Payroll Design Specialist - Bangkok, Thailand - Agoda

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About Agoda

At Agoda, we bridge the world through travel. Our story began in 2005, when two lifelong friends and entrepreneurs, driven by their passion for travel, launched Agoda to make it easier for everyone to explore the world.  

Today, we are part of Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG], with a diverse team of over 7,000 people from 90 countries, working together in offices around the globe. Every day, we connect people to destinations and experiences, with our great deals across our millions of hotels and holiday properties, flights, and experiences worldwide.

No two days are the same at Agoda. Data and technology are at the heart of our culture, fueling our curiosity and innovation. If you're ready to begin your best journey and help build travel for the world, join us.

Job Description

Job Title: Specialist, Payroll Design  - JG 4
Reports to: Senior Manager ,  Payroll

Level: 4
Experience: 8–10 Years

Location: Bangkok

Role Purpose:
Payroll Service Design, Governance & Continuous Improvement is responsible for designing, maintaining, and enhancing the global payroll operational framework. This role ensures payroll operations are robust, efficient, and scalable by establishing strong SLAs, KPIs, governance controls, and a disciplined culture of continuous improvement.

A key element of this responsibility is to lead and embed these standards into all payroll projects, including system implementations, vendor transitions, and global expansions. By acting as the critical bridge between strategic design and operational execution, this role translates global payroll standards into practical, future-proof ways of working, ensuring consistent service delivery, financial accuracy, and audit readiness across all initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Payroll Operating Framework & Governance
  • Own, maintain, and enhance the global payroll operating model, standard operating procedures (SOPs), process maps, and escalation frameworks.
  • Define and manage global payroll calendars and cut-off schedules.
  • Maintain the payroll governance and control framework, including approval matrices, segregation of duties, and the risk & control register.
  • Ensure all regional teams and external vendors adhere to defined global standards.
• Performance Management (SLA & KPI Oversight)
  • Design, implement, and manage a comprehensive global SLA and KPI framework covering accuracy, timeliness, first-time-right rates, and cost efficiency.
  • Produce and analyze monthly performance dashboards to track trends and identify service gaps.
  • Lead root-cause analysis for performance issues and drive corrective action plans.
• Audit, Compliance & Risk Management
  • Act as the primary point of coordination for all internal and external payroll audits (Internal Audit, External Audit, SOC1/ISAE).
  • Ensure perpetual audit readiness across the global payroll function.
  • Track, manage, and ensure timely closure of all audit findings and control action items.
• Continuous Improvement & Process Excellence
  • Establish and own the Payroll Continuous Improvement (CI) framework, identifying opportunities for automation, standardization, and simplification.
  • Lead CI initiatives (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) to eliminate high-volume manual tasks, rework, errors, and process bottlenecks.
  • Quantify, track, and report on benefits realization, including reduced error rates, shorter cycle times, cost savings, and improved employee experience.
  • Foster a culture of continuous improvement across the payroll and accounting teams.
• Project, Change & Vendor Management
  • Serve as the payroll Subject Matter Expert (SME) for key projects, including system upgrades, vendor transitions, and country expansions.
  • Support User Acceptance Testing (UAT), cutover planning, and hypercare support to ensure successful project implementations.
  • Govern vendor performance through SLA tracking, preparing Quarterly Business Review (QBR) materials, and driving service improvement plans (SIPs).
  • Act as a central coordination point for resolving cross-regional operational issues.
• Payroll & Accounting Alignment
  • Partner closely with the Payroll Accounting team to ensure clear ownership and seamless handoffs between payroll processing and accounting activities.
  • Align on and reinforce controls impacting the general ledger (GL) and balance sheet integrity.
  • Support governance of payroll-to-GL reconciliation processes and escalate accounting-impacting issues.

Key Stakeholders:

• Head of Payroll Operations & Payroll Accounting
• Regional Payroll Managers & Teams
• Head of Payroll Accounting & Finance Controllers
• HR Operations, HRIT, and Shared Services Leadership
• Internal & External Audit Teams
• Payroll Vendors and Technology Partners

Success Measures (KPIs):

• Service Delivery: Consistent achievement or improvement against all payroll SLAs and KPIs (accuracy, on-time delivery).
• Quality & Efficiency: Measurable reduction in rework, retro payments, and manual processing time.
• Governance: Reduction in audit findings and strengthened control compliance.
• Improvement: Tangible benefits delivered through process simplification, automation, and standardization projects.
• Stakeholder Satisfaction: Positive feedback from regional and functional leaders on governance and support effectiveness.

