Group Payroll, Compensation & Benefits Manager

Introduction

Are you a payroll leader who thrives where precision meets strategy? We are looking for an experienced and driven Group Payroll, Compensation & Benefits Manager to take ownership of one of our most business-critical functions — and elevate it. This is not a transactional payroll role. This is a leadership position for someone who combines deep technical expertise with commercial thinking, who builds systems that scale, and who understands that getting payroll right is fundamental to employee trust and financial integrity.

The Opportunity Joining our Human Capital leadership team and reporting directly to the Human Capital Executive, you will take full ownership of the Group's payroll, compensation and benefits function across multiple entities and jurisdictions. You will lead a dedicated payroll team, serve as the primary HC partner to Finance, and act as the Group's subject-matter authority on all things payroll — with PaySpace as your core platform. This is a role where your work directly impacts every employee in the business and sits at the intersection of people, finance and governance. Duties & Responsibilities

What You'll Own End-to-End Payroll Operations Lead the full monthly payroll cycle across the Group — from input and validation through to payment and reporting — with accuracy, compliance and efficiency at the core. Compliance & Legislation Stay ahead of statutory requirements across jurisdictions. Translate legislative changes into practical action and ensure the business is always audit-ready. Finance Partnership Work hand-in-hand with Finance on payroll reconciliations, general ledger accuracy, accruals, budgeting and employee cost reporting. Your payroll numbers will always tell the right story. Compensation & Benefits Coordinate annual salary reviews, bonus cycles and benefit programme governance. Provide market intelligence and strategic input that keeps our reward offering competitive and aligned to business objectives. Governance & Risk Design and maintain a robust payroll governance framework — with strong internal controls, clean audit outcomes and zero tolerance for avoidable compliance failures. People Leadership Build, develop and inspire a high-performing payroll team. Set the standard for service excellence and capability growth. Who You Are You are someone who takes ownership without being asked . You are equally comfortable presenting payroll risk to an executive committee and rolling up your sleeves to resolve a reconciliation query. You lead with integrity, protect sensitive information as a matter of principle, and bring calm authority under pressure. You are: ●       Analytically sharp — detail matters to you, always ●       Commercially aware — you understand the business behind the numbers ●       A natural collaborator — Finance, HC and the wider business trust your judgement ●       Tech-forward — you leverage systems to drive efficiency, not just process transactions ●       A people leader — your team grows because of you

Why This Role? > "This is a high-trust, high-accountability role at the heart of the organisation — where technical excellence, strategic thinking and people leadership come together." ●       Direct access and visibility to senior Human Capital and Finance leadership ●       Genuine mandate to improve, automate and professionalise the payroll function ●       A complex, multi-entity environment that will stretch and develop your expertise ●       Opportunity to shape reward strategy across the Group

Desired Experience & Qualification

Tertiary qualification in Finance, HR, Payroll, Accounting or a related field Proven experience in a complex, multi-entity Group environment Strong working knowledge of PaySpace or a comparable enterprise payroll platform Deep understanding of payroll legislation, statutory compliance and controls Demonstrated experience partnering with Finance on payroll accounting and reporting Track record in compensation and benefits administration Experience managing payroll audits and regulatory requirements Africa payroll exposure is a strong advantage