Head Global HR & Payroll Operations

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For over 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

We work with people in over 150 countries and reach over 700 million people.

We connect. We inspire.

The Role

The Head Global HR & Payroll Operations is the senior operational leader responsible for the effective, accurate, compliant and efficient delivery of global HR Operations and Payroll services across all regions.

The role leads the regional People Function Operations and Payroll leads and is accountable for services delivered through internal teams and external service providers. The operational scope includes onboarding, managed workforce administration, people administration, mobility operations, pre-payroll activities, payroll processing and payments, people data maintenance, reporting and related employee lifecycle services.

The postholder ensures consistent execution of the global operating model, policies, procedures and controls, while balancing standardisation with local statutory and operational requirements. The role owns operational performance, service-provider governance, risk and compliance, service recovery, operational reporting and continuous improvement.

The role also leads the operational delivery of agreed HR Operations and Payroll transformation priorities, including requirements definition, RFP and provider selection support, implementation, transition, automation and embedding new solutions into business-as-usual operations to strengthen service resilience and future readiness.

The role reports to the Director – People Function & Payroll Operations and is responsible for BAU operations and executing the global HR Operations and Payroll strategy through regional operational leads, payroll and People Operations teams, and external service providers.

The role oversees the end-to-end delivery of global HR Operations and Payroll services, including but not limiting to onboarding, managed workforce administration, people administration, Mobility Operations, pre-payroll, payroll processing and payments, maintenance of employee and payroll records, reporting and related compliance activities.

Delivery operates across multiple countries, regulatory environments, systems and provider arrangements. The postholder is responsible for maintaining consistent processes and controls, monitoring service delivery against KPIs and SLAs, resolving complex operational issues, and ensuring statutory, data protection, accounting-control and business-continuity requirements are met.

The role is the senior operational point of contact for HR Operations and Payroll service providers, defining and managing service scope, overseeing mobilisation and transitions, and leading performance and improvement reviews. The role works closely with Finance, Reward, People Advisory, Procurement, Digital & Technology, country stakeholders and senior People Function leadership.

Success is measured through accurate and timely service delivery, compliance, customer experience, operational resilience, provider performance, effective controls, cost management and successful implementation of agreed transformation outcomes.

Main responsibilities

The role leads regional People Function Operations and Payroll teams, providing strategic direction, accountability and oversight of end-to-end global HR Operations and Payroll services, including onboarding, employee administration, mobility, pre-payroll, payroll processing, people data and reporting. It ensures accurate, timely, compliant and customer-focused service delivery across internal teams and external providers, while managing resources, operational capacity, service performance, KPIs, SLAs, escalations and continuous improvement. The role also oversees provider governance, contractual performance, operational risks, statutory compliance, financial controls, budgets, audit requirements and business continuity.

The role drives the operational implementation of global HR Operations and Payroll transformation priorities, including requirements definition, RFP and provider selection, implementation, service transition, automation, process standardisation and technology improvements. Working closely with Finance, Reward, People Advisory, Procurement, Digital & Technology and regional stakeholders, it strengthens operational resilience, systems effectiveness and employee experience while building team capability and fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, compliance and continuous improvement.

Role specific skills

There are three proficiency levels for HR skills: novice, developing and exemplary. The relevant proficiency level for this role is listed against each skill.

Data literacy

Data driven – grasps and uses data to make decisions and inform practice (developing).

Analytics translation – translates operational, people and payroll data into actionable insight (developing).

Business acumen

Commercial fluency – holds a clear understanding of organisational financial requirements and performance (exemplary).

Customer understanding – understands customer needs and applies user-centric principles (developing).

Digital agility

Digital aptitude – motivated to learn and experiment with digital ways of working (developing).

Digital adoption – creates an environment ready for digital adoption, automation and self-service (developing).

People advocacy

Risk mitigation and ethics – ensures ethical conduct and compliance and mitigates people and operational risks (developing).

Change navigation – builds the structures and capacity to promote change and resilience (developing).

Execution excellence

Action orientation – implements actionable and adaptive plans to achieve results (developing).

Problem solving – finds practical solutions to complex operational issues (developing).

Interpers