Sr. Payroll Manager, International

Senior Payroll Manager

Location: Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, UK

Work mode: Hybrid or Home-based

Position Summary:

Bentley Systems is seeking a strategic and experienced Senior Payroll Manager, International to lead our international payroll function. This is a critical role responsible for ensuring the accuracy, compliance, and timely execution of payroll for our colleagues across 42+ countries. The successful candidate will drive the transformation and stabilization of our payroll landscape, including leading the payroll workstream for a multi-year Dayforce implementation. This position requires a hands-on leader who can operate at both a strategic and tactical level, partnering closely with senior leadership across HR, Finance, and IT to build a scalable, world-class payroll function that supports Bentley’s continued global growth.

Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of Bentley’s international payroll operations, managing a complex mix of in-house, outsourced, and managed-service delivery models.
• Serve as the global escalation point for complex payroll issues, providing expert guidance and resolution.
• Lead the payroll workstream for our global Dayforce implementation over the next 18–24 months, ensuring a seamless transition and integration with our HR/HCM platforms.
• Collaborate with HR, Finance, IT, Tax, and external vendors on all phases of implementation, from system migrations and connector testing to parallel runs and post-go-live stabilization.
• Provide hands-on leadership to payroll specialists throughout the implementation lifecycle, including requirements gathering, user acceptance testing (UAT), data reconciliation, and validation.
• Lead payroll due diligence, integration planning, and execution for all corporate mergers and acquisitions.
• Guarantee that all payroll processes adhere to local statutory, tax, and labor requirements across every region.
• Establish and maintain a robust framework of payroll controls, documentation, and governance to ensure audit readiness.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and transparency within the global payroll function.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 10+ years of progressive international payroll experience, with direct oversight of the EMEA, APAC, and Latin America regions.
• Proven track record of managing payroll within a large, complex, multi-country corporate environment.
• Hands-on experience leading the payroll workstream for global payroll implementations (e.g., Dayforce, ADP GlobalView, or similar).
• Deep understanding of system integrations and data migration between Payroll and HR/HCM platforms.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel is essential, including complex formulas, v-lookups, pivot tables, data reconciliation, and analysis of large datasets.
• Expert knowledge of international payroll compliance, controls, and audit procedures.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, or a related business field is preferred.
• Experience leading payroll transformation within a global, matrixed organization is preferred.
• Direct experience supporting payroll integration activities for mergers and acquisitions is preferred.

What We Offer:

• A great Team and culture – please see our colleague video. 
• An exciting career as an integral part of a world-leading software company providing solutions for architecture, engineering, and construction - watch this short documentary about how we got our start. 
• An attractive salary and benefits package. 
• A commitment to inclusion, belonging and colleague wellbeing through global initiatives and resource groups. 
• A company committed to making a real difference by advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life, where your contributions help build a more sustainable, connected, and resilient world. Discover our latest user success stories for an insight into our global impact. 

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About Bentley Systems

Around the world, infrastructure professionals rely on software from Bentley Systems to help them design, build, and operate better and more resilient infrastructure for transportation, water, energy, cities, and more. Founded in 1984 by engineers for engineers, Bentley is the partner of choice for engineering firms and owner-operators worldwide, with software that spans engineering disciplines, industry sectors, and all phases of the infrastructure lifecycle. Through our digital twin solutions, we help infrastructure professionals unlock the value of their data to transform project delivery and asset performance. www.bentley.com 

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Bentley is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers for employment all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, religion/belief, national origin, caste, age, or any other characteristic protected by local law or unrelated to job qualifications.