Senior Director, Equity

Join to apply for the Senior Director, Equity role at Affirm

Affirm is reinventing credit to make it more honest and friendly, giving consumers the flexibility to buy now and pay later without any hidden fees or compounding interest.

As we scale globally, we are seeking a highly experienced and strategic leader to architect the future of our Equity and Payroll functions, ensuring that every employee worldwide receives a premier experience defined by consistency, precision, and ease.

As the Senior Director of Global Equity and Payroll, you will be a highly influential, collaborative leader, reporting directly to the CAO, responsible for autonomously overseeing the entire global function across our complex, high-growth multinational employee operations (US, Canada, Poland, UK, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, and expanding rapidly). This pivotal role requires defining and driving the strategic roadmap, managing all aspects of global payroll and critical equity administration.

You will balance operational excellence with large-scale transformation, demanding deep understanding of global complexities and proven success influencing executive-level stakeholders across Finance, Tax, Legal, and People.

What You’ll Do

Strategic Execution & Optimization

• Drive Global Scale:
Architect, implement, and optimize global processes for payroll and equity administration to support our rapid international expansion and growing global employee base, ensuring timely and accurate delivery in every jurisdiction.

• Vision &

Roadmap:

Design and recommend new global policies, technology roadmaps, and organizational structures that are scalable and compliant across all current and future geographies.

• Operational Excellence:
Manage the entire global function (Payroll and Equity) for a complex, high‑growth multinational organization, ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant execution of all pay cycles and equity events.

• Budget Management:
Manage significant vendor relationships and transformation budgets, driving high‑value and cost‑effective solutions.

Leadership & Organizational Development

• Lead and Inspire Multiple Teams:
Oversee the Global Payroll and Global Equity Administration teams, fostering a culture of ownership, precision, and continuous improvement. Two senior leaders will report directly to this role.

• Change Leadership:
Successfully lead the team through periods of rapid evolution, including international expansion into new jurisdictions, M&A integrations and significant systems/process changes, maintaining stability and continuous improvement.

Risk Management & Compliance

• Complex Compliance:
Establish and enforce rigorous compliance with all relevant international and domestic laws, regulations, periodic filings, and tax requirements.

• Audit & Reporting:
Serve as the primary point of contact for external audits related to payroll and equity. Ensure rigorous internal controls (SOX) are in place and adhered to.

• Subject Matter Expertise:
Serve as a deep SME on global requirements and market best practices; providing clarity in highly complex or ambiguous scenarios.

Cross-Functional Influence & Partnership

• Executive Partnership:
Take a highly valued seat at the table, building trust and effective partnerships through collaboration with senior leaders and VPs across People, Legal, Tax, Treasury, Finance, and IT to align global payroll and equity strategy with overall business objectives.

• Employee

Experience:

Lead with empathy while upholding a reputation of excellence in all payroll and equity related matters.

What We Look For

• 12+ years of progressive experience managing complex Global Payroll and Global Equity functions. High‑growth, multinational public company experience preferred.

• Experience in a 2,000+ global employee environment.

• Deep expertise in global equity administration (e.g., Schwab) and complex global payroll systems and vendors.

• Proven track record of driving large‑scale, functional transformation, including major global system implementations (e.g., Workday).

• Expert‑level knowledge of complex international compensation and tax compliance requirements.

• Demonstrated experience managing M&A…