Regional Payroll Director, Americas

Company Description

Reports to: VP, Head of Global Payroll 
Geographic Scope: North America, Central America, and Latin America 
Operational Scope: 32 countries and approximately 8,000 employees 

Location: This position is remote and open to candidates who are legally authorized to work and reside in the United States or Latin America (including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and other Latin American countries). 

Language Requirements: Candidates must possess full professional fluency in both English and Spanish, with the ability to communicate effectively in verbal and written business settings. Regular interaction with English- and Spanish-speaking stakeholders is a core requirement of this role.

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Job Description

As part of NIQ’s Global Payroll Center of Excellence, the Regional Payroll Director, Americas has end-to-end accountability for accurate, timely, compliant, and controlled payroll delivery across 32 countries and approximately 8,000 employees. 

The role leads payroll delivered through in-house, outsourced, and global solutions, including U.S. headquarters and executive payroll, established country operations, and countries transitioning to NIQ’s global payroll platform. It leads a geographically dispersed organization of regional managers, cluster leaders, country teams, offshore resources, and external providers. 

Working closely with HR, Employee Experience, Benefits, Compensation, Equity, Finance, Tax, Treasury, Technology, Legal, and Audit, the role drives operational performance, financial integrity, regulatory compliance, vendor accountability, and payroll transformation. 

The position also serves as senior regional deputy to the VP, Head of Global Payroll, leading global priorities and escalations when required.

Key Responsibilities 

Regional Payroll Delivery and Compliance 

• Own accurate, complete, timely, and compliant payroll delivery across the Americas
• Lead regional managers, cluster leaders, country teams, offshore resources, and external providers, setting clear priorities and accountability
• Oversee the payroll lifecycle, including inputs, calculations, approvals, funding, payments, statutory remittances, accounting, and reconciliations
• Maintain effective governance, controls, procedures, calendars, escalation routes, business-continuity plans, and role coverage
• Identify and resolve payroll issues, compliance risks, and control gaps through root-cause analysis and sustainable corrective action
• Apply consistent regional service standards while meeting country-specific statutory requirements

U.S. Payroll 

• Provide leadership and governance for U.S. headquarters and executive payroll
• Oversee federal, state, and local payroll tax compliance, year-end reporting, employee tax statements, statutory filings, and corrections
• Ensure appropriate confidentiality, system access, segregation of duties, reviews, and approvals
• Lead resolution of tax notices, assessments, penalties, amended filings, and government inquiries with payroll providers and Corporate Tax
• Oversee payroll requirements relating to leave programs, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, taxable benefits, equity, and employee deductions

Payroll Accounting and Financial Close 

• Partner with Record-to-Report and Financial Controllership to ensure accurate and timely period-end and year-end close
• Oversee payroll journals, accruals, balance-sheet reconciliations, statutory liabilities, accounting interfaces, and supporting documentation
• Maintain clear ownership and closure plans for aged items, unmatched balances, historical differences, and other payroll-related concerns
• Investigate material or recurring accounting differences and coordinate resolution across Payroll, Finance, Technology, offshore teams, and providers 

People and Vendor Leadership 

• Lead, coach, and develop payroll leaders and teams, building technical capability, succession readiness, and operational resilience
• Foster an inclusive culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and employee-focused service
• Manage payroll providers against contractual obligations, KPIs, SLAs, compliance requirements, and implementation milestones
• Lead vendor governance and escalations, challenging underperformance and ensuring sustainable corrective action
• Monitor regional performance and provide concise, evidence-based updates to senior stakeholders

Controls and Transformation 

• Ensure payroll controls are appropriately designed, performed, documented, and evidenced
• Lead readiness for SOX reviews, internal and external audits, statutory audits, payroll tax audits, and regulatory assessments
• Oversee country transitions to NIQ’s global payroll solution, addressing payroll, statutory, tax, banking, accounting, data, integration, reporting, and control requirements
• Protect employee pay, compliance, financial controls, and business continuity throughout each transition
• Simplify, standardize, automate, and strengthen payroll processes, systems, interfaces, and controls

Qualifications

Required:

• University degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Human Resources, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience
• At least 10 years of progressive payroll experience, including significant leadership responsibility for complex, multi-country payroll operations
• Deep knowledge of U.S. payroll operations, taxation, controls, compliance, and year-end requirements, together with practical Latin American payroll experience
• Experience managing in-house, outsourced, or co-sourced payroll models and geographically dispersed teams
• Demonstrated success managing providers against KPIs, SLAs, contractual obligations, and improvement plans
• Experience transitioning countries to new payroll providers, systems, or global payroll solutions
• Experience with payroll accounting, financial close, SOX controls, audits, reconciliations, and statutory requirements
• Strong leadership, communication, influencing, stakeholder-management, and problem-solving skills
• Full professional fluency in English and Spanish

Preferred:

• Experience in a Global Business Services, shared-services, or Center of Excellence environment
• Experience with Workday, global payroll platforms, payroll middleware, and system integrations
• Experience in a publicly listed, regulated, or SOX-controlled organization
• Relevant payroll, accounting, tax, HR, or project-management certification

Measures of Success:

• Accurate, timely, compliant, and controlled payroll delivery
• Achievement of regional KPIs and vendor SLAs
• Successful transition and stabilization of countries on NIQ’s global payroll solution
• Accurate payroll accounting and timely financial-close support
• Reduction in aged items, unreconciled balances, control failures, and recurring issues
• Effective performance and development of regional and vendor teams
• Timely completion of year-end, audit, tax, and regulatory requirements
• Improved standardization, scalability, resilience, controls, and employee experience

Additional Information

This role has a market-competitive salary with an anticipated base compensation of the following range: $132,000.00 - $182,000.00. Actual salaries will vary depending on a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location. This role might also be eligible for a sales-based incentive or performance-based bonus. Other benefits include a flexible working environment, comprehensive health insurance, industry-leading parental leave, life insurance, education support, and more.

Our Benefits

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)

NIQ may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of the recruitment process, including résumé screening, candidate assessments, interview scheduling, job matching, communication support, and certain administrative tasks that help streamline workflows. These tools are intended to improve efficiency and support fair and consistent evaluation based on job-related criteria. All use of AI is governed by NIQ’s principles of fairness, transparency, human oversight, and inclusion. Final hiring decisions are made exclusively by humans. NIQ regularly reviews its AI tools to help mitigate bias and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. If you have questions, require accommodations, or wish to request human review were permitted by law, please contact your local HR representative. For more information, please visit NIQ’s AI Safety Policies and Guiding Principles: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/info/niqs-ai-safety-policies/

About NIQ

NIQ is the world’s leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state-of-the-art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View™. NIQ is an Advent International portfolio company with operations in 100+ markets, covering more than 90% of the world’s population.

For more information, visit NIQ.com

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Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At NIQ, we are steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace that mirrors the rich diversity of the communities and markets we serve. We believe that embracing a wide range of perspectives drives innovation and excellence.  All employment decisions at NIQ are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. We invite individuals who share our dedication to inclusivity and equity to join us in making a meaningful impact. To learn more about our ongoing efforts in diversity and inclusion, please visit the https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/diversity-inclusion