Required Experience & Qualifications:

Experience:

• 7–8 years of progressive experience within global payroll operations, payroll project management, governance, or payroll accounting.
• Hands-on experience designing SLAs/KPIs, driving process improvement initiatives, and supporting large-scale payroll transformations.
• Proven experience managing outsourced payroll vendors and multi-country payroll models.
• Practical exposure to major payroll platforms (e.g., Workday, SAP, ADP, CloudPay, Dayforce).

Skills & Competencies:

• Analytical Acumen: Expert ability in data analysis, KPI design, trend spotting, and root-cause analysis.
• Process Excellence: Strong skills in process mapping, re-engineering, and methodologies like Lean or Six Sigma.
• Structured Governance: A meticulous and structured approach to documentation, controls, and risk management.
• Influential Leadership: Ability to lead, influence, and drive change without direct authority in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, capable of engaging effectively with technical teams, vendors, and senior leadership.
• Problem-Solving: A proactive and strategic problem-solver with a focus on designing sustainable, scalable solutions.

Top 5 Strategic Contributions for Payroll & Payroll Accounting

1. Establish a Unified Framework of Governance & Control

This role will create a single source of truth for how payroll is run, creating clarity and reducing risk for both operations and accounting teams.

• For Payroll Ops: Clear SOPs, escalation paths, and defined controls reduce ambiguity and prevent errors.
• For Payroll Accounting: A robust control framework and segregation of duties ensure the integrity of data flowing into the General Ledger (GL), making reconciliations smoother and more reliable.
• Result: A standardized, audit-ready environment that builds confidence with Finance and Internal Audit. 

2. Drive Data-Driven Performance Management with SLAs & KPIs

The manager will move the organization from reactive problem-solving to proactive performance management by implementing a clear metrics framework.

• For Payroll Ops: Metrics like First-Time-Right and retro correction rates directly measure process quality and pinpoint areas for improvement.
• For Payroll Accounting: Shared metrics on payroll accuracy provide an early warning system for potential accounting issues, allowing for proactive resolution before the books are closed.
• Result: Objective performance visibility that aligns both teams on shared goals of accuracy and timeliness.

3. Embed Continuous Improvement (CI) to Eliminate Manual Work & Rework

This role will systematically identify and eliminate the root causes of inefficiency that plague both departments.

• For Payroll Ops: Targeting high-volume manual tasks and error-prone steps directly reduces the operational burden and frees up capacity.
• For Payroll Accounting: Reducing rework and errors in payroll processing means fewer correcting journals and less time spent investigating discrepancies.
• Result: A more efficient function with lower costs, faster cycle times, and less frustration for both teams.

4. Champion Strategic Automation and Technology Optimization

The manager will act as a key driver for leveraging technology to create a seamless flow of accurate data from HR to Payroll to Accounting.

• For Payroll Ops: Identifying automation opportunities for data validation, report generation, and payment processing.
• For Payroll Accounting: Ensuring system upgrades and new tools are designed with seamless payroll-to-GL reconciliation in mind, automating data feeds wherever possible.
• Result: Reduced manual intervention, minimized risk of human error, and a more streamlined E2E process. 

5. Serve as the Central Hub for Vendor & Project Governance

This role ensures that external partners and internal projects deliver value and adhere to the organization's standards, rather than creating new problems.

• For Payroll Ops: Rigorous vendor SLA management and QBRs ensure service quality and hold partners accountable.
• For Payroll Accounting: By acting as the payroll SME on projects (e.g., system changes, new country expansions), the manager ensures that accounting requirements for controls and data integrity are "baked in" from the start, not added as an afterthought.
• Result: Successful, low-risk implementations and a predictable, high-quality service from vendors. 

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Equal Opportunity Employer 

At Agoda, we pride ourselves on being a company represented by people of all different backgrounds and orientations. We prioritize attracting diverse talent and cultivating an inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and innovation. Employment at Agoda is based solely on a person's merit and qualifications. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity regardless of sex, age, race, color, national origin, religion, marital status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, citizenship, veteran or military status, and other legally protected characteristics.

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