Senior Payroll Director

Atoms•San Francisco, CA

3d•$223,000 - $262,000•Onsite

About The Position

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress. Over the last decade, software has transformed the digital world. But the physical world, where food is made, minerals are mined, goods are moved, and industries are run, remains far less intelligent, far less efficient, and far more constrained. We’re changing that. Atoms builds Physical AI— real-world robots for the industries that move civilization forward, starting with food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, turning complex physical operations into something more reliable, more scalable, and more productive. This work requires more than robotics. It requires deep integration across hardware, software, AI, operations, manufacturing, and real estate. We don’t just build machines in a lab. We deploy them into real environments, operate them, learn from them, and improve them until they work at scale. We are roboticists, engineers, operators, and builders. We believe the next great technology companies will not only transform information, but the physical systems that shape everyday life. If you want to work on hard problems with real-world impact, join us.

Requirements

15+ years in payroll, including at least 10 years leading people, with teams across multiple geographies or offshore Centers of Excellence.
Run complex multi-country payroll across a large number of legal entities spanning multiple continents, with real command of international compliance, tax, and statutory requirements across EMEA, APAC, and LATAM.
Deep, hands-on Workday experience including implementation. Re-implementation is a strong plus.
Know the Workday and ADP operating model, and have evaluated or run dedicated international payroll vendors such as Safeguard Global, Papaya Global, or CloudPay.
Owned end-to-end payroll transformation rather than steady-state operations alone: consolidating systems, improving accuracy, and improving the employee experience.
Scaled inside a high-growth company that stayed lean on G&A. Time at a payroll service provider or payroll software company is a plus.
Thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and sometimes ambiguous environment.

Nice To Haves

Re-implementation of Workday is a strong plus.
Time at a payroll service provider or payroll software company is a plus.

Responsibilities

Own global payroll end to end: Lead payroll for the Atoms Group across roughly 30 countries and several hundred legal entities, owning the function, the team, the systems, and the vendors.
Run the operating model: Own the Workday and ADP architecture, with Workday as the system of record for data aggregation, HR and payroll workflows, and approvals, and ADP handling processing, payment execution, and tax remittance.
Lead the transformation: Consolidate fragmented international processes, improve accuracy, and rebuild payroll infrastructure that was designed for a company several times smaller.
Own vendor strategy: Evaluate, select, and govern dedicated international payroll partners across EMEA, APAC, and LATAM, where the current setup is not yet sufficient for our entity complexity.
Serve a layered workforce: Pay corporate, executive, and a large and fast-growing hourly population without letting accuracy or service quality slip as headcount climbs.
Build the team: Right-size and develop a payroll organization that is lean relative to its scope, and set the standard for what great payroll looks like here.