Payroll Partner (EMEA)

Location: Flexible by location, with an expectation to work from the Airwallex office three times a week; available locations are London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, and Munich.

Company

Airwallex is an AI-native financial operating system providing global payments and financial infrastructure for businesses.

What you will do

• Own accurate and efficient EMEA payroll processing, including compliance, employment tax requirements, reconciliations, and month-end and year-end close.
• Provide strategic direction across payroll operations, service delivery, controls, advisory, cost reduction, and system improvements.
• Lead payroll implementations, including the rollout of a unified global payroll solution and optimisation of integrations, workflows, and data automation.
• Analyse payroll data and provide employee-cost insights and forecasting support to Finance and HR.
• Partner with Legal and HR on entity setup, Employment of Record services, and international expansion.
• Resolve payroll enquiries, maintain knowledge documentation, and improve the employee experience.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of regional experience managing end-to-end payroll, with strong EMEA exposure.
• Experience with payroll operations, controls, advisory, stakeholder management, implementations, HRIS integrations, or workflow automation.
• Strong knowledge of payroll compliance, employment tax, reconciliations, and close procedures.
• Strong analytical, numerical, organisational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience handling confidential information and managing payroll vendors.

Nice to have

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Human Resources, or a related field.
• Experience with private equity, RSU, ESOP, entity setup, or Employment of Record services.
• Experience leading a team or coordinating payroll implementation projects.
• Experience with JIRA, Slack, or similar tools.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a high-growth, globally distributed environment across APAC and EMEA time zones.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Finance, HR, Legal, and other stakeholders.
• Operate with an emphasis on accountability, analytical precision, first-principles thinking, and simplifying complexity.
• Contribute to global payroll capabilities and financial controls supporting international growth.