Sr. Manager - Global Payroll

Synthesia is the world’s leading AI video platform for business, used by over 90% of the Fortune 100. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in London, with offices and teams across Europe and the US.

As AI continues to shape the way we live and work, Synthesia develops products to enhance visual communication and enterprise skill development, helping people work better and stay at the center of successful organizations.

Following our recent Series E funding round, where we raised $200 million, our valuation stands at $4 billion. Our total funding exceeds $530 million from premier investors including Accel, NVentures (Nvidia's VC arm), Kleiner Perkins, GV, and Evantic Capital, alongside the founders and operators of Stripe, Datadog, Miro, and Webflow.

About the role...

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Sr. Manager of Global Payroll to lead our global payroll function and ensure timely, accurate, and compliant payroll processing across all geographies. This role reporting to the VP of Accounting is accountable for driving global payroll operations, implementing scalable payroll processes, and working closely with internal stakeholders (HR,Accounting, FP&A). The ideal candidate will have a strong background in international payroll, knowledge of payroll accounting, and experience partnering with stock administrators to process and record equity compensation.

What you’ll be doing:

• Payroll Operations: Hands on role owning end-to-end payroll operations for global employees including regular pay, bonuses, commissions, deductions, and taxes across multiple pay cycles (semi-monthly and monthly).

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with HR, FP&A, and external providers to align payroll with organizational strategy, compensation policies, and financial goals.

• Compliance and Reporting: Review and validate payroll calculations, ensuring compliance with local labor, tax, and statutory requirements.

• Process Improvement: Drive continuous improvement of global payroll processes, controls, and documentation to support scale, efficiency, and accuracy in a high-growth environment.

• Internal Resource: Become the main point of contact for all payroll related questions for employees and auditors.

• Vendor and Partner Management: Manage payroll vendor relationships and ensure partners are performing at a high level.

• Equity Exercise Taxation: Work with payroll providers to calculate and report appropriate withholding taxes on employee equity exercises in jurisdictions where such events are treated as taxable income, ensuring accuracy and compliance with local regulations.

Location: Hybrid in our Austin, London or NYC office

We’d love to hear from you if you have…

• 7+ years of payroll experience, ownership of multi-country and global payroll operations

• Experience with high growth organizations and scaled operations with >1,000 FTE’s with a concentration on the UK and U.S.

• Strong attention to detail, analytical skills, and problem-solving abilities.

• Excellent communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills.

• High level of discretion when handling confidential employee data.

• Experience with enterprise HRIS and payroll platforms including integrations and automations.

We’d be particularly excited if you have…

• Experience with payroll implementations and PEO transitions.

• European payroll experience including Germany, Denmark & France.

• Experience with HiBob, Rippling, Payfit, Oyster or similar platforms.

• CPP or equivalent credential