Senior Payroll Specialist

The Job in ShortAs a Senior Payroll Specialist, you will own the accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of payroll across the Netherlands, UK, and Spain. You’ll be a subject-matter expert and trusted advisor to employees, HR, Finance, Payroll Vendors and other stakeholders, helping us navigate complex payroll questions, legislation, and employee inquiries. But this role is about more than simply running payroll. Backbase is a fast-moving, scrappy environment. We don’t always have perfect processes, clean data, or a neatly documented answer waiting for you. You’ll need to be a self-starter who is comfortable with ambiguity, can dig into messy processes, identify what isn’t working, and figure out how to make it better. We’re looking for someone who doesn’t just say “that’s how we’ve always done it.” You’ll challenge inefficient ways of working, simplify processes, eliminate manual work, and look for opportunities to automate, use AI, or improve our systems and data. You’ll have the autonomy to investigate problems, bring stakeholders together, and drive solutions through to completion. Alongside your hands-on payroll responsibilities, you’ll act as a advisor on payroll, tax, benefits, and employment-related matters, proactively identifying risks and helping the wider HR organization understand and navigate payroll requirements. What you’ll do Payroll Ownership & Compliance Own and oversee payroll activities for the Netherlands, UK, and Spain, ensuring payroll is accurate, timely, compliant, and well controlled. Act as a subject-matter expert on payroll legislation, regulations, authorities, and best practices across your countries. Ensure compliance with all statutory reporting, year-end processes, tax requirements, and payroll obligations. Identify, assess, and proactively manage payroll risks, escalating material issues where appropriate. Maintain accurate employee records and ensure payroll, compensation, benefits, and tax data is complete and up to date. Advisory & Stakeholder Management Provide clear, practical advice on payroll, tax, benefits, and regulatory matters. Partner closely with Finance and HR to ensure employee data flows accurately between systems and payroll. Translate complex payroll requirements into clear guidance that managers and employees can understand and act on. Partner with our vendors in each location to ensure accurate payroll runs Process Improvement & Automation Challenge the status quo. Continuously review payroll processes, controls, and ways of working to identify opportunities to simplify and improve. Identify opportunities to eliminate manual work through automation, integrations, AI, better use of existing systems, or improved process design. Develop and implement scalable payroll processes, policies, controls, and documentation. Help build payroll operations that can scale as Backbase grows internationally. Operational Support Proactively manage the payroll ticket pipeline, incoming requests, and escalations, ensuring issues are resolved efficiently and with appropriate urgency. Take ownership of complex or sensitive payroll cases and drive them to resolution. Maintain high-quality payroll documentation, including policies, templates, process documentation, employee guidance, and Confluence content. What you bring Experience & Qualifications 5+ years of experience in payroll, ideally in a senior payroll specialist, payroll officer, or similar role. PDL (Praktijkdiploma Loonadministratie) or equivalent relevant payroll qualification. Strong knowledge and hands-on experience with Dutch + UK payroll legislation, regulations, and institutions Experience working with Spanish payroll is highly desirable. Experience working in an international, multi-country HR environment. Native-level Dutch and fluent English, both written and spoken. Experience working with payroll systems and HRIS platforms; experience with multiple systems/providers is a plus. About You We care as much about how you approach problems as your technical payroll expertise. You’re a self-starter. You don’t wait for someone to give you a perfectly defined task or solution. You thrive in ambiguity. You can make progress even when information is incomplete, processes are unclear, or ownership is fragmented. You’re a problem solver. When something doesn’t work, you investigate the root cause and figure out how to fix it. You think automation-first. You actively look for opportunities to automate repetitive work, improve integrations, leverage AI, and reduce manual effort. You take ownership. You follow problems through to resolution rather than passing them from team to team. You’re commercially minded. You understand that payroll needs to be compliant and controlled, but also practical, efficient, and scalable.