Global Payroll Manager

Profound is the fastest-growing AI marketing platform, used by 15% of the Fortune 500 including Comcast, Estée Lauder, and Walmart, and innovators like Ramp, MongoDB, and Figma. It is where marketing teams do the work: research, briefs, content, campaigns, reporting, all in one place, alongside agents that carry the load with them. Built on 2B+ real user prompts and growing, Profound’s data shows you what people ask AI and what the models say back. Profound's AI Marketer joins that data with deep context about our customers to find the opportunities worth acting on, and then puts agents to work: automating reporting, drafting content, auditing pages for readability, running competitive research. It measures what works and gets better every day. As our Payroll Manager, you will own payroll for our core entities in the US, UK, Singapore, and Argentina, with ad hoc oversight of our Employer of Record (EOR) countries. You will run payroll accurately and on time, and build the controls, documentation, and automation that let us grow headcount without growing manual work. You will partner with Finance, People, Legal, and Accounting, and be the point of contact for payroll questions from employees and leaders. As an AI company, we expect this role to use AI and automation as a normal part of how payroll gets done, with the judgment to know where human review is required. WHAT YOU'LL DO Payroll operations - Run end-to-end payroll for the US, UK, Singapore, and Argentina, including new hires, terminations, salary changes, bonuses, commissions, and other variable pay - Administer deductions and benefit contributions, including 401(k) remittances, garnishments, and pension contributions, working with benefits and retirement providers - Manage contractor payments and keep worker classification documented with People and Legal - Respond to employee questions on pay, deductions, taxes, and benefits, and protect the confidentiality of all payroll data Compliance and tax - Maintain compliance with local tax, wage and hour, social security, pension, and statutory requirements in every jurisdiction, including registrations, filings (such as Form 941), year-end reporting, and responses to tax authority notices - Handle payroll tax for mobile and remote employees across US states and countries Vendors and EOR - Manage our EOR partner for Spain and Germany: validate inputs, review outputs and invoices, and coordinate onboarding, offboarding, and employee questions - Own relationships with payroll providers, benefits administrators, and local tax and accounting advisors, and hold them to clear service levels Equity and commissions - Support equity compensation payroll processes, including withholding and reporting on exercises and vesting events, in coordination with Legal and Carta, plus UK EMI-related items - Administer sales commissions and other variable pay with Sales Ops to ensure plans are paid accurately and on schedule Process, automation, and AI - Build and maintain payroll calendars, checklists, SOPs, and internal controls, including approvals, segregation of duties, and audit trails - Use AI and workflow automation to remove manual work, such as pre-run variance and anomaly checks, input validation, reconciliations, SOP drafting, and triaging routine employee questions - Evaluate AI-enabled payroll and HRIS features and automation tools, and recommend what to adopt based on accuracy, cost, and risk - Set clear rules for where AI output needs human review and how sensitive employee data is protected when AI tools are used - Lead the payroll side of expansion into new countries, from registrations and provider selection to first-run readiness WHO YOU ARE - 5 to 8+ years of payroll experience (including multi-country payroll) - Hands-on experience running US payroll across multiple states and managing payroll in more than one country. US and multi-country experience are must-haves; Singapore- or Argentina-specific experience is a plus, not a requirement - Experience working with an EOR or PEO to cover countries without a local entity - Deep knowledge of payroll tax and compliance - Familiarity with equity compensation mechanics (ISO/NSO, RSUs, withholding, reporting) and cap table tools such as Carta - Experience with commission and variable pay structures - Track record partnering cross-functionally with Sales Ops and RevOps teams to administer commissions accurately and on schedule - Solid accounting fundamentals: journal entries, accruals, and reconciliations, and comfort closing out your own work - Close working partnership with People teams; expertise in HRIS tooling; familiarity with Rippling payroll is a plus - Practical AI fluency: you have used AI assistants or automation tools to reduce manual effort and improve accuracy - Sound judgment on data privacy and security when handling sensitive employee information, including with AI tools - Exceptional attention to detail, with the judgment to know when to escalate - Excellent communicator across time zones who can explain payroll clearly to non-experts - Thrives in ambiguity with a 0-to-1 mindset, and is energized by building structure, processes, and tools where none exist yet - Preferred: experience at a high-growth startup, standing up payroll in a new country, supporting payroll and equity audits, or cross-border mobility and shadow payroll LOCATION This is an on-site role based in either our NYC or San Francisco office. It is designed for builders who thrive on speed, iteration, and meaningful impact. For this role, the expected base salary range is $150,000 to $240,000. Profound's total compensation package is designed to be competitive and includes base salary, equity, and a full range of benefits and perks. Final compensation will depend on factors such as your skills, experience, qualifications, and location, and will be determined during the interview process. Our recruiting team will share more details about the full compensation package and benefits as you move through hiring. Note: All official communication from Profound will come from a @tryprofound.com email address. If you're contacted by anyone using a different domain, please disregard and report it as spam.