Payroll Lead

Job description

Who we are Helsing is a defence AI company. Our mission is to protect our democracies. We aim to achieve technological leadership, so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards. As democracies, we believe we have a special responsibility to be thoughtful about the development and deployment of powerful technologies like AI. We take this responsibility seriously. We are an ambitious and committed team of engineers, AI specialists and customer-facing programme managers. We are looking for mission-driven people to join our European teams – and apply their skills to solve the most complex and impactful problems. We embrace an open and transparent culture that welcomes healthy debates on the use of technology in defence, its benefits, and its ethical implications. The role Payroll at Helsing is not a back-office function. It is a foundation of trust. As Payroll Lead, you will own Helsing's payroll function across Germany and our growing international footprint. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will remain close to the monthly payroll cycles while designing the operating model, controls and team structure that allow payroll to scale with Helsing. You will take end-to-end responsibility for how payroll operates across our entities and regions, with particular depth in Germany and the wider DACH region. You will set service standards, controls and escalation paths, and hold our external providers accountable for delivering against them. You will guide our payroll specialists, sharing work fairly across cycles and building the knowledge and cross-cover that ensures no entity depends on one person. As we add entities and enter new countries, you will decide how payroll should operate there — from provider and system choices through to controls and the first live payroll. Every colleague at Helsing depends on this being right, on time, every cycle. The day-to-day Own payroll delivery across multiple entities, entities and pay frequencies, remaining hands-on in monthly payroll where needed and ensuring each cycle is delivered accurately and on time Design and continuously improve a scalable payroll operating model for Germany and our international entities, covering workflows, intake channels, escalation paths, service levels, approvals, reconciliations and audit-ready evidence Guide and develop our payroll specialists, setting clear standards, sharing workload fairly and building cross-cover Partner closely with Finance on payroll accounting, reconciliations and month-end, quarter-end and year-end close Own the service and commercial relationship with external payroll providers, setting expectations, running performance reviews and selecting new partners as we enter additional countries Safeguard statutory compliance across jurisdictions, with particular expertise in German wage tax, social security and relevant labour law, and lead payroll