International Payroll Specialist - 6 Month FTC in Edinburgh

The Payroll Specialist is a key member of the Global Payroll team. The role provides flexible payroll expertise and operational support across the global payroll function, helping to ensure continuity of service, effective workload management, and consistent delivery across all regions. The role holder will work across multiple jurisdictions and payroll processes, providing additional capacity during peak periods, covering absences, supporting business change initiatives, and responding to evolving business needs.

Working closely with payroll providers, regional payroll teams and internal stakeholders, the role holder will deliver accurate, compliant and efficient end-to-end payroll services. As a payroll subject matter expert, they will support payroll processing, controls, issue resolution, escalations and continuous improvement activity, adapting quickly to different country requirements and operational priorities.

About the role: The role holder will provide hands-on support for business-as-usual payroll delivery across multiple regions, partnering with colleagues across Payroll, People & Comms, Finance and Technology teams to ensure service continuity and maintain high standards of payroll accuracy and compliance. They will also contribute to global projects, process standardisation initiatives and the sharing of best practice across the payroll function.

Success in this role requires strong analytical capability, sound judgement, attention to detail and the ability to operate effectively in a complex global environment. The role holder must be comfortable working across different countries, systems and regulatory frameworks, balancing competing priorities while maintaining a strong focus on service delivery. They will also contribute to payroll governance, controls, reporting and performance metrics to help ensure payroll is delivered accurately, compliantly and right first time.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide flexible payroll support across the Global Payroll team, ensuring continuity of service and high-quality payroll delivery during peak periods, absences, organisational change and fluctuations in workload.
• Deliver accurate and timely payroll processing across multiple countries and regions, adapting quickly to different payroll cycles, processes, legislative requirements and operational priorities.
• Partner with payroll providers, regional payroll teams and internal stakeholders to support payroll processing, service delivery, issue resolution and escalation management.
• Own and resolve complex payroll, tax and employee pay queries, coordinating specialist support where required and sharing knowledge across the wider payroll team.
• Maintain payroll data quality, controls, KPIs and service standards, ensuring payroll processes remain compliant, auditable and effective.
• Support payroll accounting activities, including reconciliations, finance interfaces, payroll reporting and the provision of supporting documentation.
• Collaborate with People Services, HR, Reward, Finance, Tax, Mobility and Technology teams to ensure a seamless end-to-end colleague experience and effective payroll delivery.
• Maintain awareness of legislative, regulatory and market developments across relevant jurisdictions, ensuring payroll practices remain compliant and up to date.

About the candidate:

• Experience working in a complex global organisation; financial services experience is desirable.
• Experience of multi-country payroll, with the ability to adapt quickly to different regional and jurisdictional requirements.
• Knowledge of Workday and experience of payroll systems, HR platforms and provider technologies.
• Knowledge of complex payroll matters, which may include share plans, global mobility, taxation and statutory requirements.
• Good understanding of end-to-end HR processes, payroll accounting, risk controls and compliance frameworks.
• Collaborative and culturally aware, with the ability to build effective relationships across countries, time zones and functions.
• Able to be flexible working across several time zones when required.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. If you have a disability and would like to apply to one of our UK roles under the Disability Confident Scheme, please notify us by completing the relevant section in our candidate questionnaire. One of our team will reach out to support you through your application process.

Our benefits:

There's more to working life than coming home with a good salary. We have an environment where you can learn, get involved and be supported. When you join us, your reward will be one of the best around. This includes 40 days’ annual leave, a 16% employer pension contribution, a discretionary performance-based bonus (where applicable), private healthcare and a range of flexible benefits – including gym discounts, season ticket loans and access to an employee discount portal.

An inclusive way of working:

Whatever way you like to work, if you have the talent and commitment to join our team, we’d like to hear from you. At Aberdeen we’ve adopted a ‘blended working’ approach. This approach combines the benefits of face-to-face collaboration, coaching and connecting in our offices with the flexibility of working from home. It enables colleagues to find a balance that works for their roles, their teams, our clients and our business.

An inclusive culture, where diverse perspectives drive our actions, is at the core of who we are and what we do. If you need assistance with your application, or a reasonable adjustment to your interview arrangements – for example, because you are neurodivergent, or have a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental, visible or invisible disability – please let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive workplace where all forms of difference are valued and which is free from any form of unfair or unlawful treatment. We define diversity in its broadest sense – this includes but is not limited to our diversity of educational and professional backgrounds, experience, cognitive and neurodiversity, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief and ethnicity and geographical provenance. We support a culture that values meritocracy, fairness and transparency and welcomes enquiries from everyone.

If you need assistance or an adjustment due to a disability please let us know as part of your application and we will assist.