Payroll Director in London

About Polygon Labs

Polygon Labs is a global blockchain payments company building and operating infrastructure to move money instantly, reliably, and at internet scale, with the mission to move all money onchain. It is building the Polygon Open Money Stack, an open and integrated stack of services and technologies to instantly and reliably move money anywhere, and put it to work. Its infrastructure has facilitated trillions of dollars in onchain value transfer and supported millions of transactions daily for some of the globe's largest banks, fintechs, enterprises, and consumer applications.

Your Role

Polygon Labs runs a 200-person global workforce across multiple entities, jurisdictions, PEO arrangements, and employer-of-record structures. You will own the entire payroll and benefits function end to end, reporting to Finance leadership, with one direct report and significant cross-functional accountability across People, Legal, Tax, and Treasury.

This role exists to do three things: keep payroll running without error across a complex global structure, consolidate that structure as Polygon's entity setup evolves, and build the automation and AI-assisted workflows that make the function faster and more resilient. You will be the company's subject matter expert on global payroll, benefits, equity compensation, and payroll tax compliance.

Your Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end global payroll processing across multiple jurisdictions, entity types, PEO providers, and employer-of-record arrangements, ensuring every payroll run is accurate and on time.
• Lead the consolidation of payroll operations within Polygon's evolving entity structure, identifying opportunities to reduce vendor complexity, lower processing costs, and tighten controls.
• Manage Polygon's equity and token compensation programs, including RSU and RTU administration, vesting schedules, and the payroll tax treatment of equity and digital asset remuneration.
• Own payroll accounting and the monthly close process, including NetSuite journal entries, accruals, general ledger reconciliation, and GAAP-compliant documentation across all pay cycles.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for US federal and state tax authorities, managing IRS and state agency correspondence, notices, multi-state tax registrations, nexus obligations, and SUI accounts.
• Build and deploy AI-assisted workflows to reduce manual payroll processing effort, improve variance detection, and strengthen reporting visibility across the full payroll cycle.
• Own all employee benefits programs globally, including health insurance, retirement plans, and statutory benefits, managing vendor relationships, renewals, and compliance across geographies.
• Partner with People, Legal, Tax, and Treasury as the go-to expert on payroll policy, workforce cost forecasting, and compliance risk, and mentor Janani as the function scales.

What You'll Need

• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country payroll operations end to end, across a mix of entity types including PEOs, EORs, and locally incorporated entities.
• Deep payroll accounting expertise: month-end close, general ledger reconciliation, journal entries, accruals, and GAAP compliance in a multi-entity environment.
• Hands-on experience with US federal and state payroll tax compliance, including direct management of IRS and state agency correspondence, multi-state registrations, and nexus analysis.
• Proven track record of payroll consolidation, process centralisation, or system implementation — not just running existing processes, but improving them.
• Solid ERP experience, with NetSuite strongly preferred; familiarity with equity compensation platforms and RSU/RTU payroll tax treatment.
• Proven track record of using AI tools (such as Claude, ChatGPT, or workflow automation platforms) to redesign payroll or finance operations workflows: daily use of AI to reduce manual processing and improve controls is a baseline expectation in this role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a Web3, fintech, or crypto-native organisation, particularly with token or digital asset compensation.
• Background in multi-entity international structures with exposure to entity consolidation projects.
• Familiarity with variable or usage-based compensation structures.

Polygon Labs Perks

The goal of the Polygon Labs total rewards program is to support the health and well-being of you and your family. Our comprehensive compensation plan includes the following benefits for our full-time employees:

• Remote first global workforce.
• Industry leading Medical, Dental and Vision health insurance.
• Company matching 401k with 3% match.
• $1,500 Home Office Set Up Allowance (life-time max).
• $200 AI Allowance Program.
• $75 Monthly internet or phone reimbursement.
• Flexible Time Off.
• Company issued laptop.
• Egg freezing, mental health, and employee wellness benefits.

Polygon Labs is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace and is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. Polygon Labs is committed to treating all people in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. We believe in integration and equal opportunity. Accommodations are available throughout the recruitment process and applicants with a disability may request to be accommodated throughout the recruitment process. We will work with all applicants to accommodate their individual accessibility needs.

If you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch. We'd love to have a chat and see if you could be a great fit.