Why work at Nebius
Nebius is leading a new era in cloud computing to serve the global AI economy. We create the tools and resources our customers need to solve real-world challenges and transform industries, without massive infrastructure costs or the need to build large in-house AI/ML teams. Our employees work at the cutting edge of AI cloud infrastructure alongside some of the most experienced and innovative leaders and engineers in the field.
Where we work
Headquartered in Amsterdam and listed on Nasdaq, Nebius has a global footprint with R&D hubs across Europe, North America, and Israel. The team of over 800 employees includes more than 400 highly skilled engineers with deep expertise across hardware and software engineering, as well as an in-house AI R&D team.
The role
The Head of Global Payroll Operations builds, matures, and runs Nebius’s global payroll function as a reliable, scalable operating system. This role owns the payroll maturity journey—from manual, person-dependent execution to standardized, controlled, data-driven operations—while ensuring every employee is paid accurately and on time across all countries and entities.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Own global payroll execution across all countries/entities and vendor models; ensure zero missed payroll runs and consistently high accuracy.
- Assess current payroll maturity by country/vendor/process and define a multi-year maturity roadmap with measurable milestones.
- Design and enforce global payroll operating standards: calendars, readiness gates, controls, evidence packs, and playbooks.
- Own payroll controllership from an operational standpoint: SoD, approvals, access discipline, control operation monitoring, and audit readiness.
- Own payroll accounting outcomes globally (journals, accruals, reversals, balance sheet hygiene) and partner with Finance for predictable closes.
- Lead automation, integration, and harmonization initiatives to reduce spreadsheets, reprocessing, and exception-driven execution.
- Own vendor governance (SLAs/KPIs, escalations, remediation) and lead vendor transitions/cutovers when required.
- Lead incident management and learning: recovery actions, root cause, and systemic improvements after every payroll incident.
- Build and develop a global payroll operations team and leadership bench; reduce reliance on heroics and key-person dependency.
We expect you to have:
- 10+ years payroll leadership experience in multi-country environments (in-house and/or global vendor-managed models).
- Demonstrated success maturing payroll operations (standardization, controls, automation enablement, and scalable operating models).
- Strong payroll accounting and close partnership experience; ability to maintain clean payroll balance sheets at scale.
- Proven vendor governance and transition leadership (SLA setting, performance management, cutovers, stabilization).
- Experience leading through change (M&A, restructures, new countries, system changes) without payroll regression.
- Strong people leadership and capability building; can create discipline, clarity, and resilience in execution teams.
It will be an added bonus if you have:
- Experience with payroll systems and integration programs (HRIS/ERP interfacing, data standards, automation).
- Exposure to internal control frameworks and audit programs.
- Experience operating in high-growth, high-change environments.
Competencies & Behavioral Traits
- Operational excellence with calm execution under immovable deadlines.
- Systems thinking and continuous improvement orientation.
- High integrity and risk ownership; escalates early and manages incidents transparently.
- Influence across Finance, HR, Legal/Compliance, and vendors.
- Strong written and verbal communication with executives and employees.
What we offer
- Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
- Opportunities for professional growth within Nebius.
- Flexible working arrangements.
- A dynamic and collaborative work environment that values initiative and innovation.
We’re growing and expanding our products every day. If you’re up to the challenge and are excited about AI and ML as much as we are, join us!
