Global Head of Payroll (Hybrid) in London

Are you a seasoned payroll leader ready to make a global impact? At Swiss Re, we are looking for a bold, forward-thinking professional to lead our Global Payroll function - driving excellence, transformation, and innovation across a complex, multi-country environment. If you thrive at the intersection of people, technology, and compliance, this is your opportunity to shape the future of payroll at one of the world's leading reinsurance companies.

About the Role

As Global Head of Payroll, you will be at the helm of Swiss Re's end-to-end global payroll operations, accountable for delivering accurate, compliant, and timely payroll across multiple countries and regions. This is a high-impact leadership role where you will drive payroll transformation - leveraging automation, AI, and technology - while maintaining the strongest standards of governance, controls, and employee experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing global payroll team, setting clear expectations, building capability through coaching and feedback in order to effectively deliver end-to-end payroll operations across multiple countries and regions — including complex scenarios such as international assignments, expatriate payroll, and cross-border payments.
• Drive payroll transformation and innovation, including process standardisation, system enhancements and integrations, and automation/AI initiatives to continuously improve efficiency, accuracy, and the overall employee payroll experience.
• Own the payroll governance, controls and compliance framework, ensuring audit readiness, data security, and adherence to regulatory requirements across all jurisdictions, in close partnership with Finance, Risk, and Audit.
• Manage vendor relationships and performance, leading strategy, procurement, and contract negotiations for payroll outsourcing services, and overseeing contractual outcomes with the global payroll provider, including assurance reviews (SOC 1/SOC 2) and IT security alignment.
• Oversee financial management and year-end activities, including budget forecasting, cost transparency, tax reporting, annual statements, and statutory filings across all jurisdictions.
• Ensure robust payroll systems and data integrity, working closely with HR and Finance to accurately reflect payroll requirements in systems architecture, including upstream/downstream interfaces and data quality controls.
• Leverage analytics and market insights to provide reporting on payroll costs, trends, service performance, and risks, while staying current on emerging best practices, regulatory developments, and technology innovations in global payroll.

About the Team

The Global Payroll team at Swiss Re plays a key role in delivering accurate, timely, and compliant payroll services for employees around the world. Operating in a highly collaborative and international environment, the team partners closely with HR, Finance, and external providers to manage end-to-end payroll operations, statutory reporting, and governance across multiple countries. Driven by a mission to ensure a seamless payroll experience, the team upholds the highest compliance standards while continuously enhancing global payroll processes through automation, standardisation, and innovation.

About You

You are a seasoned executive and inspiring payroll leader who brings deep technical mastery combined with a bold strategic vision. You have built your career leading large-scale, complex, multi-country payroll functions and have a proven track record of driving transformation at an enterprise level. You operate with confidence at the C-suite level, influencing senior stakeholders and shaping organisational strategy. You are deeply committed to operational excellence, continuous improvement, and delivering an exceptional employee experience.

Requirements

• Extensive senior leadership experience in global payroll, with a demonstrable track record of operating at or near executive/C-band level, leading large, geographically dispersed payroll teams across multiple regions.
• Deep expertise in multi-country payroll regulations, tax, social security and controls, with the ability to navigate highly complex compliance scenarios across jurisdictions at a strategic level.
• Proven experience owning and transforming multi-country payroll operations (in-house and/or outsourced), including full accountability for service delivery, vendor governance, and strategic roadmap execution.
• Experience working with global payroll providers at a senior governance level, including strategic vendor management, service performance oversight, and executive-level issue escalation.
• Strong executive stakeholder management and communication skills, with a proven ability to influence and collaborate at C-suite and board level across HR, Finance, Risk, IT, and external partners.
• Good understanding of the payroll IT landscape and data flows (HR/finance/time/benefits), with hands‑on payroll systems experience including processing, reconciliations, and exception handling.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to diagnose root causes, manage risk, and drive sustainable corrective actions with a high attention to detail.
• Strong understanding of data protection and confidentiality requirements when handling employee and payroll information.
• Adaptable, continuous learning mindset to stay current on regulatory changes, technology enablement, and best practices in global payroll.

Nice to Haves

• Additional languages (beyond English) relevant to key payroll locations.
• Prior experience working for a payroll provider and/or in a payroll BPO environment.

Compensation

For London, the annual base salary range for this position is between 128,000 GBP and 192,000 GBP for a full-time role. The specific salary offered considers the requirements, scope, complexity and responsibilities of the role, as well as the applicant's own profile including education/qualifications, expertise, specialisation, skills and experience. In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible for additional rewards and benefits including an attractive performance-based bonus. Eligibility may vary depending on the terms of Swiss Re policies and your employment contract.

Remote Work

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office at least three days per week.

About Swiss Re

Swiss Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. We anticipate and manage a wide variety of risks, from natural catastrophes and climate change to cybercrime. Combining experience with creative thinking and cutting‑edge expertise, we create new opportunities and solutions for our clients. This is possible thanks to the collaboration of more than 15,000 employees across the world. Our success depends on our ability to build an inclusive culture encouraging fresh perspectives and innovative thinking. We embrace a workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive and develop professionally regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, skillset, thought or other characteristics. In our inclusive and flexible environment everyone can bring their authentic selves to work and their passion for sustainability. If you are an experienced professional returning to the workforce after a career break, we encourage you to apply for open positions that match your skills and experience. Swiss Re is an equal opportunity employer. It is our practice to recruit, hire and promote without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, pregnancy, sexual orientations, marital status, military status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Decisions on employment are solely based on an individual's qualifications for the position being filled. During the recruitment process, reasonable accommodations for disabilities are available upon request. If contacted for an interview, please inform the Recruiter/HR Professional of the accommodation needed.