,000 employees. The role leads payroll delivered through in-house, outsourced, and global solutions, including U.S. headquarters and executive payroll, established country operations, and countries transitioning to NIQ’s global payroll platform. It leads a geographically dispersed organization of regional managers, cluster leaders, country teams, offshore resources, and external providers. Working closely with HR, Employee Experience, Benefits, Compensation, Equity, Finance, Tax, Treasury, Technology, Legal, and Audit, the role drives operational performance, financial integrity, regulatory compliance, vendor accountability, and payroll transformation. The position also serves as senior regional deputy to the VP, Head of Global Payroll, leading global priorities and escalations when required.

Requirements

University degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Human Resources, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience
At least 10 years of progressive payroll experience, including significant leadership responsibility for complex, multi-country payroll operations
Deep knowledge of U.S. payroll operations, taxation, controls, compliance, and year-end requirements, together with practical Latin American payroll experience
Experience managing in-house, outsourced, or co-sourced payroll models and geographically dispersed teams
Demonstrated success managing providers against KPIs, SLAs, contractual obligations, and improvement plans
Experience transitioning countries to new payroll providers, systems, or global payroll solutions
Experience with payroll accounting, financial close, SOX controls, audits, reconciliations, and statutory requirements
Strong leadership, communication, influencing, stakeholder-management, and problem-solving skills
Full professional fluency in English and Spanish

Nice To Haves

Experience in a Global Business Services, shared-services, or Center of Excellence environment
Experience with Workday, global payroll platforms, payroll middleware, and system integrations
Experience in a publicly listed, regulated, or SOX-controlled organization
Relevant payroll, accounting, tax, HR, or project-management certification

Responsibilities

Own accurate, complete, timely, and compliant payroll delivery across the Americas
Lead regional managers, cluster leaders, country teams, offshore resources, and external providers, setting clear priorities and accountability
Oversee the payroll lifecycle, including inputs, calculations, approvals, funding, payments, statutory remittances, accounting, and reconciliations
Maintain effective governance, controls, procedures, calendars, escalation routes, business-continuity plans, and role coverage
Identify and resolve payroll issues, compliance risks, and control gaps through root-cause analysis and sustainable corrective action
Apply consistent regional service standards while meeting country-specific statutory requirements
Provide leadership and governance for U.S. headquarters and executive payroll
Oversee federal, state, and local payroll tax compliance, year-end reporting, employee tax statements, statutory filings, and corrections
Ensure appropriate confidentiality, system access, segregation of duties, reviews, and approvals
Lead resolution of tax notices, assessments, penalties, amended filings, and government inquiries with payroll providers and Corporate Tax
Oversee payroll requirements relating to leave programs, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, taxable benefits, equity, and employee deductions
Partner with Record-to-Report and Financial Controllership to ensure accurate and timely period-end and year-end close
Oversee payroll journals, accruals, balance-sheet reconciliations, statutory liabilities, accounting interfaces, and supporting documentation
Maintain clear ownership and closure plans for aged items, unmatched balances, historical differences, and other payroll-related concerns
Investigate material or recurring accounting differences and coordinate resolution across Payroll, Finance, Technology, offshore teams, and providers
Lead, coach, and develop payroll leaders and teams, building technical capability, succession readiness, and operational resilience
Foster an inclusive culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and employee-focused service
Manage payroll providers against contractual obligations, KPIs, SLAs, compliance requirements, and implementation milestones
Lead vendor governance and escalations, challenging underperformance and ensuring sustainable corrective action
Monitor regional performance and provide concise, evidence-based updates to senior stakeholders
Ensure payroll controls are appropriately designed, performed, documented, and evidenced
Lead readiness for SOX reviews, internal and external audits, statutory audits, payroll tax audits, and regulatory assessments
Oversee country transitions to NIQ’s global payroll solution, addressing payroll, statutory, tax, banking, accounting, data, integration, reporting, and control requirements
Protect employee pay, compliance, financial controls, and business continuity throughout each transition
Simplify, standardize, automate, and strengthen payroll processes, systems, interfaces, and controls