Payroll & Benefits Team Leader

Syensqo is all about chemistry. We’re not just referring to chemical reactions here, but also to the magic that occurs when the brightest minds get to work together. This is where our true strength lies. In you. In your future colleagues and in all your differences. And of course, in your ideas to improve lives while preserving our planet’s beauty for the generations to come.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 3 Payroll & Benefits Specialists.
• Establish clear roles, accountabilities, priorities, and performance expectations.
• Manage workload and ensure appropriate coverage across payroll cycles.
• Build team capability through coaching, cross-training, and knowledge sharing.
• Ensure appropriate backup arrangements and business continuity.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development discussions.
• Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

• Own end-to-end operational Payroll & Benefits delivery for the UK.
• Ensure payroll is processed accurately, compliantly, and on time.
• Manage payroll calendars, cut-offs, input readiness, validation, and approvals.
• Oversee payroll reconciliations, controls, payroll accounting, and post-payroll activities.
• Ensure statutory reporting and year-end activities are completed accurately and on time.
• Oversee Benefits-related payroll inputs and processes.
• Ensure payroll exceptions and employee-impacting issues are resolved promptly.
• Maintain complete and current SOPs, work instructions, and process documentation.

• Ensure compliance with UK payroll legislation, tax requirements, company policies, and internal controls.
• Ensure payroll controls are consistently executed and supported by appropriate evidence.
• Identify payroll risks proactively and implement mitigation actions.
• Support internal and external audits and ensure remediation actions are completed.
• Ensure appropriate User Access Management and segregation-of-duties controls.
• Support compliance requirements arising from collective agreements and local employment practices.

• Take ownership of operational issues through resolution.
• Lead root-cause analysis for material or recurring payroll errors.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented and tracked to closure.
• Identify recurring trends and eliminate root causes rather than repeatedly correcting symptoms.
• Ensure the team escalates issues with a clear problem, impact, root cause, recommendation, and decision required.

• Manage the day-to-day relationship with Payroll, Time, Benefits, and other relevant providers.
• Monitor vendor performance against SLAs and KPIs.
• Challenge service-quality issues and ensure providers take accountability for errors.
• Monitor ticket volumes, aging, recurring issues, and resolution quality.
• Support monthly service reviews and performance reporting.
• Escalate material vendor issues to the Regional Payroll Lead with clear recommendations.

• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate Payroll & Benefits processes.
• Reduce manual activities, reconciliations, and unnecessary handoffs.
• Improve controls, documentation, and operational ways of working.
• Coordinate improvement opportunities with Global Payroll Experts, HRIT, and providers.
• Ensure lessons learned from payroll issues result in sustainable process improvements.

• Represent UK Payroll within Payroll & Time initiatives.
• Provide UK business, statutory, CBA, and operational requirements.
• Support future-state process and solution design.
• Participate in testing, parallel payroll, reconciliation, cutover, and…