Global Payroll & Benefits Manager (12 months Fixed Term Contract) in London

Global Payroll & Benefits Manager (12 months Fixed Term Contract)

Lead IG’s payroll and benefits function across more than 14 countries, reporting to the Head of People Services.

Accountable for end‑to‑end payroll delivery across insourced and outsourced models and for overseeing benefits administration in each market.

You will lead a team of payroll and benefits specialists and work closely with Finance, Tax, and local HR contacts to ensure compliant, accurate, and timely delivery that supports IG’s employee value proposition.

Key Responsibilities

• Benefits Administration

• Oversee employee benefits programmes across all markets, ensuring accurate maintenance, communication, and delivery.
• Operate benefits enrolment, renewals, and changes, coordinating with local HR, brokers, and providers.
• Maintain accurate benefits data, aligning systems, payroll, and HR platforms.
• Support country‑level benefit benchmarking and ensure competitive, compliant programmes.
• Manage relationships with brokers and third‑party providers, ensuring service quality and cost efficiency.

• Payroll Operations & Service Delivery

• Ensure accurate and timely delivery of payroll across all markets with both insourced and outsourced models.
• Own the end‑to‑end payroll calendar, meeting defined SLAs and local legislation requirements.
• Act as escalation point for complex payroll queries and cross‑country issues.
• Establish robust payroll controls, reconciliation processes, and audit trails for data integrity and regulatory compliance.

• Team Leadership

• Lead, develop, and performance‑manage a team of 7+ payroll and benefits specialists.
• Foster a high‑performance team culture focused on accuracy, continuous improvement, and colleague service.
• Plan and prioritise workloads to ensure resilience and consistent service delivery.

• Vendor & Partner Management

• Manage relationships with outsourced payroll vendors, holding them to agreed SLAs and quality standards.
• Contribute to vendor review or consolidation activities, including scoping, selection, and transition planning.
• Partner with Finance and Tax teams to ensure accurate, well‑reconciled payroll outputs aligned with statutory obligations.

• Process Improvement & Transformation

• Identify and drive improvements to payroll processes, controls, and tooling to reduce manual effort and increase scalability.
• Lead stabilization of current payroll operations and build a roadmap for ongoing improvement.
• Leverage ADP and Workday, partnering with HR Technology colleagues to support operational needs.

• Governance, Compliance & Risk

• Ensure payroll processing complies with local legislative requirements, tax obligations, and IG’s internal policies.
• Maintain a strong controls framework and provide accurate reporting to senior stakeholders on performance and risk.
• Support internal and external audits, ensuring documentation and processes meet required standards.
• Role Requirements
• Proven experience managing multi‑country payroll operations, ideally across both insourced and outsourced models.
• Experience overseeing benefits administration across multiple countries, including working with brokers, providers, and local HR contacts.
• Strong people leadership skills with experience managing and developing a payroll team.
• Hands‑on experience with ADP in a multi‑country payroll environment.
• Solid understanding of payroll compliance, statutory requirements, and audit/controls frameworks across multiple jurisdictions.
• Track record of improving payroll processes, controls, and service quality in a complex organisation.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and hold external payroll vendors to defined SLAs.
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills, especially with Finance and Tax stakeholders.
• Comfortable building structure and process improvements from scratch.

Desirable

• Experience in fintech, financial services, or a similarly regulated industry.
• Familiarity with Workday in an HR/payroll or benefits context.
• Exposure to benefits benchmarking or renewal processes across multiple geographies.
• Experience with payroll vendor consolidation or re‑procurement exercises.
• Experience working within a matrix‑structured, globally distributed People or HR function.
• Knowledge of payroll requirements across European, APAC, or North American jurisdictions.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Flexible benefits package on top of salary (12%)
• Private medical cover for you and your family
• Life insurance
• Contribution to gym memberships
• 25 days holiday plus 1 day off for your birthday and 2 additional days for volunteer work (28 days total)
• Option to buy or sell holiday days
• Unlimited access to the Linked In Learning Platform
• Comprehensive global and local onboarding process
• Employee‑led diversity networks with an annual budget for events and projects
• Option to participate in ESG initiatives through IG Brighter Future Fund
• Enhanced parental pay and leave, plus support and benefits for parents
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