About the Role:
We're looking for a skilled and detail-oriented International HR Ops & Payroll Specialist to join Zone's People Strategy team. This is a highly cross-functional role that sits at the intersection of operations, payroll, compliance, HRIS, and benefits. You'll collaborate closely with Finance, Legal, and People team members across time zones and occasionally cross-train with your US-based payroll counterpart to build organizational resilience and shared expertise.

If you're someone who thrives on getting the details right, appreciates the complexity of multi-country compliance, and wants a role with real ownership and room to grow, we'd love to hear from you!

What you'll do:

HR Ops and Support

• Act as a "Face of HR Ops": Deliver a white-glove, support experience, serving as the primary and deeply empathetic point of contact for all day-to-day employee inquiries
• Own the Employee Lifecycle: Orchestrate seamless, high-touch transitions across the entire employee journey—from a welcoming onboarding experience to a respectful, supportive offboarding process
• Manage internal HR queries with a commitment to speed, clarity, and care, ensuring no employee question goes unanswered or unacknowledged
• Act as a trusted problem-solver for complex or sensitive inquiries regarding payroll, benefits, and company policies, treating every internal team member as a valued customer

Payroll processing & compliance

• Process accurate and timely payroll for employees in the UK, Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Australia on a monthly cycle
• Monitor and audit payroll activity across EOR-managed employee populations via Remote, ensuring data accuracy and flagging discrepancies in a timely manner
• Stay current on statutory changes across all jurisdictions — including tax rates, leave entitlements, and reporting obligations — and implement updates proactively
• Manage year-end activities for each country, monthly reporting, and maintain vendor relationships, ensuring accuracy and on-time submission

Controls & reporting

• Continuously audit HR processes and workflows through an "employee-first" lens to eliminate administrative bottlenecks and make daily work life easier for the team
• Proactively perform payroll reconciliations and prepare GL journal entries to support month-end close in partnership with Finance
• Maintain thorough payroll documentation to support internal audit readiness under ISO and SOC 2 frameworks
• Produce regular payroll reports and variance analyses for Finance and People leadership

HRIS & systems

• Serve as a functional owner of the HRIS-to-payroll workflow from BambooHR to Remote, verifying data accuracy and ensuring trust in system source of truth
• Support configuration improvements, data integrity projects, and integrations between BambooHR and downstream systems
• Partner on HRIS improvement initiatives and testing cycles as the People team evolves its tech stack

Benefits & employee experience

• Support the administration of country-specific benefits, including enrollment changes, vendor coordination, and employee education
• Serve as a benefits resource for the larger HR team and cross-functional projects

Cross-functional collaboration

• Cross-train with the US Payroll Specialist to build shared operational knowledge and support continuity
• Maintain strong working relationships with tax agencies, local payroll vendors, and EOR partners
• Contribute to policy documentation and process improvement projects as the team scales, actively exploring how AI tools can reduce manual lift, improve accuracy, and free up capacity for higher-value work

What You'll Need:

• 4+ years of experience in payroll, with meaningful hands-on exposure to at least two of our four target countries (UK, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Australia)
• Working knowledge of country-specific payroll regulations, including PAYE/RTI, Dutch wage tax, Czech social and health insurance contributions, and Australian STP and superannuation
• Experience working with or alongside EOR providers (Remote system experience is a plus)
• Skilled in BambooHR or a comparable HRIS; able to identify data issues and partner on system improvements
• Strong data and reconciliation skills — you catch errors before they become problems through incredible eye for detail
• Able to manage competing deadlines across time zones without losing the details
• Clear, professional communicator who can translate payroll complexity for non-payroll audiences
• Naturally collaborative, with a high bar for accuracy and discretion

Nice to Have:

• Experience with SOC 2 or ISO audit support in an HR or payroll context
• Familiarity with global benefits administration
• Exposure to US payroll (helpful for cross-training purposes)
• Second European language proficiency
• CIPP or equivalent experience