International Payroll Lead (based in US)

Role Overview Rise is hiring an International Payroll Lead based in US to take full ownership of payroll design, execution, and compliance across its US client payroll population and beyond. This role is suited to a qualified multi-state payroll specialist with around 6 years’ experience who is comfortable designing, owning, and executing payroll in a complex environment that includes:

• Multi-state payroll operations across numerous US states and local jurisdictions
• Manual federal, state, and local tax filings and calculations
• Historic compliance remediation
• Building payroll controls in a partially underdeveloped environment
• Supporting direct client payroll delivery operations in the US and other countries

Reporting to the Head of Global Payroll & HR, this role will be critical in upgrading our US payroll operations, introducing a compliant and scalable control framework, and ensuring Rise is operationally ready to deliver payroll services to clients in US to an increased population. The role will also support countries such as Canada/UK and expansion opportunities in other markets.

Key Responsibilities

US Payroll Operations Ownership

• Own end-to-end payroll operations across the US employee and client payroll population
• Validate payroll inputs, outputs, calculations, statutory deductions, tax withholdings, and payments
• Perform and review manual payroll calculations where required
• Manage payroll calendar, approvals, and processing timelines to ensure accurate and timely payroll delivery
• Ensure compliance with IRS requirements and all relevant federal, state, and local payroll obligations
• Own payroll processing across multiple states with differing tax and statutory requirements
• Support strengthening of payroll workflows within the existing in-house payroll environment

Compliance, Filings & Controls

• Manage and review manual federal, state, and local payroll tax filings and remittances
• Maintain payroll compliance tracker and statutory filing calendar for all active US states
• Build and implement payroll controls across input validation, processing review, reconciliation, filing, and sign-off
• Introduce practical and audit-ready control evidence into the US payroll cycle
• Identify and escalate payroll compliance issues, filing gaps, tax issues, underpayments, or overpayments quickly and effectively
• Support W-2 and year-end reporting obligations across all relevant federal and state jurisdictions
• Ensure compliance with FUTA, SUTA, FICA, and other federal and state statutory obligations
• Support tax set-up reviews and payroll tax governance using tools such as MasterTax and Symmetry where applicable

Remediation & Stabilisation

• Review and correct historic payroll set-up issues in partnership with internal stakeholders and external advisors where needed
• Validate statutory deductions, year-end reporting, and historical payroll records
• Lead payroll reconciliations, variance analysis, and corrective action where required
• Document manual workarounds, operational risks, and recommended improvements
• Support audit, due diligence, and internal control documentation requests
• Review in-house payroll system logic and recommend corrective actions or interim workarounds

Client Payroll Readiness & Service Delivery

• Take operational ownership of payroll delivery for Rise’s client payroll population in the US
• Help design repeatable payroll workflows, controls, and documentation standards suitable for client-facing payroll operations
• Contribute to payroll operating procedures covering onboarding, recurring processing, compliance tracking, filings, reconciliations, and issue management
• Identify gaps between current internal payroll operating model and the requirements of a scalable client service model
• Partner with internal stakeholders to improve service readiness, delivery quality, and operational risk management
• Support future growth of the US client payroll book as Rise scales its North American service offering

SOPs, Documentation & Reporting

• Build and maintain payroll SOPs for US operations (internal and client-facing)
• Maintain organised, complete, and audit-ready payroll records
• Produce monthly payroll reports and variance summaries for the Head of Global Payroll & HR
• Support internal governance reporting and stakeholder communications on payroll performance

Systems & Process Improvement

• Assess current in-house payroll configuration and identify functional, compliance, and control gaps
• Partner with internal stakeholders to improve payroll set-up, controls, and calculation lo

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