Project Manager - Payroll Domain

Job Description:

Role Summary
The Project Manager (Payroll Domain) is responsible for planning, executing, and delivering payroll-related projects - including payroll system implementations, vendor transitions, country/entity roll-outs, statutory compliance changes, and process improvement initiatives. The role ensures projects are delivered on time, within budget, and in compliance with statutory and audit requirements, while coordinating across HR, Finance, IT, vendors, and operations teams.

Key Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end delivery of payroll projects - implementations, migrations, upgrades, transitions, and process transformations - from initiation through closure.
Define project scope, objectives, deliverables, milestones, and success criteria in alignment with stakeholders.
Develop and maintain detailed project plans, schedules, budgets, RAID logs (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies), and resource plans.
Coordinate cross-functional teams across Payroll Operations, HR, Finance, IT, compliance, and external vendors/system integrators.
Manage payroll system implementations and configurations (e.g., ADP, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Ramco, Keka, or similar), including requirements gathering, UAT, parallel runs, and go-live.
Ensure statutory and regulatory compliance is built into project deliverables (tax, PF, ESI, social security, multi-country labor laws).
Track project progress, manage scope changes, and proactively identify and mitigate risks and dependencies.
Plan and execute payroll parallel runs, data migration validation, and cutover activities with zero-error tolerance.
Manage stakeholder communication - status reports, steering committee updates, and escalation management.
Oversee change management, training, and knowledge transfer for impacted payroll teams and end users.
Manage vendor relationships, SOWs, deliverables, and SLAs.
Conduct post-implementation reviews, capture lessons learned, and ensure smooth transition to BAU (Business as Usual).
Maintain project documentation and support internal/external audits.
Required Qualifications & Skills
Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, HR, Information Technology, or a related field.
5 8 years of project management experience, with at least 2 3 years managing payroll, HR, or finance-domain projects.
Strong understanding of payroll processes, statutory compliance, and end-to-end payroll lifecycle.
Hands-on experience delivering payroll/HRIS implementation or transition projects.
Proficiency in project management tools (MS Project, Jira, Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, or similar) and MS Excel.
Solid grasp of project management methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid).
Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and risk-management skills.
High attention to detail, with the ability to manage accuracy-critical, deadline-driven deliverables.
Preferred / Good to Have
Project management certification (PMP, PRINCE2, or PMI-ACP / CSM for Agile).
Experience with multi-country / multi-state payroll roll-outs and transitions.
Exposure to payroll automation, shared services, or managed payroll services.
Familiarity with data privacy and compliance frameworks (GDPR, local tax/labor laws).
Vendor/SI management experience.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
On-time and on-budget project delivery
Payroll go-live accuracy (error-free parallel runs and cutover)
Statutory and audit compliance of delivered projects
Stakeholder satisfaction / CSAT
Scope and risk management effectiveness (minimal slippage / escalations)
Successful transition to BAU and adoption rates