Senior Global Payroll Specialist

Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike—with a vision to help all businesses 'go beyond'.

The word 'Pleo' actually means 'more than you'd expect', and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.

Now, we're at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can't say we've got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that's half the fun What we can say is that we're a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.

About the role

We're looking for a Senior Payroll Specialist who thrives in a fast-paced, multi-country environment.

Picture this: It's the 25th of the month, and you're juggling payroll runs across five different countries. France needs RTT calculations verified, Spain has a last-minute leaver to process, and Germany just flagged a social security question. Your Papaya dashboard is open in one tab, you're going back and forth with an In-Country Partner in another, and HiBob is refreshing in the background.

If your immediate reaction is "bring it on," this could be the role for you.

We believe in being genuine and transparent, so we'll be direct: Pleo's payroll function is in a high-growth phase. We operate across multiple global markets with strong emphasis within Europe, recently migrated to a new HRIS (HiBob), and are managing the complexity that comes with scaling.

This means you'll be working in an evolving environment where resourcefulness is a core skill and every month can bring new edge cases. The ability to stay grounded and focused is just as important as knowing the difference between gross and net pay.

What you'll be doing

• Processing multi-country payroll runs with accuracy and on time.
• Managing relationships with In-Country Partners (ICPs) across Pleo's markets, acting as the key point of contact.
• Partnering with our payroll vendor (Papaya) to troubleshoot issues and find practical, creative solutions.
• Navigating local payroll compliance across different countries—think tax codes, social security, and statutory payments.
• Collaborating with People Advisors/Operations, Finance, Mobility, and TechOps to ensure payroll data flows smoothly.
• Ensuring data integrity by auditing, fixing errors, and proactively identifying anomalies before they become payment issues.
• Supporting employees with payroll queries in an empathetic way (because payroll matters, and mistakes impact real people).
• Contributing to process improvements and helping us build a more resilient, scalable payroll operation.

What you bring

You'll thrive in this role if you have:

• Proven multi-country payroll experience, understanding that every market has its own rules and working in a global payroll setup.
• Experience managing relationships with In-Country Partners (ICPs) and external payroll providers.
• Comfort with ambiguity: You can adapt, prioritise, and keep moving forward when plans change.
• Technical aptitude: You're comfortable learning new systems quickly. Experience with Papaya Global and HiBob is a strong advantage.
• A pragmatic approach to detail: You value accuracy (because a decimal point matters in payroll) but also know how to prioritise effectively.
• A problem-solving mindset: You're resourceful and find another way when the system says "no."
• Strong communication skills: You can explain payroll concepts to non-payroll people and collaborate across teams.
• Resilience: You understand that payroll has natural peaks and troughs and can take challenging months in your stride.

Also quite Essential for your success

• Direct experience with Papaya Global.
• Knowledge of at least 3 of Pleo's key markets: Portugal, Denmark, UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden.
• Experience working through a payroll system migration or HRIS implementation.
• Exposure to international mobility or working-abroad scenarios.
• Fluency in languages beyond English (Spanish, French, German, Danish, Swedish, or Portuguese).

What you'll get

• A role where you genuinely make an impact—payroll is critical, and you'll feel that.
• A team that values your expertise and treats payroll as a strategic function.
• The opportunity to shape processes and influence how we do payroll at Pleo.
• Collaboration with smart, committed people across the People function.
• Exposure to the full employee lifecycle and how payroll connects to everything.
• The chance to become a true multi-country payroll expert.

Show me the benefits

• Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending).
• Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office .
• Comprehensive private healthcare - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis.
• We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays.
• For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options.
• Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice.
• We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far .
• Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work .

• Please submit your application in English; it's our company language so you'll be speaking lots of it if you join
• We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there Our lovely support team isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone 
• We can only achieve our goals if our team reflects the diversity of the world around us - and that starts with you, hitting apply, even if you are worried you might not tick all the boxes. We embrace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply - regardless of race/ethnicity, colour, religion, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic status, culture or beliefs.
• When you submit an application we process your personal data as a data processor. Find out more about how your data is used in the FAQs section at the bottom of our jobs page.