Payroll Design Specialist

About This Role

The Payroll Design Specialist is responsible for designing, maintaining, and enhancing Agoda's global payroll operational framework to ensure robust, efficient, and scalable payroll operations. This role focuses on establishing strong SLAs, KPIs, governance controls, and a culture of continuous improvement, embedding these standards into all payroll projects for consistent service delivery, financial accuracy, and audit readiness.

Responsibilities

• Own, maintain, and enhance the global payroll operating model, SOPs, process maps, and escalation frameworks.
• Define and manage global payroll calendars and cut-off schedules.
• Maintain the payroll governance and control framework, including approval matrices, segregation of duties, and the risk & control register.
• Design, implement, and manage a comprehensive global SLA and KPI framework covering accuracy, timeliness, first-time-right rates, and cost efficiency.
• Act as the primary point of coordination for all internal and external payroll audits.
• Establish and own the Payroll Continuous Improvement (CI) framework, identifying opportunities for automation, standardization, and simplification.
• Lead CI initiatives (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) to eliminate high-volume manual tasks, rework, errors, and process bottlenecks.
• Serve as the payroll Subject Matter Expert (SME) for key projects, including system upgrades, vendor transitions, and country expansions.
• Govern vendor performance through SLA tracking, preparing Quarterly Business Review (QBR) materials, and driving service improvement plans (SIPs).
• Partner closely with the Payroll Accounting team to ensure clear ownership and seamless handoffs between payroll processing and accounting activities.

Requirements

• 7-8 years of progressive experience within global payroll operations, payroll project management, governance, or payroll accounting.
• Hands-on experience designing SLAs/KPIs, driving process improvement initiatives, and supporting large-scale payroll transformations.
• Proven experience managing outsourced payroll vendors and multi-country payroll models.
• Practical exposure to major payroll platforms (e.g., Workday, SAP, ADP, CloudPay, Dayforce).
• Expert ability in data analysis, KPI design, trend spotting, and root-cause analysis.
• Strong skills in process mapping, re-engineering, and methodologies like Lean or Six Sigma.
• Meticulous and structured approach to documentation, controls, and risk management.
• Ability to lead, influence, and drive change without direct authority in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Proactive and strategic problem-solver with a focus on designing sustainable, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• 7-8 years of progressive experience within global payroll operations, payroll project management, governance, or payroll accounting.

Skills

* Required skills