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Building a Brand Starts with a Story FIRST is a leading global brand experience agency providing Content, Creative, Digital Technology, Management & Delivery, and Data & Insights services. For 30 years, we have utilised three flexible delivery models: Embedded teams, Corporate Campus operations, and a Full-Service Agency. Managing over 37,000 events & projects annually across 110 countries, FIRST serves 130+ brands, specialising in Fortune 500 companies within the Financial Services, Technology, Healthcare, Media, and Professional Services sectors. FIRST is part of the broader Encore family of companies. Encore is a global leader in event production and technology. Consistently recognised for excellence, recent honours include 2026 Chief Marketer Agency of the Year, the Ad Net Zero Award for sustainability, and more. Learn more at www.firstagency.com Please note that this role is a 9-month fixed-term contract. What You Would Get To Do The Payroll Manager is responsible for the accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of end-to-end payroll across multiple international jurisdictions. This role partners closely with People Operations, Benefits, Finance, Tax, and external vendors to ensure a seamless employee experience. Beyond day-to-day operations, the Payroll Manager will own the relationships with external payroll providers and Employer of Record (EOR) partners, maintain robust internal controls, and standardise global workflows. As the organisation expands internationally, this role will drive continuous process improvements, leverage data reporting for business insights, and spearhead the successful implementation of payroll operations in new countries. Your Contributions Payroll Operations & Vendor Management  Manage end-to-end payroll operations for employees across various countries in the assigned regions. Act as the primary point of contact for external payroll providers and in-country payroll partners. Liaise with Employer of Record (EOR) partners regarding employee pay changes and compensation adjustments. Review and validate payroll inputs and outputs, ensuring data changes, compensation updates, bonuses, and terminations are processed accurately within agreed timelines. Monitor vendor performance, ensuring adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), high accuracy, and timely issue resolution. When applicable, support onboarding of new countries or payroll providers. Stakeholder Partnership Partner closely with People Operations to ensure accurate, timely processing of employee lifecycle events that impact payroll. Act as the first point of contact for employees regarding payroll-related queries and issues, ensuring timely resolution and a positive employee experience. Collaborate with People Operations, Benefits, and other stakeholders to support the administration and payroll treatment of employee programmes, benefits, leave arrangements, and other employee-related processes as required. Process Documentation & Continuous Improvement Develop, maintain, and regularly update payroll procedures, process documentation, standard operating procedures, and payroll calendars. Identify opportunities to streamline, standardise, automate, and improve payroll processes for the assigned regions. Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance payroll accuracy, efficiency, compliance, and employee experience. Participate in payroll system enhancements, integrations, and process improvement projects. Compliance & Governance Ensure compliance with local payroll, tax, social security, pension, and statutory regulations across all jurisdictions in the assigned regions. Collaborate with local payroll providers to monitor legislative and regulatory changes and implement payroll processes and controls. Maintain robust payroll controls, governance processes, and audit-ready documentation. Support internal and external