Location: Zurich, Zurich, CH
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 high‑impact leadership role requires you to drive payroll transformation – leveraging automation, AI, and technology – while maintaining rigorous 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 worldwide. 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.
We are looking for candidates who meet these 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.
Additional 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.
For Switzerland, the annual base salary range for this position is between 164,000 CHF and 246,000 CHF for a full‑time role.
In addition to your base salary, Swiss Re offers an attractive performance‑based variable compensation component, designed to recognise your achievements. Further you will enjoy a variety of global and location‑specific benefits. Eligibility may vary depending on the terms of Swiss Re policies and your employment contract.
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.
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