Payroll Senior Specialist

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Job Summary

This position is part of the APAC Regional Payroll organization and supports payroll delivery across assigned APAC countries or regions. The Payroll Senior Specialist applies strong payroll expertise, owns complex payroll activities, and acts as a subject matter expert for country-specific payroll processes, controls, and statutory requirements.

The role applies working knowledge of complex payroll components, including retros, corrections, large adjustments, stock impacts, GL outputs, and time and attendance inputs. The Senior Specialist supports audit readiness, statutory engagements, vendor coordination, issue resolution, process documentation, and payroll-related project delivery within assigned scope.

Success in this role requires strong technical payroll knowledge, good judgment, clear ownership, and the ability to balance payroll operations, compliance, documentation, stakeholder support, and continuous improvement in a dynamic multi-country environment.

Responsibilities

Payroll expertise and country ownership

• Act as a payroll subject matter expert for assigned countries or regions, providing advisory input on complex payroll, compliance, and system scenarios
• Apply treatment of complex pay components, including stock program impacts, GL outputs, and time and attendance inputs
• Interpret payroll legislation and initiate change discussions with managers on required process, system, or documentation updates

Payroll processing, controls, and audit support

• Understand and apply complex payroll processing, including retros, corrections, large adjustments, and stock-related payroll impacts
• Own assigned payroll activities within scope and ensure payroll outputs are accurate, timely, and supported by appropriate controls and evidence
• Lead audits and statutory engagements with minimal support, coordinating required payroll data, explanations, and remediation actions when needed
• Maintain strong compliance with SOX controls, internal audit expectations, confidentiality requirements, and data protection standards
• Support accurate payroll reporting, statutory remittances, payroll calendars, and recurring control activities for assigned countries

Vendor, stakeholder, and cross-functional support

• Manage day-to-day payroll vendor relationships and act as an escalation point for payroll and vendor queries within assigned scope
• Liaise independently with HR Services, Finance, Stock Services, payroll vendors, and other stakeholders, while keeping leads informed of decisions that affect operational work
• Participate in cross-functional initiatives requiring payroll expertise, including payroll, HR, Finance, systems, stock, and vendor-related activities
• Coach and support Payroll Services Administrators and Specialists on technical payroll matters, issue resolution, documentation, and process execution

Issue management and risk ownership

• Lead resolution of high-impact payroll issues and coordinate with People teams, Technology, vendors, and other stakeholders to address root causes
• Perform root cause analysis, identify preventive actions, and help implement sustainable fixes for recurring payroll issues
• Identify and flag risks that may result in future payroll issues, including operational, compliance, vendor, system, or employee-impact risks
• Analyze repeatable complex queries, document solutions, and update HR Hub, FAQs, or other knowledge content where applicable

Documentation and audit readiness

• Own the accuracy and completeness of Payroll Services SOPs, checklists, and documentation within assigned scope
• Ensure documentation is current, version-controlled, audit-ready, and updated for regulatory, vendor, system, and process changes
• Maintain comprehensive and up-to-date desktop procedures for assigned countries, processes, controls, and recurring activities
• Support version control and ensure payroll documentation is aligned with process maps, work instructions, and control requirements

Projects and continuous improvement

• Lead payroll projects affecting assigned countries, identifying and escalating risks or issues to management as required
• Lead team or cross-functional initiatives where payroll input, testing, data validation, parallel runs, documentation, or implementation support is required
• Anticipate project timeline risks, identify critical versus non-critical project scope, and support basic change management activities
• Lead Payroll Services improvement initiatives, implement improvements with limited guidance, and share best practices across the function

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required
• 6+ years payroll/stock experience supporting payroll operations, payroll projects, or payroll services in a multinational or shared services environment
• Strong payroll experience across one or more APAC countries, with the ability to handle complex payroll processing, statutory requirements, corrections, retros, adjustments, and payroll-related employee queries
• Experience acting as a payroll subject matter expert or senior point of contact for assigned countries, processes, vendors, or systems
• Experience supporting audits, statutory engagements, SOX controls, payroll documentation, and payroll compliance requirements
• Experience with payroll project delivery, system testing, data validation, parallel runs, process documentation, or implementation support preferred
• Ability to partner effectively with HR, Finance, Stock Services, Technology, payroll vendors, and cross-functional project teams
• Strong understanding of compliance frameworks including SOX controls, internal audit expectations, data confidentiality, and payroll documentation standards
• Familiarity with payroll systems and tools such as ADP GlobalView, ADP Celergo, SAP Payroll, Workday, Kronos, ServiceNow or Salesforce Service Cloud preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with high cultural awareness and the ability to work across diverse markets

Equinix is committed to ensuring that our employment process is open to all individuals, including those with a disability.  If you are a qualified candidate and need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

Equinix is an Equal Employment Opportunity and, in the U.S., an Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to unlawful consideration of race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, place of birth, citizenship, sex, pregnancy / childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, age, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, political / organizational affiliation, status as a victim or family member of a victim of crime or abuse, or any other status protected by applicable law. 

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