Payroll Team Lead Colombia

Our HR team plays a key role in supporting Plata’s growth by ensuring efficient, compliant, and scalable people operations. Payroll is a critical function within this area, connecting HR, Finance, and Accounting to ensure accurate employee compensation, reliable reporting, and a seamless employee experience.

As our business continues to grow, we are transforming our payroll operations to strengthen internal processes, implement robust controls, and build a sustainable model that can support our future needs.

The Payroll Team Lead is responsible for:

• Managing end-to-end monthly payroll operations for 150+ employees in Colombia, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and timely payments.
• Leading some transitions of payroll services ensuring business continuity, accurate data migration, and effective knowledge transfer.
• Designing and implementing standardized payroll processes, validation procedures, reconciliations, and internal controls.
• Ensuring compliance with Colombian labor legislation, payroll taxation, social security, statutory benefits, and collective bargaining agreements.
• Managing relationships with external payroll providers and acting as the main point of contact for HR, Finance, Accounting, and other internal stakeholders.
• Ensuring accurate payroll reporting, employee cost analysis, and timely delivery of financial information.
• Leading process optimization, automation, and the roadmap to bring payroll operations in-house.
• Supporting employees and internal teams with payroll-related inquiries and compensation matters.

Challenges that await you:

• Build transparent, well-documented, and scalable payroll processes from the ground up.
• Strengthen payroll governance by implementing robust controls, reconciliations, and risk prevention mechanisms.
• Coordinate multiple stakeholders across HR, Finance, Accounting, and external providers, including international teams.
• Lead the transformation towards an in-house payroll model defining the systems, resources, processes, and capabilities required.
• Support a growing organization while maintaining high standards of accuracy, compliance, and operational efficiency.

What makes you a great fit:

• 5+ years of hands-on experience managing end-to-end payroll operations, with strong expertise in Colombian payroll and labor legislation.
• Proven experience managing outsourced payroll providers and leading payroll operations or process transformation initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of payroll taxation, social security contributions, statutory benefits, termination settlements, and collective bargaining agreements.
• Experience designing payroll controls, reconciliations, reporting procedures, and payroll accounting processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to confidently lead meetings and explain complex payroll matters to local and international teams.
• Fluent English (B2+/C1), both written and spoken.
• Strong analytical skills, advanced Excel proficiency, and experience working with payroll systems and large datasets.
• A proactive, detail-oriented, and ownership-driven mindset, with the ability to independently lead cross-functional projects and turn challenges into structured, actionable solutions.

Our ways of working:

• Innovative Spirit: A commitment to creativity and groundbreaking solutions
• Honest Feedback: valuing open, transparent communication
• Supportive Team: a strong, collaborative community
• Celebrating Achievements: recognizing our wins together
• High-Tech Environment: a team full of smart and revolutionary people who date to challenge the status quo of incumbent finances