Global Payroll Manager

At Nova Sky Stories, we empower artists and producers to bring awe and wonder to live audiences around the world. As the global leader in drone entertainment, we’ve been redefining live shows for over a decade—merging cutting‑edge drone technology with imaginative artistry.

With a veteran team of engineers and creatives, we design and operate lightweight, small, precise, and safe drones that perform in the most demanding environments—urban centers, extreme temperatures, and high winds. The result? Sky Stories that inspire, captivate, and transform the sky into a canvas of imagination.

Headquartered in the U.S. with teams across Europe and the UAE, Nova Sky Stories works with the world’s leading brands, venues, and events.

Follow us: @Nova Sky Stories

As Global Payroll Manager at Nova Sky Stories, you will own and help scale payroll operations across our rapidly growing global organization. With teams operating across the U.S. and international markets, this role is an opportunity to build the processes, systems, and controls that support an increasingly complex global workforce.

You’ll be responsible for ensuring payroll is accurate, timely, and compliant while partnering closely with Finance, HR, Accounting, and external payroll providers. Beyond managing day‑to‑day payroll operations, you’ll play an important role in launching payroll in new countries and entities, strengthening global processes, improving systems and controls, and creating consistency as Nova continues to grow.

This role is ideal for someone who is equally comfortable rolling up their sleeves to solve a payroll issue and stepping back to build a better process for the future. We’re looking for a hands‑on payroll leader who thrives in a fast‑moving environment, enjoys navigating complexity, and is excited by the opportunity to help build a truly global payroll function.

• Partner with Human Resources and Finance teams to maintain accurate employee timekeeping and payroll data.
• Own and oversee full-cycle payroll operations across multiple countries and legal entities, ensuring accurate and timely processing across Nova Sky Stories.
• Review payroll submissions for accuracy including hours worked, earnings, deductions, taxes, and benefit contributions.
• Manage off-cycle payroll runs including bonuses, corrections, and retroactive adjustments as needed.
• Reconcile payroll registers to funding, tax payments, and general ledger exports; manage reversals, voids, and retroactive pay corrections when necessary.
• Coordinate payroll system integrations, file feeds, and general ledger exports with Accounting to ensure accurate labor distribution and cost center mapping.
• Support payroll processing for both employees and independent contractors across domestic and international jurisdictions.
• Partner closely with Accounting and Finance to support payroll-related audits, reconciliations, and reporting requirements.

• Support the setup of new international entities and payroll structures within payroll and HRIS platforms, including company codes, pay groups, earnings and deductions, PTO policies, and direct deposit configurations.
• Partner with HR, Finance, and leadership to collect and validate employee and payroll data when launching operations in new countries.
• Assist with parallel payroll testing and first‑live payroll processing for new locations.
• Coordinate payroll tax setup across new jurisdictions, ensuring proper configuration for local tax requirements and compliance.
• Provide payroll and labor allocation data to support intercompany accounting, transfer pricing, and other global finance…